![big 12 conference best college basketball teams big 12 conference best college basketball teams](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/w_2000,h_2000,c_fit/https://wreckemred.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/652254430.jpeg)
However, even excellent TV exposure doesn’t matter if the product isn’t good. The other major conferences all have media rights packages that require a certain amount of games for each team to be broadcast on their dedicated network. With ESPNU essentially becoming the pseudo “Big 12 Network,” almost any college basketball fan can catch just about any Big 12 game they could possibly want to watch without having to pay for a premium cable package or streaming service. How many of their conference games were on a network other than ESPN, ESPN2, FS1 or ESPNU (all of which are available on most or all basic or extended basic cable packages)? Just one.
![big 12 conference best college basketball teams big 12 conference best college basketball teams](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cCJc2Xf_kxu-SZ5y1fwvXlKwgS4=/0x0:2838x2027/1200x800/filters:focal(921x163:1375x617)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/51585831/usa-today-8444987.0.jpg)
Take, for example, a school like TCU, an unquestionable program-on-the-rise, but also one that finished 8th in the conference in 2018-2019 and doesn’t have a ton of basketball tradition to fall back on (apologies to our Frogs O’ War friends). The conference is perennially deep, with sometimes up to 80% of the conference earning NCAA Tournament bids, and usually at least a few of those making it to the second weekend.Īnd despite not having a conference network, it isn’t hard to find their games on TV. In basketball, the conference still retains arguably the most powerful brand in college hoops in Kansas, as well as a handful of historically and intermittently successful programs. But why?įor starters, football is and always will be king, and the Big 12 boasts two of the most powerful brands in college football in Texas and Oklahoma. That’s not the way folks inside the league, be it fans or administrators, see things. BYU, Cincinnati, UCF, USF, Houston, Colorado State, Louisville, Arizona, and Arizona State, and at least a half dozen others have all been rumored to the league at some level.īecause of all these rumors, and with uncertainty about what TV might look like after this round of contracts expires, many voices outside the conference see instability or chaos in the league’s future. Unlike the Big Ten, SEC, ACC (eventually), and Pac-12, the Big 12 didn’t have a dedicated network, but it had the TV deal it needed to ensure stability for the immediate future, but even then, the league dealt with expansion or other realignment rumors for years. At least just as importantly, the Big 12 had landed a media deal with ESPN and Fox to broadcast every Big 12 conference football and men’s basketball game.