By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big 12 Sports.com Correspondent

The Big 12 Conference has a record nine men's team in postseason play. Six teams made the NCAA Tournament bracket while three teams will play in the National Invitation Tournament. Both brackets were unveiled Sunday night.

The six teams - Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State - in the NCAA Tournament ties the Big 12 record for most teams making the 65-team field. In its 13-year history, the Big 12 has received six NCAA bids on seven occasions.

“Getting six teams into the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year speaks to the depth and balance of the Conference,” said Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe. “The competitiveness of the league should have our teams prepared for the intensity that comes with playing in the postseason. I wish all of the Big 12 teams the best of luck.”

Three teams will play in the NIT - Baylor, Kansas State and Nebraska.

* Oklahoma is the No. 2 seed in the South Regional and was assigned to Kansas City for the first and second rounds. The Sooners will open play at 8:40 p.m. Thursday against Morgan State, the champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

The Sooners have lost four of their last six but found good news in their travel destination.

"Hopefully it keeps us a little more fresh," Capel said of the trip to Kansas City. "But our guys should be real excited, excited to have an opportunity to still play. A lot of people would love to be in our spot right now."

Mike Slive, chair of the men's basketball committee and Southeastern Conference commissioner, said that seeding this year's bracket took more time than it has in the last five years.

"Oklahoma was definitely in the (No. 1 seed) conversation," Slive said. "We were very, very aware of the losses that Oklahoma suffered when Blake Griffin wasn't playing."

* Defending national champion Kansas is the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Regional. The Jayhawks are assigned to Minneapolis for the first and second rounds. Kansas will face North Dakota State at 11:30 a.m. Friday. The Bison, champions of the Horizon League, earned an NCAA bid in the first year the school was eligible.

* Missouri, winner of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Mens Championship, is the No. 3 seed in the West Regional and will travel to Boise, Idaho for the first and second rounds. The Tigers will play Ivy League champion Cornell at 3:10 p.m. Friday.

"I think we're playing some pretty good basketball right now," Missouri coach Mike Anderson said. "I like our basketball team, and I certainly like our team in a tournament format. The key is you have to get past that first game."

The trip to Boise will remind Mizzou fans of a heartbreaking moment in the school's basketball history. The Tigers lost to top-seeded UCLA in the second round on guard Tyus Edney's length-of-the-floor drive and layup.

* Texas is the No. 7 seed in the East Regional and will open the tournament playing in Greensboro, N.C. The Longhorns will face Minnesota, an at-large team from the Big Ten Conference, at 8:10 p.m. Thursday.

Texas is one of just seven schools that have played in each of the last 11 NCAA Tournaments. The other schools are: Arizona, Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Michigan State and Wisconsin.

* Oklahoma State is the No. 8 seed in the East Regional and will start play in Dayton, Ohio. The Cowboys will face Tennessee, an at-large team from the Southeastern Conference, at 1:25 p.m. Friday.

The Cowboys are in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005.

"I know it means a lot to these seniors,” said Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford, who is in his first season in Stillwater. “I am very proud for these guys to hear their names called.

"The first game is always the toughest game to get through. Our guys have never experienced this while Tennessee’s players have been through it the last couple of years.”

* Texas A&M is the No. 8 seed in the West Regional and will travel to Philadelphia to start the tournament. The Aggies will face BYU, at-large team from the Mountain West, at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

Texas A&M and BYU faced each other in last years NCAA Tournament's first round. Both teams were the same seeds as this year; the Aggies won, 67-62. The NCAA Men's Tournament committee tries to avoid such rematches.

“That’s really surprising ... to play the same team with the exact same seeds," Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon said. "The NCAA usually doesn’t do that.

"A month ago it didn’t look like we’d be in, so to be in as a 9 (seed) shows you what we’ve accomplished down the stretch.”

Slive explained that the complexity of this year's bracket - three conferences with seven teams, two with six - along with the principles the men's basketball committee must follow led to matching A&M with BYU.

Big 12's dance card
(All times CT)

Midwest Regional
Kansas vs. North Dakota State, 11:30 a.m. Friday in Minneapolis

West Regional
Texas A&M vs. BYU, 11:30 a.m. Thursday in Philadelphia
Missouri vs. Cornell, 2:10 p.m. Friday in Boise, Idaho

East Regional
Oklahoma State vs. Tennessee, 11:25 a.m. Friday in Dayton, Ohio
Texas vs. Minnesota, 6:10 p.m. Thursday, Greensboro, N.C.

South Regional
Oklahoma vs. Morgan State, 8:40 p.m. Thursday in Kansas City.