Big 12 Ends Conversations With Gonzaga and UConn

Brett Yormark of the Big 12 has stopped the dialogue for conference realignment with Gonzaga and UConn. “I did have conversations with UConn and Gonzaga. Those conversations are no longer. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out only because the dream scenario (of adding Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State & Utah) unfolded for us.”

The reason for this has to be due to Gonzaga being a “basketball-only” school and the WCC just signing a new TV multi-year, multi-platform deal with ESPN. Football will always be king in college sports.

With this news, the Big East and UConn remains intact and is the “silent winner” in all this chaos in college basketball. The reigning national champion’s conference will be the top league for the 2023-2024 season.

As for Gonzaga, it looks as if the program will be staying in the WCC for now. The Pac 12/Mountain West is still up in the air and would go out the window if Cal/Stanford were to head over to the ACC and/or if Oregon State/Washington State were to head over to the MWC.

Is it really the end of the world if Gonzaga continues their dominance within the West Coast Conference? I think we would live if the conference expansion talks were pushed to next offseason.

Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area... Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho