Brett Yormark Says Big 12 Has Been Best CBB Conference for 'Last 10 Years'
It's safe to say Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark believes in his conference, given his comments during Tuesday's media days.
In addition to telling reporters he believes "the Big 12 will be the deepest football conference in America," he said, "we've been the best basketball conference in the last 10 years."
From a football standpoint, there is a distinction between deepest and best.
Along those lines, he pointed out that "no league offers the competitive balance that we do. Last season, the Big 12 led the nation in fourth-quarter lead changes and go-ahead scores in the final minute of conference games, and this year our star power (especially at quarterback) will be on full display."
Such comments are notable because there is still ongoing back-and-forth between different conferences regarding what the College Football Playoff will look like after the upcoming season.
While the SEC and Big Ten are widely considered the two best leagues when it comes to football and hold much of the power, other conferences such as the Big 12 are pushing for the 5+11 model that would have more at-large bids and fewer automatic bids for the SEC and Big Ten.
Yormark's basketball comments also stood out.
There is no doubt that the Big 12 is loaded with historically strong men's basketball programs such as Kansas, Arizona, Houston, Texas Tech, Baylor, West Virginia, BYU and others. The Big 12 won back-to-back national titles when the Bears cut down the nets in 2021 and the Jayhawks did so in 2022.
However, the conference's last national title before 2021 came in 2008. It also had one Final Four representative (2025 Houston) in the last three men's Final Fours.
It hasn't had a Final Four representative on the women's side in any of the last four years, although Baylor isn't that far removed from its 2019 national title.
Still, Yormark has touted the Big 12 as America's best basketball conference in the past, and he surely believes it will be competing for Final Four spots during the upcoming season and for years to come given his latest comments.
