Getty Image / Scott Winters
The Big 12 has been more active than any other conference when it comes to realignment in the last few years.
They were the first big victim of realignment when Texas and Oklahoma decided to leave for the SEC.
However, they have now made some big moves to make up for those departures. BYU, Cincinnati, and Houston are all set to join the conference this year.
Next year, they’ll be snagging an addition from another Power 5 conference. It was revealed today that Colorado would be leaving the Pac-12 to join the Big 12.
It’s a big move that could mean trouble for the Pac-12’s future, but it also won’t be the last move for the Big 12 as they work on expanding.
According to The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy, the Big 12 plans to add between 1 and 3 more schools. They’ll look at more Pac-12 teams first and if none join then they’ll look to add 1 Group of 5 school.
Big 12 will add b/w 1 & 3 schools to join Colorado in 2024, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. League will 1st seek others from Pac-12 to join. If none do so, Big 12 would add 1 Group of 5 (UConn, Memphis, SDSU or UNLV) to reach even number of teams in 2024https://t.co/j31J8IUMQN pic.twitter.com/rXcumkWoqn
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 27, 2023
The most obvious options for the Big 12 are Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State. They geographically make sense with Colorado joining and plenty of schools from Texas not being too long of a trip.
Arizona and Arizona State would also be two solid additions to the conference in basketball.
The mid-major programs could be interesting fits for the conference as well with UCONN and SDSU having just played in college basketball’s title game and Memphis usually having a strong program.
Whoever they end up adding, they won’t be able to compete with the Big 10 or SEC in football.
However, the Big 12 could assert themselves as college basketball’s elite conference with some more strong additions for the 2024-25 season.