Big 12 Basketball: Pros and cons of recent serious expansion candidates

UNLV

This last one is a bit more of a Hail Mary than some of the other programs considered, but UNLV is still a very realistic candidate for conference expansion. They’d be a fine addition if the Pac-12 came calling, especially if Arizona, Colorado, or others are also abandoning the conference. What the Rebels have going for them is their location.

Las Vegas would be a fantastic addition to the Big 12 footprint and the conference representatives know that. With the recent pro sports teams moving to the city, it’s clear that there’s a growing sports scene in Sin City. The issue however is that UNLV’s basketball and football programs have been rather uninspiring in recent years. UNLV clings to that success under Jerry Tarkanian, who led the Rebels to a national title, but that success was more than three decades ago.

UNLV would be the worst addition from a pure basketball standpoint, but they’d also be in a similar position to TCU from a decade ago. The Horned Frogs made sense for a number of non-basketball reasons and eventually built their program into a contender. UNLV has significant work to do in multiple sports, but their location couldn’t be more perfect. It’s likely that someone will snatch them up in this upcoming carousel of realignment.

We’ve looked closely at six of the most realistic candidates for the Big 12 to consider for possible additions to the league. Which of these teams do you think would fit best in the conference? Are there others we didn’t mention that would make more sense?