1998 Big 12 men's basketball tournament

The 1998 Big 12 men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Big 12 Conference. It was played from March 5 to 8, in Kansas City, Missouri at Kemper Arena. Number 1 seed Kansas defeated 3 seed Oklahoma 72–58 to win the championship and receive the conference’s automatic bid to the 1998 NCAA tournament.

1998 Big 12 men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1997–98
Teams	12
Site	Kemper Arena Kansas City, Missouri
Champions	Kansas (2nd title)
Winning coach	Roy Williams (2nd title)
MVP	Paul Pierce (Kansas)
Attendance	89,200 (overall) 16,800 (championship)
Top scorer	Paul Pierce (Kansas) (67 points)
Television	ESPN
Big 12 men's basketball tournaments ← 1997 1999 →

1997–98 Big 12 men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 2 Kansas †	15	–	1		.938			35	–	4		.897
Oklahoma State	11	–	5		.688			22	–	7		.759
Oklahoma	11	–	5		.688			22	–	11		.667
Nebraska	10	–	6		.625			20	–	12		.625
Baylor	8	–	8		.500			14	–	14		.500
Missouri	8	–	8		.500			17	–	15		.531
Texas Tech	7	–	9		.438			13	–	14		.481
Kansas State	7	–	9		.438			17	–	12		.586
Colorado	7	–	9		.438			13	–	14		.481
Texas	6	–	10		.375			14	–	17		.452
Iowa State	5	–	11		.313			12	–	18		.400
Texas A&M	1	–	15		.063			7	–	20		.259
† 1998 Big 12 Tournament winner Rankings from AP poll [1]

Seeding

The Tournament consisted of a 12 team single-elimination tournament with the top 4 seeds receiving a bye.^[2]

1998 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament seeds
Seed	School	Conf.	Over.	Tiebreaker
1	Kansas ‡#	15–1	35–4
2	Oklahoma State #	11–5	22–7	2–0 vs. OU
3	Oklahoma #	11–5	22–11	0–2 vs. OSU
4	Nebraska #	10–6	20–12
5	Baylor	8–8	14–14	1–0 vs. MU
6	Missouri	8–8	17–15	0–1 vs. BU
7	Texas Tech	7–9	13–14	1–0 vs. KSU[3]
8	Kansas State	7–9	17–12	5–5 vs. division (CU, ISU, KU, MU, NU)
9	Colorado	7–9	13–14	3–7 vs. division (ISU, KU, KSU, MU, NU)
10	Texas	6–10	14–17
11	Iowa State	5–11	12–18
12	Texas A&M	1–15	7–20
‡ – Big 12 Conference regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed. # – Received a single-bye in the conference tournament. Overall records include all games played in the Big 12 Conference tournament.[2]

Schedule

Session	Game	Time	Matchup	Television	Attendance
First Round – Thursday, March 5
1	1	12:00 PM	#8 Kansas State 75 vs #9 Colorado 61	Big 12	9,300
	2	2:20 PM	#5 Baylor 66 vs #12 Texas A&M 63
2	3	6:00 PM	#10 Texas 86 vs #7 Texas Tech 83		13,800
	4	8:20 PM	#6 Missouri 74 vs #11 Iowa State 55
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 6
3	5	12:00 PM	#1 Kansas 68 vs #8 Kansas State 61	Big 12	16,800
	6	2:20 PM	#4 Nebraska 65 vs #5 Baylor 46
4	7	6:00 PM	#10 Texas 65 vs #2 Oklahoma State 64		15,400
	8	8:20 PM	#3 Oklahoma 58 vs #6 Missouri 53
Semifinals – Saturday, March 7
5	9	1:00 PM	#1 Kansas 91 vs #4 Nebraska 59	Big 12	17,100
	10	3:20 PM	#3 Oklahoma 68 vs #10 Texas 55
Final – Sunday, March 8
6	11	2:00 PM	#1 Kansas 72 vs #3 Oklahoma 58	ESPN	16,800
Game times in CT. #-Rankings denote tournament seed[4][5]

Bracket

	First round					Second round					Semifinals					Finals
	8	Kansas State	75
	9	Colorado	61
						1	No. 3 Kansas	68
						8	Kansas State	61
											1	No. 3 Kansas	91
											4	Nebraska	59
						4	Nebraska	75
						5	Baylor	46
	5	Baylor	66
	12	Texas A&M	63
																1	No. 3 Kansas	72
																3	Oklahoma	58
	10	Texas	86
	7	Texas Tech	83
						10	Texas	65
						2	No. 25 Oklahoma St.	62
											3	Oklahoma	68
											10	Texas	55
						3	Oklahoma	58
						6	Missouri	53
	6	Missouri	74
	11	Iowa State	55

All-Tournament Team

Most Outstanding Player – Paul Pierce, Kansas^[4]

Player	Team	Position	Class
Paul Pierce	Kansas	Jr.	F
Raef LaFrentz	Kansas	Sr.	F
Corey Brewer	Oklahoma	Sr.	G
Evan Wiley	Oklahoma	Sr.	C
Tyronn Lue	Nebraska	Jr.	G

See also

• 1998 Big 12 Conference women's basketball tournament
• 1998 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 1997–98 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings