Don't get me wrong, I want a men's Big 12 championship too. But would like a national championship a little more if I had to choose.
In some ways the coaches have to aim to win either the conference or national titles. If they give partial scholarships wisely, they can score a lot of points and win the conference. To win the national title, you have to give more full scholarships to folks who can win at the NCAA meet. But that hurts you at conference because you don't have as many people finishing 5th, 6th etc, because you already used up your scholarships.