# 1998 Big 12 men's basketball tournament

The 1998 Big 12 men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Big 12 Conference. It was played from March 5 to 8, in Kansas City, Missouri at Kemper Arena. Number 1 seed Kansas defeated 3 seed Oklahoma 72–58 to win the championship and receive the conference’s automatic bid to the 1998 NCAA tournament.

## Seeding

The Tournament consisted of a 12 team single-elimination tournament with the top 4 seeds receiving a bye.
1998 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament seeds :
| Seed | School | Conf. | Over. | Tiebreaker |
| 1 | Kansas ‡# | 15–1 | 35–4 | |
| 2 | Oklahoma State # | 11–5 | 22–7 | 2–0 vs. OU |
| 3 | Oklahoma # | 11–5 | 22–11 | 0–2 vs. OSU |
| 4 | Nebraska # | 10–6 | 20–12 | |
| 5 | Baylor | 8–8 | 14–14 | 1–0 vs. MU |
| 6 | Missouri | 8–8 | 17–15 | 0–1 vs. BU |
| 7 | Texas Tech | 7–9 | 13–14 | 1–0 vs. KSU |
| 8 | Kansas State | 7–9 | 17–12 | 5–5 vs. division (CU, ISU, KU, MU, NU) |
| 9 | Colorado | 7–9 | 13–14 | 3–7 vs. division (ISU, KU, KSU, MU, NU) |
| 10 | Texas | 6–10 | 14–17 | |
| 11 | Iowa State | 5–11 | 12–18 | |
| 12 | Texas A&M | 1–15 | 7–20 | |
| ‡ – Big 12 Conference regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed. # – Received a single-bye in the conference tournament. Overall records include all games played in the Big 12 Conference tournament. ||||||||||

## Schedule

| Session | Game | Time | Matchup | Television | Attendance |
| First Round – Thursday, March 5 ||||||
| 1 | 1 | 12:00 PM | #8 Kansas State 75 vs #9 Colorado 61 | Big 12 | 9,300 |
| 1 | 2 | 2:20 PM | #5 Baylor 66 vs #12 Texas A&M 63 | Big 12 | 9,300 |
| 2 | 3 | 6:00 PM | #10 Texas 86 vs #7 Texas Tech 83 | Big 12 | 13,800 |
| 2 | 4 | 8:20 PM | #6 Missouri 74 vs #11 Iowa State 55 | Big 12 | 13,800 |
| Quarterfinals – Friday, March 6 ||||||
| 3 | 5 | 12:00 PM | #1 Kansas 68 vs #8 Kansas State 61 | Big 12 | 16,800 |
| 3 | 6 | 2:20 PM | #4 Nebraska 65 vs #5 Baylor 46 | Big 12 | 16,800 |
| 4 | 7 | 6:00 PM | #10 Texas 65 vs #2 Oklahoma State 64 | Big 12 | 15,400 |
| 4 | 8 | 8:20 PM | #3 Oklahoma 58 vs #6 Missouri 53 | Big 12 | 15,400 |
| Semifinals – Saturday, March 7 ||||||
| 5 | 9 | 1:00 PM | #1 Kansas 91 vs #4 Nebraska 59 | Big 12 | 17,100 |
| 5 | 10 | 3:20 PM | #3 Oklahoma 68 vs #10 Texas 55 | Big 12 | 17,100 |
| Final – Sunday, March 8 ||||||
| 6 | 11 | 2:00 PM | #1 Kansas 72 vs #3 Oklahoma 58 | ESPN | 16,800 |
| Game times in CT. #-Rankings denote tournament seed ||||||

## Bracket

| First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 8 | Kansas State | 75 | | | | | | | | | |
| 9 | Colorado | 61 | | | | | | | | | |
| 9 | Colorado | 61 | 1 | No. 3 Kansas | 68 | | | | | | |
| | | | 8 | Kansas State | 61 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | 1 | No. 3 Kansas | 91 | | | |
| | | | | | | 4 | Nebraska | 59 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Nebraska | 75 | | | | | | |
| | | | 5 | Baylor | 46 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Baylor | 66 | 5 | Baylor | 46 | | | | | | |
| 12 | Texas A&M | 63 | | | | | | | | | |
| 12 | Texas A&M | 63 | | | | | | | 1 | No. 3 Kansas | 72 |
| | | | | | | | | | 3 | Oklahoma | 58 |
| 10 | Texas | 86 | | | | | | | | | | 3 | Oklahoma | 58 |
| 7 | Texas Tech | 83 | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Texas Tech | 83 | 10 | Texas | 65 | | | | | | |
| | | | 2 | No. 25 Oklahoma St. | 62 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | 3 | Oklahoma | 68 | | | |
| | | | | | | 10 | Texas | 55 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Oklahoma | 58 | | | | | | |
| | | | 6 | Missouri | 53 | | | | | | |
| 6 | Missouri | 74 | 6 | Missouri | 53 | | | | | | |
| 11 | Iowa State | 55 | | | | | | | | | |

## All-Tournament Team

Most Outstanding Player – Paul Pierce, Kansas
| Player | Team | Position | Class |
| Paul Pierce | Kansas | Jr. | F |
| Raef LaFrentz | Kansas | Sr. | F |
| Corey Brewer | Oklahoma | Sr. | G |
| Evan Wiley | Oklahoma | Sr. | C |
| Tyronn Lue | Nebraska | Jr. | G |