I’ve owned Heartland College Sports for over 10 years. And I’ve written thousands and thousands of stories for the website. However, I’ve never had a dedicated Monday column for you. It only seems appropriate to start now and play off of Monday, Mundo and Musings. So here we go with the third-ever, Mundo’s Monday Big 12 Musings: Edition 3.
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Big 12 Baseball Tournament Changes Coming
The Big 12 Baseball Championship is packing its bags for the desert.
Starting in 2026, the league’s postseason tournament will move to Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Arizona—home to MLB spring training for the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals. The venue, recently ranked the No. 1 spring training facility in the country by USA Today, will host the 12-team championship from May 20–23, 2026.
The biggest benefit is it will bring a more intimate setting for the Big 12, as the stadium has a capacity of ~10,000. This is much better than the current set up at cavernous Globe Life Field where capacity is over 40,000.
Being in Arizona, the weather will not be a problem. That’s a great start. No rain or lightning delays. If there’s one drawback to the Big 12 Softball Tournament in Oklahoma City, that is it. You can’t control the weather in springtime in the Heartland. But this won’t be a problem in Arizona. And there wasn’t going to be an indoor facility in the Big 12’s traditional footprint that was going to be intimate enough to create a fun environment. Putting a few thousand people into Globe Life has not exactly created an electric scene for the league in recent years.
This move also gives the Big 12 a premier tournament outside of the traditional geographic footprint in the conference. Fans around the league should rejoice, as some have been more vocal than others about getting some of the tournaments out west. This does that, and it actually makes total sense to do it.
This is a huge win for everyone and a smart play for the Big 12 Conference. Another win for Brett Yormark.
Home Sweet Home for Texas Tech
On Monday evening, things got sweeter for Texas Tech’s men’s basketball program as the Red Raiders agreed to a contract extension with Grant McCasland.
After back-to-back impressive seasons, the two parties agreed to an extension that keeps McCasland in Lubbock through the 2030-2031 season.
McCasland and the Red Raiders are fresh off a trip to the Elite 8, which followed up a second-place finish in the Big 12 Conference. While Tech was in a bad spot following the departure of Mark Adams, which was preceded by Chris Beard leaving for Texas, it looked like Tech might be headed back for the basement of the Big 12.
In the words of Lee Corso, “Not so fast my friend”.
McCasland has been the perfect hire and the perfect time. And he has the perfect demeanor. And unlikely his predecessors, he’s likable and easy to root for.
Tech has a winner, and it looks like he’s here to stay for a long time.
Texas A&M is a Joke
No, I’m not going to have too much fun with this. I promise. OK, that’s a lie.
Texas A&M softball is the latest to get roasted. And it’s well deserved. The Aggies Softball team earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and were among a short list of favorites to dethrone Oklahoma. Then, in the blink of an eye, they became the first ever No. 1 seed to fail to advance out of their own regional.
This caps off a brutal athletic season for the Aggies. In football, A&M was in the Preseason Top 20, and they finished 8-5. In basketball, the Aggies were in the preseason Top 15, and finished 23-11 and lost in the Round of 32. The Texas A&M baseball team was the preseason No. 1 team in the nation and went 28-25 and is expected to miss the NCAA Tournament.
Are you feeling bad for the Aggies yet?
Please, don’t.
