While the debate of which conference has the nation’s best college basketball product has largely been wrapped up at this point in favor of the Big 12, Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang took things one step further.
Tang compared Big 12 Basketball to SEC Football on Wednesday at the podium from Big 12 Media Days, mentioning the league as where top athletes want to be.
Tang mentioned the league’s status in the modern era of college athletics, saying, “Big 12 basketball is the same as SEC football. It’s the best conference, and the best recruits want to play there.”
“The results show there have been three schools in the last four years to win a national championship, and two of them are from the Big 12,” Tang said. “Best players, best coaches, best environments, and kids want to be a part of that. From top to bottom, everybody’s good, everybody’s got players, everybody’s got great coaches and great environments.”
Tang also spoke about the additions of eight new schools over the past two seasons, which helped further separate the league from the rest.
“The Big 12 was the best conference in the country two years ago and then we added teams, and one of the teams we added was the conference champion,” Tang said. “Then we were the best conference in the country again last year, and then we added teams, and one of the teams is picked to win the National Championship. For the first time in AP Poll history, we have five teams in the Top 10.”
Like it or not, Jerome Tang was spot on about the impressive work done through conference expansion, and with more competitive teams in the conference than ever before, the Big 12 stands to get even more competitive in 2024-25.
