Big 12 Basketball Tournament predictions for Texas Tech and the rest of the conference

Houston won't win it all despite being the best team

This just feels like a year where there will be too much depth for us to expect the best overall team to win the Big 12 Tournament. That's why Houston will get upset somewhere before the finals.

The Cougars are currently ranked No. 1 in the nation. They have a one-game lead over Iowa State in the conference race and unless they fall apart down the stretch, (which is unlikely given the ease of their remaining schedule) they will be the top seed in K.C.

Still, the Big 12 Tournament will be a wild affair this year. Somewhere along the way, some of the top contenders will fall given the quality of the middle of this league.

What's more, Houston will have nothing to play for. They already have a No. 1 seed sown up and they could very well be the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

So why would it make sense for coach Kelvin Sampson to go all out and exhaust his team to win the Big 12 Tournament? It wouldn't.

Also, Houston has proven to be unbeatable at home but not away from Space City. They have dropped games at TCU, Iowa State, and Kansas and they could have easily fallen at Baylor. There won't be an overwhelming number of Houston fans in K.C. so somewhere along the way, they will run into a team that will have more of a home-court advantage and that could spell doom.

Houston is the league's standard bearer this year. But that doesn't guarantee a tournament win in K.C. So don't put all your money on U of H in two weeks because this should be a tournament full of surprises and upsets.