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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas coach Bill Self was chatting this week with someone who brought up the possibility that some unfortunate team with a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament might have to play its second game against Oklahoma State, which was once considered a Final Four contender. "I said, Just think if that happens in your conference tournament," Self responded. After winning their 10th straight regular-season title, the Jayhawks earned the top seed when the Big 12 tournament begins Wednesday night at the Sprint Center. But the reward is a first-round bye and a potential matchup with the eighth-seeded Cowboys in Thursdays quarterfinals; the two teams split their two meetings this year. Oklahoma State plays No. 9 seed Texas Tech in the first game Wednesday night. Seventh-seeded Baylor takes on No. 10 seed TCU in the nightcap of a double-header. "I think weve always had very competitive Big 12 tournaments," Self said, "but I dont know if I can ever remember where if theres a final between whatever seeds there are, it would be absolutely not a major surprise to anybody. Its going to be a pretty special weekend." The Big 12 has been the runaway leader in conference RPI all season, and some believe that it could land seven or eight teams in the NCAA tournament on Selection Sunday. Just consider the games that will be played Thursday: Along with Kansas getting Oklahoma State or Texas Tech, second-seeded Oklahoma will play the Baylor-TCU winner, No. 3 seed Texas will play No. 6 seed West Virginia, and No. 4 seed Iowa State will play No. 5 seed Kansas State. "This league," Texas Tech coach Tubby Smith said, "is by far the toughest in the country." Thats why the Jayhawks still believe they can earn a No. 1 seed to the NCAA tournament, despite their 23-8 record. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State (20-11) is teetering around the bubble, and a win over Texas Tech might be enough to push the Cowboys firmly into the dance. Knocking off the Jayhawks would certainly do the trick. "Were just trying to worry about the next game," Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said, "and worrying about all that other stuff doesnt really do you any good." In that case, here are five things that fans SHOULD worry about: BUBBLE WATCH: Oklahoma State isnt the only team on the NCAA tournament bubble. Baylor (21-10) would feel much better with a win or two, while West Virginia (17-14) hopes the momentum it picked up by knocking off Kansas last weekend will propel it to enough wins in Kansas City to make a case on Selection Sunday. "I think if we won two wed be in great shape," said Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins, "but I think if we can win that first one that we would be pretty good." CHAMPIONSHIP CHALLENGE: Kansas is the only current member to have won the Big 12 tournament since 2005 -- twice since then, Missouri won the title. In fact, Oklahoma and Iowa Stare are the only current schools besides the Jayhawks and Cowboys to have won. "No matter what people say, no matter what other teams do," Oklahoma States Marcus Smart said, "it goes through Kansas." STAR WATCH: There will be stars-a-plenty at the Big 12 tournament. Andrew Wiggins of Kansas is a potential No. 1 draft pick, Iowa States Melvin Ejim is the Big 12 player of the year and Smart is also a potential lottery pick. But one player who wont be on the floor is Jayhawks centre Joel Embiid, whos been ruled out for the Big 12 tournament and unlikely for the first week of the NCAA tournament because of a stress fracture in his back. HOMECOURT ADVANTAGE: Local schools Kansas and Kansas State always pack the Sprint Center, but Iowa State also tends to draw well -- its campus is a reasonable drive from Kansas City. That means itll be tough to secure a ticket to Thursdays first session, when the Cyclones play the Wildcats and Kansas is also in action in a tantalizing double-header. LONGSHOTS: Even longshots have coaches concerned this year. Texas Tech is the No. 9 seed but has wins over Oklahoma State, Baylor and Texas on its resume. And nobody thought TCU would go winless in the league, so the No. 10 seed Horned Frogs could be primed for a first-round upset of the Bears. "Were going to do our best to keep within striking distance, like we have all year long, and give ourselves a chance down the stretch," TCU coach Trent Johnson said. Detlef Schrempf Thunder Jersey . This is Lowry’s third time winning the award in his career. He won the award last season and as a member of the Houston Rockets in 2011. 