NCAA Basketball: Impact of USC and UCLA set to join the Big Ten in 2024

Future impact of departures on the Pac-12

It genuinely pains me to say it, but this is the kiss of death for the Pac-12 as a conference. This move will leave the other power schools in the Pac-12 sputtering, looking for an out.

There is certainly reason to believe that a Big 12, Pac-12 merger would make sense at this point in time. This idea does have merit, but is all a bit confusing on how it would work out. The Pac-12 still owns ten teams after UCLA and USC’s departure, while the Big 12 has `14 after the additions of UCF, BYU, Cincinnati, and Houston.

Oregon and Arizona reign supreme in the current Pac-12, and only time will tell whether they are okay with that. There are scenarios where the Big 12 picks up a few Pac-12 teams, the Big 10 envelops a couple more, and the rest are sentenced to the Mountain West or West Coast Conference.

This would mean the end of the Pac-12. Unfortunately, there’s not teams like UCLA and USC just lining up to join the Pac-12 right now. Some questionable decisions by the conference’s leadership and simply less money to be made makes it a very mediocre conference landing spot for those looking to realign.

The Pac-12 Conference owns 544 national championships to its name as of 2022. They truly are, as Bill Walton would put it, ‘The Conference of Champions’. However, the conference hasn’t had a men’s basketball championship since ’97. It’s a real shame that all of that tradition and success within the conference has been thrown out the window in favor of some extra money for certain schools.

For the Pac-12 to escape an onslaught of departures, they’d better act quickly to formulate a plan of substance.