Houston has quickly established itself as the kings of the Big 12 with back-to-back outright regular season titles in its two seasons since joining the conference from the AAC. But there is still one bit of league supremacy the Cougars have yet to claim.

Houston will have the luxury of resting an extra two days with the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship basketball tournament starting Tuesday. The Big 12 regular-season champion Cougars (27-4) won’t be playing until Thursday’s quarterfinal round at Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center,

Utah earned the No. 11 seed for its first Big 12 tourney, despite firing coach Craig Smith a few weeks ago, and will play UCF on Tuesday. Arizona State landed the No. 15 seed and will play No. 10 seed Kansas State. And Colorado, which returned to the Big 12 after a foray in the Pac-12, is seeded last and will open against No. 9 seed TCU on Tuesday.

Big 12 Tournament kicks off Tuesday, March 11, in Kansas City, and local businesses are gearing up for an influx of customers. The tournament means that thousands of basketball fans will be out and about and ready to shop.

Baylor coach Scott Drew is confident that his team has accomplished enough this season that it’s in the NCAA tournament, but one to four more wins would provide wiggle room.