Big 12 Basketball: Examining 9 potential candidates for expansion
By Joey Loose
SMU
Much like Houston, SMU is a program that spent a fair bit of time with some of these Big 12 schools in the Southwest Conference some decades ago. Unlike Houston, the Mustangs haven’t exactly been kicking butts and taking names in the premiere sports in recent years, though that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be a fine fit with the Big 12.
SMU’s basketball program had a long-awaited rebirth under Larry Brown less than a decade ago and it’s certainly possible that a Big 12 move could help revitalize the Mustangs again. The football program is a generation past their scandals of yesteryear, making Top 25 appearances in each of the last two seasons under Sonny Dykes. Both teams would struggle against Big 12 foes, but both programs have the chance to succeed long-term against these familiar foes.
In joining the Big 12, SMU would give the conference another school to solidify their Texas footprint and they’d earn an instant rivalry with TCU. There’s work to do across the athletic department to get some of these programs competing for titles again, but SMU is one of those programs that just feels like a natural fit.