BEST and WORST Final Four Paths for Big 12 Teams in March Madness

Heartland College Sports: The Big 12 Sports Podcast

Pete Mundo

Sports, Basketball, Football

4.8 • 870 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The 2026 NCAA Tournament is set to begin, and the Big 12 Conference has eight teams in the dance. But WHO has the BEST and WORST chance to get to a Final 4 this year?

Heartland College Sports' Pete Mundo ranks the eight teams from the toughest to the easiest path to end up playing in this year's Final 4.

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Transcript

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0:28.6	today. Who's got the easiest and who's got the hardest path to a final four in the
0:34.7	Big 12 conference? I'm Pete Mundo. We are going to talk about it right now in
0:38.4	Heartland College. Sports, thank you for joining us as always as a part of the show. Make sure
0:43.8	you are subscribed because March Madness is here. And speaking of March Madness, we are inviting
0:50.1	you to a free bracket pool. You can join us, a bracket challenge, and that link is in the show
0:57.6	notes. It is free. Come on in. You can win 100 bucks, win Heartland merch, just a fun way to
1:04.8	compete against those of us at Heartland College Sports and a bunch of other fans and followers
1:09.1	of the website and of the show.
1:11.6	So check out that link. It's a CBS bracket challenge in the show notes.
1:16.6	So I'm going to start with the hardest path to a final four. I'll work down to the easiest
1:23.1	path to a final four in the Big 12. The hardest path to a final four is the TCU Hornfrocks.
1:30.2	They drew an eight seed in by far the hardest region. That would be the East region.
1:36.1	And I'm looking at that region and I'm like, man, look at the coaches. Look at the teams.
1:54.4	Duke, John Shire, St. John's Rick Petino, Bill Self in Kansas, Michigan State, Tom Izzo, UCLA,
1:57.6	Yukon, Danny Hurley.
2:03.2	I mean, goodness gracious, that is a brutal, brutal bracket.
2:10.2	And to be the eight seed in that region is a tough break for a TCU team that's playing some of the best basketball in not just the Big 12, but the country.
2:14.3	No one's really talking about them.
	...

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