The Big 12 began as a shotgun marriage when the old Big 8 merged with four castoffs from the Southwest conference. The Big 12 basketball tournament is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, although the conference itself looks very different these days.
Missouri, Colorado, Nebraska and Texas A&M are now long-gone from the conference, all having left for greener pastures in the interim. Not surprisingly, it would be the Kansas Jayhawks taking home the regular season Big 12 crown, vaulting to #1 in the nation after going 29-1 during the regular season. Its one loss was to an underachieving Missouri team that finished a mediocre 16-17 but rose to the occasion to dispatch of its rival on February 4th, 1997.
The first ever Big 12 tournament in 1997
Kemper Arena in Kansas City, MO would play host to the inaugural Big 12 tournament from March 6th-March 9th 1997 just as it had done 20 times previously for the Big 8 championships.
The 10 seeded Missouri Tigers came in needing to run the table in KC just to make the NCAA tournament. Missouri pulled a mild upset by beating 7 seed Nebraska before shocking Texas in the quarterfinals. In the semis, Mizzou would control the game and won a physical contest against tough-minded Oklahoma to continue its magical run.
Missouri forward Derek Grimm talks about upcoming championship game against Kansas
Meanwhile, the top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks galavanted through its tournament games with ease, winning all of their games by double-digits. The Tigers and Jayhawks would meet in the finals for the first time since 1987 and Kansas City was abuzz with excitement.
Mizzou had won the first meeting in an epic double-overtime affair in Columbia before falling 79-67 in Lawrence just two weeks later. This would be the rubber match and a win would guarantee the Tigers a spot in the NCAA tournament. That was not to be as Kansas controlled the game from the get go as the fatigue of playing four games in four days was too much for Missouri to overcome. Kansas won the game 87-60 and would go on to make the Sweet 16 before being upset by eventual national champion Arizona.
For Missouri, the season would end that day inside Kemper Arena but many will never forget the resilience of that team that fought until the bitter end.
