The Big 12 Conference spring meetings are underway this week, and according to multiple reports, the league is considering a change to its basketball schedule: Moving back to a 20-game league schedule, after switching from 20 to 18 prior to the 2025-26 season. This move could be back in effect as soon as the 2027-28 season. I can’t think of a worse idea.
The Big 12 believes that the league is so strong, it’s worth jamming back in an extra two league games. But this actually is the opposite way to look at it. The Big 12 already plays an incredibly strong 18-game schedule, plus another two or three (for most teams) games in the Big 12 Tournament. What more is there to prove? What’s the goal? And if it’s to make the NCAA Tournament, well that is expanding to 76 teams, so there’s even less of a reason to force this to a 20-game league slate. I’d like to know which teams in the Big 12 might have changed their postseason outcomes with another couple of league games.
The Big 12 is coming off a season of key injuries to big-time players (JT Toppin, Richie Saunders) that arguably hurt the league’s success in March Madness. And while there isn’t a direct correlation between these injuries and the grind of the Big 12 schedule, it certainly didn’t help the cause either.
So while the Big 12 might view it as a badge of honor to go back to 20 games in the league to prove how difficult this conference is, the actual upside for the league seems negligible, at best.
If there’s an economic angle to this, where a team like Cincinnati would rather host Arizona or Kansas than Akron, I get that. Universities need to get their hands on every last dollar right now, and a league game will, most of the time, drive more revenue than a non-conference game. But I don’t want to do it at the risk of having teams limping down the stretch, which was a discussion that was had, on and off, during the 2024-25 season.
The Big 12 should stay put at 18. But if they make the move, be honest about the decision: It’s an economic one, not a basketball one.
