The Baylor Bears first game in the 2011 Big 12 tournament will be against the Oklahoma Sooners. The game will take place at 6:00 p.m. (CT) at the Sprint Center in downtown Kansas City. Baylor comes in with more star power than the Sooners who stumbled through the season and find themselves as a 10 seed in the conference tournament.
Baylor is the better team but they've consistently been inconsistent throughout the year so you really don't know what you're going to get. But if Baylor comes out and plays their game, I feel confident picking them in this one. SB Nation's Big 12 Hoops agrees that they win but says it may be closer than the 8.5 point line.
First off I want to say that Baylor is pretty much an unbettable team since you never have any clue which team will show up. That being said I do think that Baylor is going to win this game but I think it might be close as OU might show up and hit some shots. Going to pick Baylor to win the game but not cover this spread.
I'm still going with Baylor stepping it up when they need to the most and running away with this one. Then again, I've been picking Baylor most of the year and they're just 18-9 so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. They're one of those teams that on paper should be one of the better teams in the conference...and then they show up to the tournament as a seven seed.
For more on Oklahoma, check out Crimson and Cream Machine and check out the full Big 12 tournament brackethere.