TRUE: West Virginia MUST WIN Big 12 Tournament, BYU MUST LOSE, March Madness Hopes, Spring Football

How many March madness teams is the Big 12 actually going to get and why on earth is West Virginia not one of them this

It's a bonus episode of Locked On Big 12

You are locked on Big 12 your daily podcast on the Big 12 conference part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day

Every Monday everybody welcome to Locked On Big 12 bonus episode. I'm Drake toll from America's number one big 12 podcast locked on big 12

Thank you for making this show your first lesson every single day

I joined the crew at ESPN Central Texas this morning

We talked about your favorite team and if they're in March madness and your favorite women's team and your favorite baseball

We talked about a lot of stuff. So thought you know what let's record it and give it to you as a bonus episode

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All right bonus episode time this episodes free for you if you hit subscribe, you can keep my job. Let's go boys

Appreciate you as always you're doing a great job and so proud of you as well

And let's start with big 12 women's tournament

First and foremost before we get into what happened in the games the floor how impressed or how unimpressed was Drake toll on the glass floor at Kansas City

Look ward the SEC is paying players in football

10 million dollars and in the big 10 the winning national championships three in the row three in a row in the big 12

We have a TV for a basketball court

Um, I just think there are other issues

We should be figuring out, you know, but that aren't the uh that aren't the basketball court

And it got some publicity

I think the rest of the most of the country looked at it and said that's pretty unnecessary. So I I remain

Without a strong opinion, but I it's it just seems like something that no one was asking for the big 12 did it anyway and

Another ploy to try to get more eyeballs on the conference that just didn't exactly work as as the league probably wanted to

Drake you look at West Virginia getting the title in the big 12

Uh over the weekend against TCU

Uh, maybe a little bit of surprise maybe an upset, but really maybe not the way West Virginia has been playing

Yeah, West Virginia is one of the hottest teams the big 12 and now one of the hottest teams in the country

The fact they avenge the couple of losses to TCU this season just shows what makes them so good

It's their ability to adjust and have they have it's called a hundred and eighteen points in Cincinnati a few games ago

Um, and this is a West Virginia team now on a six game win streak you ward you and I talk about it quite a bit

Uh, we have a few times the past about how the big 12 tournament or these conference tournaments don't always matter much for certain teams

For West Virginia, they wanted to prove hey we can beat a top 10 caliber team like TCU

We need to get that monkey off our back and grab that true big time

Markey win now they have a couple of them they want at Iowa state

But that win was diluted over the course of the year they just you find out Iowa state wasn't as good as we thought this TCU team is

Is top notch and West Virginia beating them is a massive feather in their cap going into the NCAA tournament now

Can they contend with UCLA can they contend with Texas or or Yukon that's a much different question

But for West Virginia a

A massive momentum bump going into the NCAA tournament super proud of what the mountaineers have done

I know the entire state of West Virginia is behind their women

Baylor women's had the double buy and they took a loss to Colorado 62 to 53 and in their first game of the big 12 tournament

Drake how concerning is that for Baylor women's basketball

Yeah, this was a Baylor team Jacob and it's a good question because you asked us on the men's or the women's side of hey

Who wants to win in the big 12 tournament and who knows what's stacked against them

I think Baylor would have had to have won the entire the entire weekend in Kansas City to be able to host the the postseason and March madness

And so they said hey instead of

Except of really pushing ourselves to go win a couple games here when it won't matter

And I won't change our seating and will still be probably a five seeded as whole thing. Let's just

Go home. Let's lose to Colorado. We know who we are. We know what we want to do in March madness

Let's end this thing right here take some rest and if rest is what you need right now

If you don't need excess wins in Kansas City or wins that don't really matter to where you're going to be seated

Then just go home and rest do the thing that's going to help you win in March madness

What it actually matters for West Virginia you get a monkey off your back

They didn't really need to rest up with injury issues

They wanted to go win to prove they could be the top 10 team for Baylor

You need to do sometimes. It's best to say hey if in our in our interest in the interest of our basketball team

We're going to take a nap and that's going to help us win when it matters most Baylor did that. I'm not that concern

Drake told with us here on the press box on ESPN central Texas the men's tournament

Is set Baylor now set to take on Arizona state right here on ESPN central Texas

Tomorrow at 1130 and for the bears. I mean you've got a gauntlet laying in front of you you got

Arizona state which you beat earlier in Waco by

By a couple and then you get through that you got Iowa state and then hello Texas tech to get to friday if you possibly can

or the bears

it is

I know this is a gauntlet laying in front of them, but if they can get those three wins

