LAWRENCE — Kansas women's basketball learned the path it must take to win the Big 12 Conference Tournament in the last few days as the Jayhawks wrapped up the regular season.
Coach Brandon Schneider's team enters the tournament as the No. 7 seed with an 18-11 overall record and 11-7 in the Big 12 Conference. Kansas will face No. 10 seed BYU on Friday in Kansas City, where the tournament will be held (16-15, 6-0 in the Big 12) at 5:30 p.m. on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ 12 losses). -Mobile Center. The Jayhawks have all but guaranteed him a spot in the NCAA Tournament, but he can continue to strengthen his resume with strong performances in the coming days.
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“Well, I don't think we were in contention for a tournament spot today,” Schneider said last Saturday after the win over Oklahoma. “I think when we won at Central Florida, we qualified for the tournament. I think today was about not just the NCAA Tournament, but the possibility of improving our seeding, but what else happened in the league?” I didn't know if that was the case, but maybe we could get a seed for the conference tournament.”
Kansas will enter the Big 12 Tournament as the winner of nine of its last 11 games. This includes two wins over the same BYU team that the Jayhawks will first face in the conference tournament. Kansas hasn't been treated well in the Big 12 Tournament in recent seasons, but the Jayhawks have momentum that should make them a formidable opponent.
If Kansas wins against BYU, Schneider and his team will face No. 2 seed Texas (27-4, 14-4 in the Big 12) in the quarterfinals, which will be broadcast on ESPN+ starting at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. It will be broadcast on Big 12 Now. If the Jayhawks reach that point, Monday's semifinal game will be on the line. After that, of course, is the Big 12 Tournament championship game on Tuesday.
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Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics for the Topeka Capital Journal. He has been named the National Sports Media Association's 2022 Kansas Sportswriter of the Year. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or @JordanGuskey on Twitter.
