Kansas Pushes Big XII Tournament Tickets Towards $200, Kansas City Hotels Towards $100

The Kansas Jayhawks entered this season ranked No.5 in the Associated Press preseason rankings. With the regular season now finished, the Jayhawks prepare to enter the NCAA College basketball postseason beginning with the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Conference Tournament. With a conference record of 13-5, Kansas edged out Iowa State and Oklahoma, emerging as the regular season Big 12 Conference Champion.

Seeded at #1 heading into the Conference Champion Tournament, Bill Self’s team will look to bounce back off of a buzzer beating lose to foe Oklahoma. In what was one of the finishes of the year, Kansas fell 73-75, as the Sooners’ Buddy Hield tipped in a missed layup with 0.2 seconds remaining. Finishing the year ranked No. 9 with a record of 24-7, Kansas looks poised to also be a high seed in the 2015 NCAA Tournament.

However, the Kansas State Wildcats have not been so lucky. They head into the Big 12 Championship Tournament with their only hopes of returning to the NCAA Tournament riding a Big 12 Championship title. KSU finished the regular season in 8th place of the Big 12, with a conference record of 8-10. There overall record of 15-16 was attributed to the inability to generate consistent results during the final stretch of the season. The Wildcats excelled at home, with a record of 12-4. However, the inconsistency on the road, 1-10, plagued them as they went 4-9 in their last 13 games. Coach Bruce Weber and Kansas State will need to wipe the slate clean in order to make a miraculous last minute push into the NCAA Tournament’s field 68.

According to TiqIQ, the average price for Kansas State’s game against the Texas Christian Horned Frogs in session 1 of the NCAA tournament is going for an average price of $68.79 on the secondary market. Fans can get into the Sprint Center for as low as $9.00. However, when Kansas enters the field, the price skyrockets. In their first game of the tournament during session two, the average price rises to $193.15, and the minimum price increases to $94.00 on the secondary market. Kansas will face either TCU or Kansas State in the second round, so prices should fluctuate due to the opponent that they face.

You can watch the entertaining conference tournament live in person using Hipmunk.com. Find your flight to Kansas City to take in the action from one of the NCAA’s best conferences, or even stay for multiple nights and reserve a Kansas City hotel to soak in the final Big 12 competition of the basketball season. The typical cheapest hotel rate is $68, however with the Jayhawks in town, the cheapest hotel you’ll find is $89 

Kansas will call upon 6’8’’ junior forward Perry Ellis to lead this team through the month of March. Ellis was named as the only Jayhawk to the 2014-15 All Big 12 First Team. Ellis finished the regular season averaging 28.8 minutes per game, alongside a team best 14.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. Supporting Ellis in the backcourt will be Frank Mason III. The sophomore guard averaged 12.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game while also leading the team averaging 33.6 minutes per game. The “x-factor” for Kansas will be freshman small forward Kelly Oubre Jr who was named to the 2014-15 Big 12 All Newcomer Team. If Oubre Jr. can put on a great performance in the postseason, the Jayhawks should be a contender.

However, the odds are against K-state to shock the conference by making a deep tournament run. As of late, they have rallied their form, knocking off Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa State all in the month of February. For them to succeed they will need to focus on their shooting, as they shoot an average of 43.5% from the field, ranking them 187th in the NCAA. Wednesday’s Big 12 Championship opener against TCU should be an entertaining one, as the pair will tip-off at 7:00.