The Jayhawks' seventh Big 12 tournament title came at the new Sprint Center in Kansas City, and they defended their title in 2011. Results returned to form in the 2010 tournament as the top four teams all made the semifinals, and top-seed Kansas claimed another trophy by defeating Kansas State in the championship game by a 72-64 score. Ninth-seeded Baylor won three games to reach the final before falling to Missouri, 73-60, as DeMarre Carroll and Zaire Taylor led the Tigers to a first Big 12 tournament crown. 2 Oklahoma - falling in the quarterfinals. The 2009 Big 12 tournament featured a number of upsets, with three of the top four seeds - including No. The 2008 Big 12 tournament saw the Jayhawks win a third-straight title for the second time in the event's history, topping Texas in the championship game once again. Despite losing the final, Longhorn forward Kevin Durant earned most outstanding player honors, becoming just the third freshman to earn the honor in the tournament's history. Oklahoma City's Ford Center played host to the Big 12 tournament in 2007, when top-seeded Kansas neeed overtime to defeat Texas in the final, 88-84. The game would mark the first of three straight tournament championship games between Kansas and Texas, with the Jayhawks getting the better of their rivals on each occasion. In 2006, the conference tournament moved back to the American Airlines Center but the arena did not offer any advantage for home-state Texas, as the Longhorn lost in the final to Kansas, 80-68. The Cowboys' Tony Allen was named most outstanding player in the 2004 tournament, while teammates Joey Graham and John Lucas returned to make the all-tournament team for a second consecutive time in 2005 as Oklahoma State repeated as champion in the last Big 12 tournament played at Kemper Arena.

The last of those came in 2003 in Dallas, when the American Airlines Center hosted the tournament for the first time.Д«aylor did not take part in the 2004 conference tournament (due to self-imposed restrictions related to NCAA violations), when Oklahoma State captured its first of two straight tournament titles. But the Sooners rebounded from the loss by winning the trophy the following three seasons.

Oklahoma appeared in four straight tournament finals beginning in 2000, the year that Iowa State captured its only Big 12 tournament crown.

And after finishing third in the Big 12 regular-season standings the following season, Kansas won a third-straight conference tournament in 1999. The Jayhawks repeated as champions in 1998, with forward Paul Pierce named the tournament most outstanding player for a second year in a row, after scoring 67 points in three games. Top-seed Kansas - which was also the top-ranked team in the nation at the time - cruised to three double-digit victories after its bye to capture the tournament title, defeating Missouri 87-60 in the final. The conference's first season of men's basketball, contested in 1996-97, was followed by the inaugural Big 12 tournament at Kemper Arena in Kansas City in March 1997.Д¬onference officials decided each of the 12 school teams would participate in the postseason tourney, with the top four teams from the final regular-season standings receiving a bye in the first round of play. The Big 12 Conference was first established in the mid-1990s, as four Texas schools from the Southwest Conference joined the universities from the Big 8 Conference to form a new league.

Big 12 conference tournament