Kansas City, Mo. ? No member of the Big 12 Conference has won an NCAA championship since Kansas University upended Oklahoma 15 years ago — back in the Big Eight days.

It’s time, say many critics, for the Big 12 either to win a national title or shut up about being the nation’s best conference.

And, boy, do Big 12 coaches resent those critics.

“Look how far we’ve come,” said Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson, whose Sooners joined Kansas last year in the Final Four and have a No. 1 seed this year in the East Regional.

“It used to be we needed to get a team to the regionals. Then it was can we ever get a team to the Final Four. That was the next question.”

With six teams in this year’s tournament, including two No. 1 seeds and one No. 2, the Big 12’s claim of being the best basketball league in the land seems solid.

“I hope the Big 12 advances far and we all have a great tournament,” Sampson said. “We’re representing what I think is the greatest conference in college basketball this year.”

With Texas seeded No. 1 in the South and Kansas No. 2 in the West, this could be the year the Big 12 brings the trophy home.

“Whether it comes this year or not, it doesn’t take away from the fact that this year, the best conference was the Big 12,” Sampson said.

“Can we win a national championship this year? Sure we can. But sometimes it comes down to good fortune and good breaks. We’re going to win one eventually.”

Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton, whose Cowboys are seeded No. 6 in the East, agrees that luck has much to do with clearing the mantle for national championship trophies.

“It’s tough to even get to the Final Four,” said Sutton, who guided Arkansas to the Final Four in 1978 and OSU in 1995. “When you get there, you need some friendly calls and a few lucky bounces to win it all. I think it’s unfair when people say the Big 12 hasn’t won a national championship. I would hope this year one of the three teams with high seeds will be able to do that.

“I understand people are critical of the fact we haven’t won. But it’s still a great league.”

At Kansas, in the meantime, they’re still wondering how they got to be the No. 2 seed in the tough West region while Texas is No. 1 in the South. The Jayhawks won the regular-season conference championship, beat Texas head-to-head and went farther in the conference tournament than the Longhorns.

“If I were a person who wanted to make a case for Texas, I would have a pretty good case for that, that we are worthy of a No. 1 seed,” said Texas coach Rick Barnes. “And there are other teams that could say that.

“Our guys have worked hard. When you look at Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Pittsburgh, all those schools, there is such a fine line there, really and truly. Every school could say we’ve got a shot at it. But the way it was laid out, we’ve got to take it and see what we can do with it.”

Kansas coach Roy Williams says he’s not anti-Texas, just mystified at the selection committee’s thinking.

“We had three teams that could have easily been No. 1 seeds,” Williams said.

At Colorado, they’re not worried about the Big 12’s winning a national championship or who ought to be seeded where as much as they’re eager to capitalize on the opportunity at hand. As No. 10 seed in the South, the Buffaloes have their first NCAA bid since 1997.

“The one thing it does, it helps you in recruiting,” coach Ricardo Patton said. “In years past, we’ve had to go out and talk to players and their parents about what could happen. And now we can go out and talk to those prospective student-athletes and talk about what is happening now. I think that makes a difference.”

Missouri also received a bid into the tournament and is the No. 6 seed in the Midwest.

Headed to the NIT from the Big 12, meanwhile, are Iowa State and Texas Tech. Many people thought the Red Raiders deserved more consideration for an NCAA berth.