Big 12 still best basketball conference?
- Thread starter Cardinal2001
- Start date
I'll put myself in the basketball conference strength is cyclical. With smaller roster sizes, portal and NIL it's easier for schools to rise/fall rather quickly.
That's why it was interesting when Yormark targeted breaking out BB from FB TV contract and a lot of fans jumped on that idea as allowing the Big12 to narrow the money gap with SEC/Big10. That's only true if Big12 ratings are superior, not conference strength.
IMO separating TV deals was to raise "all boats". As there is a tendency to see diminishing financial returns above a certain level of revenue. Just like professional sports where the Yankees/Dodgers/Red Sox don't always win the WS. But definitely don't want to be Marlins, Rays, Pirates and A's.
That's why it was interesting when Yormark targeted breaking out BB from FB TV contract and a lot of fans jumped on that idea as allowing the Big12 to narrow the money gap with SEC/Big10. That's only true if Big12 ratings are superior, not conference strength.
IMO separating TV deals was to raise "all boats". As there is a tendency to see diminishing financial returns above a certain level of revenue. Just like professional sports where the Yankees/Dodgers/Red Sox don't always win the WS. But definitely don't want to be Marlins, Rays, Pirates and A's.
Because they have an obscene amount of money after the new contracts. They can break off more for bball.
Lot of hoops to be played but its fair to say the SEC has been dominant in the non-con so far.
Not sure the extra month is going to change anything. There is very little inter league play left. Once all the teams are playing inside their conferences you won’t see much movement on the relative conference rankings.
No, adding Arizona St, Colorado, and Utah while losing Texas has watered it down quite a but. Houston and Arizona aren't as good as they normally are either.
The sample size of meaningful intersectional games is pretty small. A lot of a team's strength is in how they improve through the year and how they handle their conference games. The SEC may very well be better but in the latest AP poll, half the top ten are SEC teams. That looks a little high to me.
In the free agency era we are currently in, this will likely change annually..
Big 12 has been quite disappointing to start the season. Teams like BU, KSU, and Houston all have 3 losses.. Not to mention the cluster *** in Arizona. However, 16/16 teams are inside the top 90 on Torvick 9/16 are in the top 50 so I still think 1/2 the league or more gets into March Madness.
*For reference, all SEC teams are inside the top 68 on Torvick. 75% of the league has 9 wins or more and 5 teams are inside the top 10.. The problem they'll run into is beating each other up during the season. A 15-5 Big 12 team will be seeded higher than a 12-6 SEC team (Shocking they play 2 less conference games than everyone else, i know....)
Big 12 has been quite disappointing to start the season. Teams like BU, KSU, and Houston all have 3 losses.. Not to mention the cluster *** in Arizona. However, 16/16 teams are inside the top 90 on Torvick 9/16 are in the top 50 so I still think 1/2 the league or more gets into March Madness.
*For reference, all SEC teams are inside the top 68 on Torvick. 75% of the league has 9 wins or more and 5 teams are inside the top 10.. The problem they'll run into is beating each other up during the season. A 15-5 Big 12 team will be seeded higher than a 12-6 SEC team (Shocking they play 2 less conference games than everyone else, i know....)
True, but when they only have Mizzu and OU that offer the sport, I guess they will have to be content winning in FB, MBB, WBB, softball and baseball.
I find it interesting that the SEC is the only high major that doesn't play 20 conference games. They are sticking with 18 (3 round robin (2 protected) and 12 one offs) Looks like they are going the football route which is to say conference games are as few as possible, so the conference doesn't rack up losses against each other.
I think the SEC is tops this year. That's because of the underperforming of Arizona (4 - 5 right now!; when have they ever been that bad?), BU, KSU and Houston to a lesser extent to start the year. There's also been no big surprises or undefeated runs out of the others as there has been in prior years for example when BYU had that run to start 12-1 last year to jump high into the rankings. We have nobody doing that this year. ISU has been the best top half performer to hold up to preseason expectations and has carried some weight for the Big XII.
It's cyclical. I will say it's harder when you add the UCF's of the world to the conference. Still smarting that we added that school. They bring so little. When you lose a UT and gain a UCF, well.... I also look at the dilution of adding more. In recent years, we routinely got in 7 of 10 to the NCAA tournament and the extra payouts that came with it (would have been more if Big XII had deeper runs). Now, getting 9 teams in is going to actually dilute the share (9 out of 16). Really hope we can get up to at least 10 consistently year-in-and-year-out, but the only way that happens this year is if some of those middling teams (KSU, CU, Arizona, UCF, etc.) build their resume at the expense of the ISUs, KUs, and others who actually have some good nonconference victories. Don't want that.
It's cyclical. I will say it's harder when you add the UCF's of the world to the conference. Still smarting that we added that school. They bring so little. When you lose a UT and gain a UCF, well.... I also look at the dilution of adding more. In recent years, we routinely got in 7 of 10 to the NCAA tournament and the extra payouts that came with it (would have been more if Big XII had deeper runs). Now, getting 9 teams in is going to actually dilute the share (9 out of 16). Really hope we can get up to at least 10 consistently year-in-and-year-out, but the only way that happens this year is if some of those middling teams (KSU, CU, Arizona, UCF, etc.) build their resume at the expense of the ISUs, KUs, and others who actually have some good nonconference victories. Don't want that.
Yes. They have been intentionally pumping money into MBB at the conference and AD levels For a few years now. They were the second best league last year and have been climbing.
