8 August 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Starting this season as we all know, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston will be joining the Big 12. For Texas and Oklahoma, they are leaving after this year to go play in the SEC.
This past week, the Big 12 accepted Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah for 2024.
That will make the Big 12 bigger than it’s ever been before.
With new schools joining the conference, that means many people will get to see teams they’ve never seen play in person for the first time. With new teams, that also means new rivalries.
“I have to go see it,” Big 12 fan Elijah Griffin said. “Like some of those teams that I don’t get to see, I just have to watch on TV because they’re so far away from me. New traditions are gonna start so we’re gonna see what’s happen.”
It also means, for some, an excuse to get out of the Midwest and make a trip down to the Sunshine State.
“With Central Florida coming in, we’re gonna go down to Florida and play golf, watch the Central Florida, KU game.” Big 12 fan Dan Lawson said “It’s cool, we don’t have to stay right in the Midwest, now we can travel to Florida.”
With more teams coming in, that calls for more competition for the Jayhawks and Wildcats… making the pathway to a title more challenging.
“I think it makes KU want to buckle down even just a little bit more,” Griffin said. “K-State’s on the rise, so K-State’s trying to hunt for a Big 12 because they haven’t seen one for a long time as well. Some of the schools coming in have gone to the tournament a lot, so like Arizona, they’ve made it in, but they lost like in the first round. But they won the Pac-12 and everything like that, so those teams are gonna try to come over here, to the Big 12, and see what they can do and see what damage they can add.”
One thing is for sure. The in-state rivalry between KU and K-State is not going anywhere.
“KU without K-State, it doesn’t work,” Lawson said. “I mean we have Colorado coming back, that’s cool. We seem to play Texas well, but they’re leaving. Oklahoma is leaving, but KU with K-State is like peanut butter and jelly.”
This year will be the first time since 2010 the conference will have at least 12 teams. Next year, it’s only going to get bigger.