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The adoration surely sounded much nicer to Callahan than all the recent trade talk.GREENSBORO, N.C. -- With T.J. Warren scoring near his usual pace, North Carolina State was poised to pull off a second straight significant upset at the ACC tournament. Then the Wolfpack ran out of steam. No. 7 Duke beat N.C. State 75-67 on Saturday in the ACC semifinals, denying the Wolfpack a third win in three days. "They really believed we could win and they played with great courage," coach Mark Gottfried said. "I thought maybe we got tired in the second half. We didnt seem as fresh as we have been." Warren, the ACC player of the year, scored 21 points for N.C. State to 20 for Dukes Jabari Parker in a matchup of the ACCs top two scorers. Warren led the league with an average of 24.9 points while Parker was second at 19.2 points per game. On Saturday, Warren scored 21 points but was just 4 of 13 after halftime while facing a barrage of double teams. "Rodney (Hood) did a good job on him just to keep him to 21," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "You can overcoach, and we overcoached our preparation. He was doing what we asked him to do, and it wasnt working, and he said, Coach, let me just play him my normal way. That was better." The seventh-seeded Wolfpack (21-13) shot just 36 per cent in the second half -- after hitting 67 per cent in the opening half -- and were denied their first title game berth since 2007. "N.C. State was fighting for their lives," Dukes Rasheed Sulaimon said. Lennard Freeman had 13 points and Anthony "Cat" Barber finished with 12 for N.C. State, which for much of the day looked capable of pulling off a second straight resume-enhancing upset after knocking off No. 11 Syracuse in the quarterfinals. "I hope they take a look at our team and see how much better we are than we were at the beginning," Gottfried said. "If you win at Pitt, beat Syracuse and beat Duke, hell, youre about a Final Four team then. I think we showed that we certainly belong in the field of 68." Sulaimon added 16 points for the third-seeded Blue Devils (26-7) while Rodney Hood had 14 points and keyed the defensive effort against Warren. Duke earned its 31stt championship game appearance and first since 2011.dddddddddddd The Blue Devils will play No. 6 Virginia on Sunday. Dukes 69-65 win in January stood as the Cavaliers lone conference loss until Maryland beat them last week. Duke won on Saturday with a 20-7 run in the second half that was fueled by three N.C. State turnovers and a spate of missed shots. "Im not going to force it to get past two people," said Barber, who said he was double-teamed as well. "They just did a great job of defending. ... They just kept their composure throughout the game." Parker scored six points during the burst that pushed the Blue Devils lead into double figures for the first time. A botched lob to N.C. State big man Jordan Vandenberg led to an open court the other way for Parker, and his authoritative dunk over a sidestepping Barber made it 49-45 with 15 minutes left. Quinn Cook ended the run with a 3 that made it 61-49 with about 9 1/2 minutes remaining. "We got a lot of easy baskets from our defence, and once we got into a rhythm, our shots started falling down and we got rolling," Sulaimon said. N.C. State never could string together a game-threatening run after that, and the Wolfpacks best chance down the stretch came when they closed to 67-59 on Freemans jumper with about 3 minutes left. Hood missed the front end of a one-and-one but the rebound went to Parker -- who finished with a momentum-shifting dunk to put Duke back up by 10. Cook had 14 points for the Blue Devils, who gave N.C. State its most lopsided loss of the season in the teams only previous meeting -- a 95-60 thumping at Cameron Indoor Stadium in which Duke seemed content to let Warren score and clamp down on everyone else. At least early on Saturday, though, the Blue Devils once again couldnt stop anyone. N.C. State hit 13 of 15 shots over an 11-minute stretch and scored on 15 of 16 possessions, with the only empty trip in that span coming when Warren missed the front end of a one-and-one. "First half, neither team could stop one another," Krzyzewski said. "In the second half, we just played better defence." ' ' '