Big 12 Could Add Another Basketball Powerhouse

The Big 12 could bolster its membership by adding a blue-chip mid-major. 

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has met with Gonzaga athletic director Chris Standiford to discuss the Zags joining the Power 5 conference, according to ESPN. 

The conference will be losing Texas and Oklahoma — two of its most profitable athletic programs — to the SEC in 2025. 

The Big 12 will combat the losses by adding Cincinnati, UCF, Houston, and BYU by 2024. 

• In September, Yormark said that the conference is “open for business.”
• He has also voiced his desire to expand westward.
• The Big East and Pac-12 have also expressed interest in adding Gonzaga, a perennial basketball powerhouse. 

In October, the Big 12 finalized a new six-year media rights deal with ESPN and FOX worth $2.3 billion. The deal, which starts in 2030, will pay Big 12 members about $31.7 million annually — up from the $28 million average on the current deal. 

Reality Check 

Bob Huggins, recently inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, thinks things could be much different for Gonzaga if it joins the Big-12. 

“I would think it would be a tremendous awakening for Gonzaga,” WVU’s coach said. “You don’t get to make your own schedule in the Big 12.” 

Big 12 power Kansas, for example, has made 16 Final Four appearances and won four national titles.

The Zags’ have won 21 WCC regular-season championships since the 2000-2001 season, but no national title after two trips to the Final Four in 2017 and 2021.