Drake did they return to a bubble team all of a sudden

You have to if you're beating Arizona state who themselves were listed on the bubble in the last couple of weeks

If you beat Iowa state meal on mom chileovich team and lipsy a team that's ebbed and flowed in and out of the top five all season long

Then you beat Texas tech who is the giant slayer tech will lose to Arizona state

Or lose to be why you and then beat a top five team. It's what the red raiders have done all year

And especially if you beat Arizona Baylor could lose in the big 12 championship to say Houston or Kansas

And you're still just be you just knocked off three top 12 teams in the span of probably three or four days

That at least deserves a nod toward march madness and and a swing in into the NCAA tournament because you proven

You can beat some of the best teams in the country now Baylor is proven it can lose to some of the best teams or worse teams in the country

Um, and I think a boost like this all be it needed necessary for them to make it still may not be enough in the eyes of the committee

It is for me knocking off three top 12 teams in the span of a weekend

This is that should get you in but for Baylor if

If it doesn't I'm not surprised you had to do more in the regular season as I look up and downward at this bracket

Here's what really surprises me about about where we sit in bracketology in the big 12 West Virginia bought themselves the buy

They're the seven seed in the big 12 tournament ward BYU is the ten seat if you ask a lot of bracketologists

They would tell you this BYU team to finish three spots below West Virginia in big 12 conference play that this BYU team

Is in a six seed overall the NCAA tournament if you ask people said hey, what about Iowa State

They tell you the Iowa State is a two seed in the NCAA tournament Iowa State the fifth best team in the big 12

BYU the 10th best team in the big 12 both those teams are well-seated in March West Virginia

The seventh best team in the conference isn't even on the bubble

I think we're missing a lot of big things here Baylor's going to carry a big storyline

Cincinnati could too if they win if they get hot a Colorado or Oklahoma State grab a couple big wins

The thing that I'm watching this week is West Virginia because no one's talking about them and they should be

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Outside of west Virginia and you mentioned some other schools. Do you have another sneaky favorite that could really turn some heads in the big 12 tournament

Yeah, I'm hopeful actually to see a team like you know

It'd be cool to see me while you put it all together and prove okay

We can win consistently without Richie Saunders. It'd be it'd be nice to see Arizona honestly run the table and prove

Hey, we're a one seed and we're the best team in college basketball

You're all about to find out from Braden buries to co-a-peat

But I think Baylor squarely in that category with enough talent from yes to food a cam car that they've got an opportunity to win games and and go all the way

The championship of this thing since and that if they get hot at the right time they get through Utah

They get through UCF both of those are very win-able for the bear cats

They could they could meet up with an Arizona team. It says hey, we we want to go home. We want some rest

We don't need to be here. We don't need to win this thing

And then watch out for Colorado. They're playing a lot better basketball and they've been off the radar entirely

But they've got a leg up to be local homestay then TCU is winnable for Colorado

Kansas with or without Darren Peterson. They've lost some big games

I could see Colorado making a run of the semi-finals this thing. I don't see that winning it

But they could make some noise for sure

When you look at this big 12 tournament. I mean who do you foresee in that championship game if everything was to go chop

Yeah, I'd be very surprised honestly. I do think most of this will go chalk

I'd be very surprised if we do not see the likes of Arizona and Houston meeting in the big 12 title

How fun would that be the number one team of the conference versus the number two team of the conference

A squad who's a lock for a one seed in Arizona and a Houston team that I think can once again go to the final four

And win the national championship this year

The veteran leadership they have mixed in with the Kingston Flemmings of the world make Houston a very dangerous team

I want to see Houston and Arizona square off in a top five matchup in the big 12 tournament championship

And and give themselves a glimpse another look into the crystal ball of what a final four game would look like

Another glimpse of the crystal ball of what an elite eight matchup with Illinois could possibly look like you get that the big 12 tournament

And and ward again

Those two teams could lose in the first round. I think they're still fine. They get more rest

You need rest after a big 12 gauntlet

But if you go to the big 12 championship

It's just gonna be fun for it will be fun for everybody involved

To watch two elite teams play like Arizona and Houston. I'm hopeful we get that matchup

Christopher. Oh go ahead there

Drake got better softball up and down during non-conference, but gets conference started with a huge sweep of Iowa State

Yeah, I this Baylor softball team is going to give me fits all year long

And at 17 and six

It's the same softball team that lost the San Diego State by a run and then turn around and return the favor 11 to two

A softball team that went toe to toe with Clemson who's elite, but lost a series to McNeese state

