Kansas guard Devonte' Graham (4) flashes a big smile as time runs out in the Jayhawks' 81-71 win over West Virginia, Saturday, March 12, 2016 at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

It’s Big 12 tournament time in Kansas City, Mo., and that means — among other amazing things like gathering at Power & Light for a few cold ones under abundant sunshine on a warm afternoon — it’s time to take a stab at predicting this year’s Big 12 tourney bracket.

I know what you’re thinking. Good luck, right? I mean, after all of those close games we saw in the conference this season — and, believe it or not, there were more than a dozen that didn’t involve Kansas — how can anyone possibly predict how this year’s tournament is going to go?

Good question. Tough question. Tough exercise. But let’s go for it.

• Wednesday, March 8 —

(8) TCU vs. (9) Oklahoma, 6 p.m. — A rematch of the regular season finale for both teams, won by Oklahoma, I’m going with the Sooners again this time around. This match-up features two teams headed in opposite directions and the young Sooners seem to have figured a few things out in the latter stages of conference play. I like OU in a game that might actually be the most lopsided outcome of any all weekend. The pick: Oklahoma.

(7) Texas Tech vs. (10) Texas, 8:30 p.m. — The Longhorns have good athletes, a nice mix of talent at key positions and some hope for the future. But, for whatever reason (and there may be many), it just has never clicked this season. The Red Raiders on the other hand have a real nice team that, could be in a much different position had it not been involved in a so many of those agonizingly close games (most of them losses) throughout the season. I think this will be a good one, but Tech is better and has more to play for. The pick: Texas Tech.

• Thursday, March 9 —

(4) Iowa State vs. (5) Oklahoma State, 11:30 a.m. — These two played during the final week of the regular season and it was Iowa State who came away with a hard-fought victory at home on Senior Night. I’m going to say those two factors created the final outcome and give the nod to Okie State in the rematch. Jawun Evans is a wizard, Jeffrey Carroll is a beast and OSU was as hot as just about anybody down the stretch. This could very easily be the game of the tournament, though, and should be a lot of fun to watch. The pick: Oklahoma State.

(1) Kansas vs. (9) Oklahoma, 1:30 p.m. — A little more than a week ago, OU had Kansas down 12 with less than 10 minutes to play in its own gym. And then the Jayhawks woke up and ran the Sooners out of the gym at the finish line. Even without Josh Jackson, who was suspended for Thursday’s Big 12 tourney opener, I think that’s the way this one starts and Kansas wins with relative ease, even if the Sooners don’t stop fighting. The pick: Kansas.

(2) West Virginia vs. (7) Texas Tech, 6 p.m. — Tech picked up a huge upset early in Big 12 play over the Mountaineers but a lot has happened since then and the Red Raiders will be asked to take on Press Virginia less than 24 hours after closing out Texas. Talk about a tough task. The pick: West Virginia.

(3) Baylor vs. (6) Kansas State, 8 p.m. — This is one of the more intriguing match-ups heading into the tournament. These two teams split during the regular season, with each winning on the other team’s home floor, and K-State is going to have to have this one in order to boost its chances at becoming the sixth team from the Big 12 to get into the Big Dance. I think the Wildcats have it in them. They looked like a Top 25 team at times this season — most notably in both match-ups with Kansas — and are playing not only for their postseason lives but for head coach Bruce Weber’s job. That’s a ton of motivation and a whole heck of a lot more to play for than anything Baylor can come up with. The Bears finished the year dropping three of their last six games (and five of their last 10) and will head into the NCAA Tournament as a 3 seed without a ton of confidence. Getting the game in Kansas City certainly doesn’t hurt the Wildcats here. The pick: K-State.

• Friday, March 10 —

(1) Kansas vs. (5) Oklahoma State, 6 p.m. — A rematch of the regular season finale in Stillwater, it’s hard to imagine the Cowboys playing as well as they did in a building that will be 80 percent full of Kansas fans. The Jayhawks have done a nice job of bottling up sharp-shooter Phil Forte and have the speed, athleticism and depth to match up with Evans and Carroll. I think it’ll be another terrific game, but I think it’ll look a lot like the match-up between these two at Allen Fieldhouse back in mid-January. The pick: Kansas.

(2) West Virginia vs. (6) Kansas State, 8 p.m. — An all-Sunflower State final and third clash between Kansas and Kansas State sure would be fun, but so would a third meeting between the best two teams in the Big 12. The Mountaineers force K-State into a ton of mistakes and Weber gets out-coached by Huggy Bear as West Virginia, which won the women’s tournament, cruises into the final for the second year in a row. The pick: West Virginia.

• Saturday, March 11 —

(1) Kansas vs. (2) West Virginia, 5 p.m. — Not only is this a rematch of that epic game in Lawrence earlier this season, where Kansas came from 14 down in the final three minutes to pull out an improbable victory, but it’s also a rematch of last season’s Big 12 tournament title game. Cue Devonte’ Graham. After hitting the Mountaineers for 27 points on 10 shots in last year’s title game, Graham goes off again, helping Kansas overcome another tough game against WVU by Frank Mason III and lending further support to Bill Self’s claim that, if you’re gonna get to the title game and play three games in three days, you might as well win the whole darn thing. Kansas stays red hot and prepares to enter the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 overall seed with a hard-fought win over a dangerous team and an assist from the Sprint Center crowd. The pick: Kansas.