Big 12 lands six teams in NCAA tournament

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ The Big 12 landed six teams in the NCAA tournament on Sunday, all but one of them in the top half of the bracket. <br><br>One team's fans weren't happy with the seedings,

Sunday, March 10th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ The Big 12 landed six teams in the NCAA tournament on Sunday, all but one of them in the top half of the bracket.

One team's fans weren't happy with the seedings, though.

The Oklahoma fans who stayed in Kemper Arena after the fourth-ranked Sooners beat No. 1 Kansas 64-55 for their second straight Big 12 tournament title booed when the Jayhawks were seeded No. 1 in the Midwest Regional.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, had to settle for the No. 2 seed in the West.

Kansas (29-3) will meet 16th-seeded Holy Cross (18-14) on Thursday in St. Louis. The Sooners (27-4) open against 15th-seeded Illinois-Chicago (20-13) on Friday in Dallas.

The Big 12 tournament's semifinal losers wound up with No. 6 seeds, matching them against No. 11 seeds in the first round.

Texas (20-11) will also play in Dallas on Friday _ but against Boston College (20-11) in the Midwest Regional. Texas Tech (23-8) will play Southern Illinois (26-7) on Friday in the East Regional at Chicago.

The teams that lost to Texas and Texas Tech in the Big 12 quarterfinals also earned bids.

Oklahoma State, beaten by Texas Tech's Red Raiders, is the No. 7 seed in the South Regional. The Cowboys (23-8) open against 10th-seeded Kent State (27-5) on Thursday in Greenville, S.C.

Missouri, eliminated by Texas in the quarterfinals, is seeded 12th _ tied for the lowest at-large seeding in the 64-team tournament _ in the West. The Tigers, who were once ranked No. 2 after a 9-0 start but have gone 12-11 since then, meet fifth-seeded Miami (24-7) on Thursday in Albuquerque, N.M.