And now McNeese is one of the better mid majors you'll find out there

But then they sweep Iowa State and they look pretty darn good doing it

They've got a very young team. They're loaded with sophomores juniors Amber Tovins kind of the senior leader that is helping bring them all up

Thought the the blot went on Friday that first game of the double-hatter was impressive

And then the the way to grid it out on Sunday to hold a lead to rally take a lead hold a lead was impressive for Glenn Moore's group

So yeah, the fact they're already approaching 20 wins this season for a squad so young is is impressive to me that they've done

They've outplayed them something they've lost games. I thought they would win. They've won games

I thought they would lose and so happy with what Baylor softball has done

You know my sister full scholarship. They're playing

Plant for Baylor. Hey, she tore her per PCL

Four or five months ago. She'll be back next season red starting this year

But man Aaron you ought to see her hold a clipboard. She is so good holding the clipboard right now

Going into the big 12 baseball season

I know TCU is widely regarded as the favorite. Well, they've taken a couple steps backwards. Is there a right?

Is there a team just that goes straight to your mind drake that

Is your favorite to win the big 12 or at least be out in front?

Well, I would have said Arizona has a great chance to do so preseason

But then Arizona six and nine and they're a little bit better now, but I am

Completely surprised that Arizona and TCU are not toward the top of the big 12 conference

This is

We should be talking more about what West Virginia is doing in big 12 baseball and overall we don't talk a ton of college

Baseball in the grand scheme and things mean today alone right with Mike Evans going to the San Francisco

49 or there are a million storylines out there that that Trump big 12 baseball

But if you get into the nitty gritty of this conference West Virginia has been at the top of the league

Pretty consistently now dating back five six seven years

West Virginia is is a squad that if I had to buy somebody right now

I'm going to keep riding with the mountaineers and I do think Texas tech

You know, they've had a rough couple years that they'll rally and being that mix Oklahoma state has got a great program

Arizona state is solid. I'm still holding out hope for Cincinnati. We'll see if they're fools gold

But right now I'm just gonna give the

I'm gonna give the flowers to West Virginia because they've been up there for a few years

This could be a year where they went it out right in the regular season

Drake toe locked on big 12 hopes to Westwood one morning show with this on the press box on ESPN central Texas and Drake

The indoor national championships coming up this weekend in Fayetteville. How do you think to big 12 fairs and that?

I think the big 12's on a great spot and that is

Again, it's just the depth of this conference and it's the ability of this league to buy into sports at the Olympic level

So you're saying hey football is what that brings you the most money

Go go win in football and make more money and and the big 12 says hey

What about track or tennis? What about women's basketball? What about what about these sports that aren't necessarily gonna make us all the money

But we can still compete in them and be one of the best conferences in all of America

That's what they're doing in basketball at least so for the big 12 being at the indoor

This is an opportunity another opportunity to prove we have invested in all sports

It's not just football in this league and that is another nod ward to

This conference unlike the SEC wanting to to win at all levels the SEC values football

They value the heck out of football because they know it's where the money comes from the big 12 wants to

Prove hey once the government or somebody writes the ship of college athletics

It will have paid off to have invested in Olympic in Olympic sports

The big 12's going to showcase that again this weekend

Real quick. I want to go back to basketball

Baylor basketball did in the regular season on the men's side on high note against Utah

And for Scott Drew gets his 500th career win. Yeah, just a huge milestone and a huge plus side with a season that has just been

With so many bumps and and and and a year where he's had to totally rebuild his roster from the ground up

Yeah, anybody who is poking holes in Scott Drew right now

gig

Look

I as as a Baylor fan and and Aaron could tell you this better than anybody

There there is some there is some level of safety that you grant yourself when you win a national championship in what was formerly

Maybe the worst men's basketball program in America

When you when you are the pinnacle and the summit. I'm honestly. I know it was 2021

I'm still riding that high like Scott Drew can miss the tournament next year

And I'm still not going to question Scott Drew because he's been Baylor

He is the last two decades

He is

Baylor is is ability to adapt the adjust is going to it's question mark right now because

Scott this year didn't win and didn't build the any elite big 12 product out of the transfer portal and

In iL is a question mark dug back to me the new athletic director will have a big say and how Baylor divvies that out

How they how they attack that moving forward, but for Scott Drew

That's the last guy I point a finger at or ask questions of just because he's he's proven to you and to me and to everybody

I can win a national championship now since then hasn't made it out of the first week in a march

I get that I know Baylor fans are by and large frustrated because it looked like Baylor was becoming a basketball school

But the brand is still there the championship trophy is still in the it's in the halls in wakego

