5 Big 12 teams with the toughest paths to NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament ft Kansas Jayhawks
The 2024-25 NCAA men's basketball regular season schedules of the 16 teams competing in the new-look Big 12 were revealed late last month. The conference welcomed former Pac-12 programs Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and returning Colorado to make the league more challenging and more exciting.
Some squads will have an easier journey to the 2024-25 NCAA Tournament, otherwise known as March Madness, while others will have to endure a tough and bumpy road to the top due to the schedules presented to them by the conference.
Looking at the schedules, five teams will have the toughest paths to reach their ultimate objective — secure one of the 68 tournament berths available for the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
Five Big 12 teams with toughest paths to NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
#1, Kansas Jayhawks
Kansas will have the toughest Big 12 Conference regular season schedule in the 2024-25 NCAA men's basketball tournament. The Jayhawks are set to face perennial powers North Carolina, Michigan State, Duke, NC State and Creighton in nonconference play before heading into the regular season. The rest of the nonconference schedule will have the Bill Self-coached squad battling Howard, Oakland, UNC-Wilmington, Furman, Brown and former conference rival Missouri.
In the 20-game regular season schedule, Kansas will clash with Arizona, Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and West Virginia in home-only games. The team will have away-only games against BYU, Utah, TCU, Baylor and Cincinnati.
Kansas will have home-and-away games against Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas State, Houston and UCF.
The conference men's basketball schedule will start in late December with the Big 12 Tournament running March 11-15 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
#2, Baylor Bears
Baylor will have tough home-and-away games for the 2024-25 season. The Bears will play Arizona, Utah, TCU, Houston and Cincinnati. Arizona is the last Pac-12 regular season champion while Houston is the defending Big 12 champion and reached the Sweet 16 last season. Baylor will also play Utah for the first time since 1960, and it will be the Utes' first trip to Waco.
The Scott Drew-mentored squad will visit Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Iowa State and Texas Tech and host Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, UCF and West Virginia. To add further difficulty to Baylor's 2024-25 schedule, the Bears will play conference games in three of the four U.S. time zones.
Although the team has yet to reveal its full nonconference schedule, the Dec. 4 clash against back-to-back defending national champion UConn Huskies in the annual Big 12-Big East Battle spices up the Bears' season slate.
#3, Arizona Wildcats
The Arizona Wildcats will have a difficult non-conference schedule as they will face Wisconsin and Duke in successive weeks on Nov. 15 and 22, respectively. The Blue Devils reached the Elite Eight of the 2024 NCAA Tournament while the Badgers didn't get past the first round.
Days after the nonconference games, the Tommy Lloyd-mentored squad will head to the Bahamas for the three-day Battle 4 Atlantis and possibly clash with Gonzaga, Indiana, Louisville, Providence, West Virginia, Oklahoma or Davidson.
Meanwhile, Arizona will be in for a tough regular season as one of the newest members of the Big 12. They are slated to face Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, Iowa State and Texas Tech in home-and-away games.
Aside from this, the Wildcats will play Colorado, Houston, TCU and Utah at home and visit Cincinnati, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and West Virginia.
#4, Houston Cougars
Houston will have a mix of tough nonconference and interconference games that will test the team in the 2024-25 season. The defending Big 12 regular season champion is scheduled to play Final Four squad Alabama in the Players Era Festival at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Nov. 26 and Butler in the Big East-Big 12 Battle, 11 days later.
After the busy nonconference slate, the Kelvin Sampson-coached Cougars will have difficult home-and-away games against Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and West Virginia.
Houston will play BYU, Cincinnati, Iowa State, TCU and Utah at home and visit Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Kansas State and UCF in the new-look Big 12 regular season.
#5, Iowa State Cyclones
Iowa State, which made the Elite Eight last season, will have an easy first three nonconference games before heading to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational on Nov. 25-27. The following week will pit the Cyclones against the Marquette Golden Eagles in the Big East-Big 12 Battle, with a rivalry game against Iowa eight days later. Iowa State will conclude its nonconference battles against Jackson State, Omaha and Morgan State.
In the regular season, the Cyclones will play home-only games against Baylor, BYU, Cincinnati, TCU and Utah. On the other hand, Iowa State will clash with Arizona State, Houston, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and West Virginia in away-only games.
Their home-and-away schedule features Arizona, UCF, Colorado, Kansas and Kansas State. Iowa State looks to duplicate or eclipse its Sweet 16 last season under the tutelage of T.J. Otzelberger.