Friday night turned out to be a really good night for Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball.
First, the YouTube TV-ESPN standoff ended. Finally. Looks like ESPN blinked. By the end of 2026 ESPN’s new app will be a standard part of YouTube TV.
Second, I was this close to getting a Peacock subscription to watch Arizona-UCLA. But I didn’t, and there was a good reason why. We’ll get into that.
Plus, what happened on the court was something the Big 12 had to love. On the men’s side, the No. 5 Wildcats beat the No. 15 Bruins, 69-65. TCU gave No. 6 Michigan a great game at home before falling, 67-63. UCF defeated Texas A&M on the road. Colorado, Texas Tech and Baylor all won their games.
On the women’s side, it’s time to rank West Virginia.
WVU’s 57-49 win over the No. 15 Blue Devils made the Big 12 2-0 against Duke this season. Baylor — which beat Duke in Paris to start the season — went to Las Vegas and challenged itself against UNLV and won, 62-54. If you don’t think UNLV is a challenge, you haven’t been paying attention.
(Note: tonight’s article was filed before the end of the Gonzaga-Arizona State game).
NBC JUST HELPED OUT THE BIG 12
So, the YouTube TV-ESPN news overshadowed something that really helped the Big 12. On Monday, NBC Sports Network will hit the airwaves.
Per multiple outlets, NBC Sports Network launches Monday as a linear TV channel that will broadcast most of the sporting events that currently stream on Peacock. The network will start on YouTube TV and then head to other outlets. For a moment, it was a shot across the bow to ESPN, which was still in its row with YouTube TV when the news came out.
So how does this help the Big 12? NBC/Peacock gained the rights to 18 Big 12 men’s basketball games as part of a sub-license agreement with ESPN. Going into the season, those games were going to only be streamed on Peacock.
Now? Well, look at the release posted by The Athletic’s Chris Vannini.
“Big Ten, Big EAST and Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball,” per the release. If all the Big 12 games on Peacock are on NBC Sports Network, then the only Big 12 games that will be exclusively streamed will be on ESPN+. I did the math before the season and this move would put Big 12 Conference men’s games at close to 90% linear.
That’s a huge boost to the Big 12’s ambitions of a basketball-only deal one day and it should make for some intriguing ratings watching this season.
KOA PEAT, MEET LARRY JOHNSON
Nothing perks up the ears quite like an early 1990s basketball reference. This was Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd on Jon Rothstein’s College Basketball Today podcast before the Wildcats took on UCLA on Friday night.
For those that don’t know, Johnson was, well, incredible. He played just two seasons at UNLV under Jerry Tarkanian, but if one were to put a list of the Top 50 college basketball players in history, he would probably be on it. He was a two-time consensus all-American, the 1991 national college player of the year and a national champion in 1990. Before that, he was a two-time NJCAA player of the year at Odessa College.
So, even a hint of a comparison to Johnson — or “Grandmama,” as he was known in his Converse commercials — is something that perks up the ears. Peat is off to an impressive start, and that’s saying something among a bumper crop of Big 12 freshmen who are playing great out of the gate.
Peat only had seven points against UCLA. It was guard Anthony Dell’Orso who carried the Wildcats with 20 points, including four 3-pointers.
PAT MCAFEE’S NEW FAVORITE PLAYER
Iowa State center Audi Crooks had a rather incredible game against Valparaiso earlier this week. In just 20 minutes she scored 43 points in a 97-50 victory. She set the Iowa State women’s basketball single-game scoring record and did it in 20 minutes. Just incredible stuff. Plus, Crooks was reportedly fighting a cold.
Crooks doesn’t need help getting attention. She’s averaging 28 points per game this season. But her performance put her on Pat McAfee’s radar at ESPN.
Her performance caught the attention of the entire country, in much the same way Kansas State center Ayoka Lee did a few years ago when she scored 61 points against Oklahoma.
The best post I saw after the game was from Ben Fischer, who is the head women’s basketball coach at Division III Wisconsin-Osh Kosh. It played Iowa State in a scrimmage in October. Sounds like he appreciates his post players much better after what Crooks did to Valpo.
