Bracketology 2013: Where Will Iowa State Be Seeded?

Mar 15, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Iowa State Cyclones guard orie Lucious (13) drives in for a score against the Kansas Jayhawks in the second half during the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament at the Sprint Center. Kansas defeated Iowa State 88-73. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas Jayhawks come away with the Big 12 crown once again this season after storming through all the conference foes they faced. With an expectation of getting one of the top seeds today, now we’ll try to decide where the rest of the Big 12 will end up.

Iowa State came back with a thrilling victory over Oklahoma in the quarterfinals and ran out of gas against Kansas. Unless you’re Jerry Palm, everybody believes the Cyclones are a lock for this year’s tournament. To be fair, he also has the Sooners as a bubble team, so I’m not sure he believes the Big 12 is any good.

On average, bracketology experts have Iowa State seeded as high as ninth to as low as 11th. I believe they’ll be seeded right in the middle at 10th. The resume is weak at neutral/road games (6-10 record) and non-conference strength of schedule (129) which should hold them from getting anything higher.

For those that believe it will be a break not to potentially play a 1-seed in the

second

third round, the projected 2-seeds are still pretty dangerous with New Mexico, Georgetown, Duke, and Ohio State. Either way, if Iowa State can beat their

first

second round opponent, it will be a tough game during the weekend.

Other projections

• Both Kansas State and Oklahoma State have battled for the Big 12 crown all season. They should receive at least a 4-seed or higher, but the Cowboys’ non-conference SOS (117) and loss at Virginia Tech earlier this season could keep them at the 5-seed level.
• Oklahoma will likely be in the 9-seed level unless that loss at TCU really influences the committee’s decision. It shouldn’t, since it was obvious the Sooners were looking ahead and they even almost came back from a large deficit at halftime.