How many Big 12 teams made the NCAA Tournament?

The Big 12 Tournament ended with an upset. The top two seeds dueled, No. 1 Houston vs. No. 2 Iowa State, and the latter prevailed. By a lot. The Cyclones buried Houston in the dirt, winning 69-41 in one of the most dominant displays of the college basketball season.

There wasn't a more loaded conference tournament this season. Beyond the obvious heavy-hitters up top, several prominent contenders — Baylor, Kansas, Texas Tech, etc. — figure to receive plenty of attention on NCAA Tournament brackets all across the country. It's hard to pick a conference with a better chance of taking home hardware in the end, simply because of the volume of talented teams in the Big 12.

So, let's cut to the chase.

How many Big 12 teams are in the 2024 NCAA Tournament?

In total, eight Big 12 teams made the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

• Houston Cougers: No. 1 seed, South
• Iowa State Cyclones: No. 2 seed, East
• Baylor Bears: No. 3 seed, West
• Texas Tech Red Raiders: No. 6 seed, South
• BYU Cougars: No. 6 seed, East
• Kansas Jayhawks: No. 4 seed, Midwest
• Texas Longhorns: No. 7 seed, Midwest
• TCU Horned Frogs: No. 9 seed, Midwest

That is one more than last year's seven teams, with Kansas State — a No. 3 seed in the 2023 tournament — dropping out entirely. That encapsulates the vast talent on display here. The Wildcats were on the bubble, per ESPN's Joe Lundari, which means the Big 12 almost reached double-digits. West Virginia also failed to repeat. Oklahoma was one of the last four out.

This is notably the first season in the Big 12 for Houston. The Cougars claimed the regular season title in their inagural campaign, not taking a step back despite losing Marcus Sasser and Jarace Walker to the NBA.

Pretty much every team on this list has title potential, or at least some level of Cinderella appeal.

Kansas entered the season ranked No. 1 in the country, and there's still a ton of talent on that roster. Johnny Furphy's breakout, in concert with the veteran leadership of Kevin McCullar and KJ Adams, has the Jayhawks feeling like a legitiamte threat.

Baylor has two freshman studs in Ja'Kobe Walter and Yves Missi looking to break out in front of NBA scouts. Texas Tech whooped up on BYU in the Big 12 Tournament, only to turn around and get crushed by Houston. That is part of what makes evaluating the Big 12 crop so challenging — their strength of schedule, especially late in the season, is beyond comparison.

The ultimate favorites here, however, should probably be the conference champs. Iowa State has the momentum and the talent to shock a lot of folks. Milan Momcilovic is one of the best wing shot-makers to enter the college ranks in recent memory. Their veteran backcourt of Keshon Gilbert and Tamin Lipsey, meanwhile, is playing excellent basketball at the exact right time.