This creates a two-year window where the conference will have 14 teams, as both Texas and Oklahoma will still be around unless they negotiate an earlier exit.Ĭonference realignment is 95% about football but it certainly has an impact on basketball, as each of these four programs has recently made the NCAA Tournament, with Houston just coming off a Final Four appearance. The set dates for arrivals to the Big 12 will be for the 2023-24 season, for all sports. □ Big 12 Extends Membership Invitations The Cougars must contemplate how they will handle such a jump in competition in the coming seasons.The announcement you’ve all been waiting for… When it comes down to picking tournament teams, the fact that BYU is in the Big 12 will bolster their resume instead of being in the WCC, where they may not get the same benefit of the doubt from the committee.Īs the NCAA Tournament enters its second week, the Big 12 has plenty of reason for optimism that one of its schools will raise the national championship trophy on April 4. The conference as a whole is well-respected around the league. They will have the chance to play programs like Kansas, Baylor, and Texas Tech every single year, including hosting them at the Marriott Center. This is a fantastic opportunity for BYU to bring their program to a whole new level. However, Cougar fans should not despair and dread the day the men’s basketball team enters the Big 12. Texas Tech lost to Virginia in the 2019 title game. The Big 12 has also sent a program to the NCAA Tournament championship game two years in a row, with Baylor winning it all last year, as they thrashed Gonzaga. Pope has acknowledged the challenges that await BYU. Mark Pope’s squad will be routinely tested week after week during the Big 12’s grueling conference slate. Meanwhile, this season, BYU struggled down the stretch and finished 24-10, including 9-6 in conference play. KenPom ranks the Big 12 as the toughest basketball conference in the country. The Cougars will need to step up their game in recruiting, coaching and of course, execution on the court in order to remain competitive in that conference. In the history of the NCAA Tournament, the Big 12 has sent over twice as many programs to the tournament as the Mountain West or WCC. Gonzaga is the only team remaining from either of those two conferences. For comparison, the Mountain West sent four and the WCC, three. The Big 12 sent six teams to the tournament. Instead of having one big fish like Gonzaga in the small pond of the WCC, there are plenty of predators of all shapes and sizes up and down the deep waters of the Big 12. Instead of playing in borderline high school-sized gyms against the bottom feeders of the WCC like Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine, they will need to travel to places like West Virginia and Kansas State. The Cougars will have a tall task in order to compete in such a deep conference. Clearly, this is one of the premier basketball conferences in the nation. They too reached the Sweet 16 after beating UAB and Illinois.īYU enters the Big 12 in the 2023-2024 season. Plus, consider Houston, who is also Big 12-bound with BYU. 3 seeded Wisconsin, both considered upsets by the Cyclones.ĭefending champion Baylor lost to North Carolina in the second round. Iowa State has been the biggest surprise of the Big 12’s crop of tournament teams, beating No. Texas Tech staved off an upset-minded Notre Dame in the Round of 32. Kansas looks like one of the strongest teams remaining in the field, having won their two tournament games by an average margin of 17 points. With three teams in the Sweet 16, the Big 12 is tied with the ACC for the most remaining squads. Only the ACC has a better winning percentage at. The Big 12 is tied with the Big 10 for the most tournament wins this season, with nine. Big 12 fans have plenty of reason to puff their chests out with pride. When the NCAA Tournament begins, many fanbases not only wave the flags of their favorite college basketball team, but also start to flaunt their pride in the conference in which their favorite program resides.
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