The coaches were constantly communicating with one another throughout the past week. No one quite knew exactly what would happen, but everything was pointing in the direction of the Big 12 being no more.
Even Kansas’ Bill Self, who heads up one of the most storied programs in the history of college basketball, was admittedly nervous with his Jayhawks set to be left out in the cold.
His Big 12 rival from down the road, Kansas State’s Frank Martin, was openly campaigning for the league to somehow stay together. Baylor’s Scott Drew, too, faced the uncertainty of where the Bears would be — since they weren’t one of the programs targeted by the Pac-10.
Now, they can all rest easy.
“Perfect,” Self said after hearing the news that Texas declined the Pac-10 invite to remain in the Big 12.
“Great package for the league,” Martin said.
“It was the unknown,” Missouri coach Mike Anderson said on Tuesday morning.
“But now, there’s clarity.”
Just like that, the Big 12 has gone from potential disbandment to the most powerful men’s basketball league in America.
Kansas may be down after losing Sherron Collins, Cole Aldrich and Xavier Henry, but they are still the Jayhawks and will challenge for the league crown.
Kansas State returns everyone except for Denis Clemente and is poised to make a legitimate Final Four run. The latest preseason FOXSports.com poll has Martin’s team at No. 5 in the country.
Missouri and Baylor — ranked ninth and 17th in the FOXSports.com Preseason Top 25 — are two more teams that should be unanimous Top 25 preseason clubs.
Then you’ve got Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State — all of which have been strong in basketball circles in recent years. Even Texas Tech, with just about everyone of note back for Pat Knight, could make some noise.
The bottom line here is Big 12 basketball actually improved through all of this.
Gone are Colorado and Nebraska — two teams that were nearly 100 games below the .500 mark in Big 12 play since joining the conference. The Buffaloes went to the Pac-10, and Nebraska is headed to the Big Ten.
Both were dead weight.
Now, the Big 12 is down to 10 teams.
“Going to 10 teams, from a basketball standpoint, will do nothing but help the league,” Self said.
“Seven of the 10 teams could be NCAA tournament teams,” added Martin.
The strength of schedule and RPI numbers of the remaining teams should get a significant boost without Colorado and Nebraska.
Now, each team will play everyone twice — which will help with rivalries.
There will also be a true regular-season conference champion.
The basketball coaches realized their place in all this. Conference expansion was clearly driven by money — and football is the heavy-hitter when it comes to revenue.
That left guys like Self, Martin, Anderson and Drew virtually helpless.
“It’s not a knock on basketball,” Martin said. “It’s reality.”
“It’s football-driven,” Self said.
“I’ve talked to every single guy in the league,” Martin said just prior to getting official word that Texas and Texas A&M were remaining in the league. “And everyone’s on board with staying in the Big 12. They don’t want to move; they think this league is good.”
Strength isn’t necessarily in numbers, either.
The Big East has 16 teams and the top tier is a buzz-saw, but there are several games that are circled each year as easy wins as long as you show up.
The Big 12 won’t have many of those.
This year, Iowa State, under first-year coach Fred Hoiberg, could be abysmal. But other than that, there likely won’t be many cupcakes.
Oklahoma is down after losing Willie Warren, Tiny Gallon and Tommy Mason-Griffin, but that shouldn’t last long.
Oklahoma State will have to replace James Anderson, but Travis Ford’s team should be competitive for a NCAA tourney berth.
“Nothing against the other leagues, but I really believe our league just got better,” Self said.
Just like that, the Big 12 — or whatever you want to call the 10-team league — went from on the verge of dissolving, to a conference that may have no equal in the future.
