Big 12 Basketball: Examining 9 potential candidates for expansion
By Joey Loose
BYU
If there was no issue adding a religious school like BYU, then the Cougars might make even more sense for the conference than Boise State would. BYU is an independent in football and could compete for conference titles again, having won 11 games this past season.
For other sports, this is a WCC team that’s blocked by Gonzaga. The basketball team has shown incredible growth under coach Mark Pope these last few seasons and would, in its current state, actually compete at the top of a new-look Big 12.
There are issues of course in adding the Cougars to the conference, but few outweigh the benefits for both program and conference. If they want to stay alive, this is the kind of big addition that the Big 12 needs to push for. Both the basketball and football programs at BYU are trending upwards and could make waves on the national stage in the coming years.
Obviously, competing in those sports at the Big 12 level would pose an extra challenge. However, the ability to avoid two or three yearly matches with Gonzaga and putting their football program back into a conference may outweigh the negative effects.