by @dekota
Let’s not forget there will be more than just football in the new Big 12 next year.
I get it, football Saturdays are so close, and I love that time of year more than the next guy. And I understand that football is the battery that keeps everything powered, but all this conference realignment has centered on the one sport, for the most part. Basketball has been mentioned briefly, mainly by Brett Yormark.
Eventually, we’ll witness the effects this shakeup has overall on the “smaller sports,” whether the money coming in ticks up their budgets, or traveling from Morgantown, West Virginia to Salt Lake City, Utah, for a soccer match is more detrimental than beneficial. Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz actually had a quote Sunday that encapsulated the concerns I’ve had since Friday. But I want to give the conferences and universities time to see what their plans are first for the sports that don’t line their pockets before delving too far into that.
For now, we’ll take a look at how the Big 12 will be impacted immediately next year in most of the smaller sports from the move of adding Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah, while losing OU and Texas.
Men’s Basketball
Already the best conference in the country on the hardwood, the Big 12 only improved after Friday.
The superior addition is Arizona. Yormark had thrown out an idea of adding UConn and Arizona to capitalize on the basketball market. Well, he nabbed Arizona, which comes without a football program that is more baggage than an asset like UConn has. Not to mention the geographic nightmare UConn would be.
The love for basketball far outweighs the care for football in Tucson, and rightfully so. The Wildcats have a storied basketball history that rivals Kansas. Speaking of which, imagine Arizona visiting Phog Allen every year for a matchup we would have only gotten deep into the NCAA Tournament before. The two have faced off only 12 times before, with KU holding an 8-4 advantage. Now we could get it regularly, either in a home-and-home series or even for a Big 12 title in Kansas City.
Arizona set a Pac-12 record with 18 conference wins two seasons ago, but tallying those dubs will not be as easy now with the likes of KU, Houston, Texas Tech and basically every other team in the Big 12 that would be in the upper tier if competing in the Pac. Mike Boynton will have his work cut out for him trying to maneuver a bracket that could include Texas Tech, Arizona, Houston, then KU in order to cut down the nets in KC.
Arizona and Arizona State also bring another rivalry to the conference that’s Big Monday-worthy. ASU made the NCAA Tournament last season, having earned a berth four times in the last 10 years.
Colorado isn’t too shabby either, also making the NCAA Tournament four times in the past 10 years.
The Cowboys don’t have much recent experience against any Pac-12 schools. OSU hasn’t played against any current Pac-12 school since losing to Oregon State in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
Women’s Basketball
Women’s basketball may not welcome in a storied program like the men will, but the additions definitely improve the competition of the Big 12.
Utah, Colorado and Arizona were all Top 25 teams last season while competing in an impressive Pac-12. Utah put together the best season of the three before losing to eventual-national champion LSU 66-63 in the Sweet 16 as a No. 2 seed.
The Cowgirls’ last competition against a Pac school was a lost to Colorado in GIA in 2021.
Baseball
Not sure these new members improve competition much, but a trip to Tuscon or Tempe in March sounds a lot more appealing than anywhere in Kansas, or even staying put in Oklahoma.
Arizona State brings in the best program historically – having the best all-time winning percentage of any Pac-12 member – but hasn’t made a trip to Omaha since 2010. The Sun Devils were 32-23 last season and were swept by OSU in a two-game series at O’Brate.
Arizona was around the middle of the Pac last season, while Utah was the worst team in the conference. Arizona and Utah still bring more to the table than Colorado, though, which doesn’t even have a baseball program.
Softball
Once again, Colorado contributes absolutely nothing here, and the Arizona schools rounded out the bottom of the Pac-12 standings last season.
Arizona has a historically great softball program, however. The Wildcats have won eight national titles and made the past three Women’s College World Series before last season.
The Sun Devils, meanwhile, are often better than they were in 2023, having last made the WCWS in 2018.
Utah could be a bright spot after appearing in the Women’s College World Series last season for the first time since 1994.
I still don’t see any new threat to the Cowgirls running this conference once OU is gone, though. OSU was 5-0 against Pac-12 competition last season. The Cowgirls beat ASU 1-0 in the OSU Mizuno Classic, swept Oregon in Super Regionals and slipped past Utah in extra innings at the WCWS. Although the league will add some competition, it’s unlikely to rival what it is losing in Oklahoma.
Wrestling
Wrestling gets the least amount of benefits from this move, as Arizona State is the only entering member with a wrestling program.
The Big 12 could benefit the Sun Devils just as much they benefit the conference, though. ASU has been a program on the rise, and entering a conference with fiercer competition and more history should only catapult the Sun Devils. Many of the Pac-12 programs are on life support (this move could ultimately kill Stanford’s program for good), missing deep-rooted dynasties like OSU and Iowa State. The Big 12 could also keep OU around for wrestling, pairing the Sooners with Missouri as another SEC school that competes as members of the Big 12 on the mat only.
It may be only one addition (for now), but ASU does add another nationally relevant program to go along with smaller programs like South Dakota State that have been on the come-up since joining the Big 12 as an affiliate.
ASU finished seventh as a team at the 2023 NCAA Tournament, two spots behind Big 12 champion Mizzou. ISU and SDSU were the only other Big 12 squads inside the top 15 in a rare down year for OSU, which placed 18th.
Despite regularly scheduling Pac members Stanford and Oregon State on their dual schedule, OSU hasn’t seen a ton of Arizona State. OSU is 7-0 against the Sun Devils, but the two haven’t collided since 2014, just before ASU’s escalation.
Nothing says Stanford or Oregon State couldn’t join the Big 12 for wrestling-only one day either, considering the state of the Pac-12 and the more western makeup the Big 12 already has for the sport.