On Tuesday night, no. 9 Iowa State traveled to Stillwater and lost to Oklahoma State. Iowa State’s loss dropped the Cyclones to 11-6 in conference play. Iowa State is still in fourth place in the Big 12 standings as of Wednesday morning, but BYU would tie the Cyclones in the standings with a win over Arizona State. BYU improved to 10-6 in conference play with a win over Arizona on Saturday.
Below are the updated Big 12 standings after Tuesday night’s results.
For the large majority of the conference season, there has been a gap between the top teams in the standings and the rest of the conference. Now that BYU has won four straight and Iowa State has lost two consecutive games, the door has opened for BYU to get a top four seed. BYU’s game next week at Iowa State is on track to be a play-in game for the four seed.
Getting a top four seed in the Big 12 standings is a major advantage in the Big 12 tournament. Teams seeded 1-4 get two byes and start the tournament in the quarterfinals. Teams seeded 5-8 get first-round byes.
BYU also got some separation in the standings from the teams just below them on Tuesday. Baylor suffered a loss at Cincinnati and TCU suffered a loss at West Virginia. A 3-1 record over the last four games would secure the 5-seed for BYU regardless of what happens to the teams just below BYU in the standings.
