As the Big 12 Tournament gets under way Wednesday, I've decided to take a premature look ahead at who we might face when we begin play in the Big Dance. ESPN's Joe Lunardi currently has us picked as a #6 seed in the East, where he has Kentucky as the #1 seed. Lunardi also has Kentucky as the #1 seed overall in the Tournament. Under that scenario, we would likely face Michigan State in the second round to make it to the Sweet Sixteen. Since we are looking at hypotheticals here, though, which projected #1 seed do we match up the best with?

Lunardo has Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, and Duke as the current #1 seeds in his bracket. It seems clear to me that the worst matchup for us, just from a tactical standpoint, is Syracuse, with their 2-3 zone defense. We don't shoot consistently well from beyond three-point land, so breaing their zone would be tough for us. Kentucky might be more athletic than we are, but I think we'd give them a decent game for a while, at least for a half. I'm not sold on the strength of the ACC overall, so I'm not overly impressed with Duke, and think we'd have a decent chance with them. If they got hot from behind the arc, like they were against North Carolina, though, that'd be it for us. Overall, I think the team we may match up best with is a team we've already played, the Kansas Jayhawks. I thkink if we were given a chance to play them on a neutral court, we'd have a very good chance of beating them. With the continuing maturation of Ray Turner, I think we'd have the players inside to combat Cole Aldrich. If we did face Kansas in the Tournament, all the pressure and expectations would be on them, so we'd be able to play loose and take it to them. I think the #1 seed we match up best with is Kansas.

Who do you think is the #1 seed we'd have the best chance of beating?