#3 Kansas vs. #5 Iowa State

Saturday, March 16th 5:00 PM CT, ESPN

3 seed Kansas (25-8, 12-6) takes on 5 seed Iowa State (22-11, 9-9) for the Big 12 tournament championship. Iowa State beat 1 seed Kansas State in a close, gritty game to make it to the final. Kansas took control of 10 seed West Virginia in the second half to make it there as well. These teams split their regular season games, each winning at home. The crowd should be fairly neutral, if not a shade in favor of Iowa State simply because their game was first so their fans could scalp tickets off of leaving Kansas State fans quicker. Iowa State has finally been playing really well like they did toward the beginning of conference play. Kansas has been up and down this season but has looked pretty strong in the Big 12 tournament. Iowa State tends to play its best against Kansas, and I expect that to be true once again in a great environment for the Big 12 title. Look for Marial Shayok and/or Lindell Wigginton to have a big game.

77-72 Iowa State