Big 12 Basketball: Examining 9 potential candidates for expansion

UCF

Though last alphabetically, UCF might be one of the best choices for the Big 12 to expand. First and foremost, that football program has basically been the very best among non-power conference schools these last few seasons. The addition of the Knights would help offset the loss of Oklahoma and Texas, especially if they can continue their momentum in the Big 12.

The basketball program has been a different story and would likely struggle in the Big 12. Johnny Dawkins’ team took Duke to the wire in the NCAA Tournament in 2019, but that was UCF’s only Tourney bid in the last 15 years. UCF’s promotion would be because of the prowess of the football team; basketball would be a position similar to TCU when they joined the conference nearly a decade ago.

A Florida team brings a new market to the Big 12, especially one with a dynamic football program as the Knights. There are plenty of reasons to believe that the Knights could struggle when joining a power conference, but this is certainly a move that the Big 12 should consider. Throw together UCF with a few of the stronger AAC teams and you could build a really nice, revamped Big 12.

We’ve looked closely at a number of teams that the Big 12 could add to salvage the future of the conference. Which combination of schools do you think would be the best to keep this power conference from falling apart at the seams?