Late last May, as it became apparent that the Big 12's lacking national reputation would cost them with the NCAA Tournament committee, league coaches wondered how they could fix their perception problem.
Almost immediately, help was on the way.
Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas Tech — the only Big 12 clubs granted postseason berths — waved the conference flag with pride, each rolling all the way to Omaha to claim three of eight College World Series berths.
Coming up on a year later, we might be seeing the payoff. Projections at baseballamerica.com and D1baseball.com currently prop the Big 12 high, with seven bids, including the Sooners and Cowboys.