And that's something that Scott has bought himself really a lifetime contract over

And I'm hopeful that Baylor fans rally around this team in the offseason

And they build yet another contender next year

And this this season is just a blip on the map as Scott continues to figure out the portal and in iL

I mean, he lost his entire team the fact that they're even the fact they're even above 500

Says a lot about what Scott Drew was able to scrounge together

Um, it may sound weird, but this is another moment for me as an alumni to say hey

I'm I'm a proud Baylor bear on Monday, March 9th because of what Scott Drew has continued to build

Hey today shows brought you by

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It it it it makes me happy that Mazda has jumped on with locked on namely during a time such as this where the

big games are upon us

This is Mazda's moving the game for those who show there's more to the score than what's on the screen

The BYU Cougars reminded us of what it takes to raise the bar this week

It's the extra effort off the court dialing in every detail given that extra fire that grid

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Cougars proved that against Texas tech this week there's more to a Mazda because there's more to you with Mazda

Right

Spring football starting across the country this week and some big 12 teams getting into action as well

Who has the most crucial spring in front of them for big 12 football?

I think this is Houston and

Reason being they were

superb last season overlooked, but superb had a really good campaign in

2025 BYU

Texas tech they're returning a lot of starting production Texas tech

Combined with the transfer portal if you count the amount of players on the roster who started in the FBS last year

They have 23 starters there are only 22 guys on the football field

But because the portal and the dudes they poached out of other programs who were starting elsewhere

They have 23 FBS starters. I don't need to I know Texas tech. I know BYU

I don't necessarily know Houston. I want to figure and here's a piece of why I need to figure out

If Houston is that fun team that wins eight games a year

Are they just TCU are they the ten and three team that went that won 10 games that one time under Willie Fritz and then

Regressed to the mean and went seven and five or are they a big 12 championship team with Conor Wegman at quarter rack next year

their schedule is favorable enough

Non-conference Southern Georgia Southern Oregon State. I mean, they're gonna be a okay

Even in conference. I think they've got a leg up to beat Oklahoma State Kansas State UCF that Texas tech game is huge

But they should beat Cincinnati Colorado and Baylor

Houston. I've got some question marks over they need to prove this year

Hey, we're not just hanging around and winning games to win games. We're winning games to win championships

The Cougars if they have the right off season will be in Arlington next year

And one more quick question for you Drake. I know the big 12 championships this week

For basketball. I want to peel back to that. How many teams do the big 12 after this tournament get into the NCAA tournament

Yet so it's such a brutal question because I think it should be more I should be it should be closer to 10 right now

And that may sound crazy, but that's the treatment the SEC is getting

Texas tech is obviously lock BYU is a lock Houston Arizona those are locks Iowa State is like I think TCU at this point

Should squarely be in

Cincinnati needs a little they have a little bit of work to do Kansas is there UCF probably has a little bit of work to do although I was surprised

That they that they aren't a lock. They just kind of the bottom fell out on them when it mattered the most then West Virginia

They've got a couple games to win need to win a gamer too, but I think they should be in there still question marks a vague question mark on TCU

Certainly on Cincinnati UCF West Virginia man in you know in the best conference in America your teams that are sitting

9 and 9 who are 500 they should make it in over an 8 and 10 SEC team over 7 and 11 big 10 team or or a

ACC SEC squad the big 12 just not getting that treatment. I think we're squarely at I know seven are getting in

It's 8 9 10 that should or could but they've got some work to do

Right tall what's coming up on Westwood one morning show and locked on big 12

Yeah, well, I kind of alluded to it earlier man. It's some crazy stuff happening in the national football league

We'll be all over that at Westwood one sports and it's a great opportunity for for a big 12 guy to have a national platform

You're 300 affiliates across the country to talk big 12 to be a mouthpiece nationally for the big 12 conference

It's always for for the mayor's which is always an honor to do every morning 6 a.m. 9 a.m

And then unlocked on big 12

Made a lot of a lot of murmurs about

How especially after Friday when everybody met in DC how the big 12 in the ACC stay afloat whether on a merger is coming whether or not a merged TV rights deal is on the table

So a lot of that unlocked on big 12 great toe with us in the press box here on ESPN Central Texas Drake always appreciate the time

Have a great week. We'll talk to you next Monday

The pleasure. Thank you Ward

There you go. It was Drake toe with us here on the press box. Stay right there more to come on ESPN Central Texas

It's good dudes man. I like them a lot good dudes

Uh, get a little taste of women's basketball in there track

Yeah, this has been always will be locked on thanks for making it your first lesson every single day

Go say good on that

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