Sport Basketball Number of teams 10 Current location Kansas City, Missouri | Conference Big 12 Conference Current stadium Sprint Center | |
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Format Single-elimination tournament | ||
The Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament (known since its inception in 1997 under sponsorship agreements as the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament) is the championship men's basketball tournament in the Big 12 Conference. It is a single-elimination tournament of four rounds, with the top four seeds getting byes in the first round. Starting in 2012, the top six seeds will get byes in the first round. Seeding is based on regular season records.
Contents
History
The tournament has been held every year since the first full basketball season was completed in 1997. (The Big 12 was formed in 1996) Since that time, it was held in Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri in early March for every year up until 2003, and also in 2005. In 2003, 2004, and 2006 it was held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, and in 2007 it was held in the Ford Center at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 2008 it was again held in Kansas City, but this time at the Sprint Center.
The 2009 edition of the championship was held in Oklahoma City, with the event returning to Kansas City from 2010 through 2014. On June 1, 2012, it was announced that the Big 12 Tournament would stay in Kansas City through 2016. Kansas has won the most Big 12 postseason titles as well, winning 10 out of 20.
Tournament champions
Numbers in parentheses refer to each team's finish/seed in the tournament for that year.