Houston, Arizona taking Big 12 Basketball by Storm in front of Showdown

On By Littum

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This is not your dad’s big 12 anymore.

Since the start of the conference in 1996, men’s basketball has mostly been run by Kansas, with the occasional solid seasons from Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa State and Baylor.

It has undergone quick change in the last few years. The Soon And Longhorns are gone. A bunch of new schools across the country ended with the goal of helping the league maintain its prestige in a sport that it loves to say that it is the deepest conference in.

Well in a now 16-team Big 12, it is the beginners who have attacked the territory and claimed the earth. Out with the old and in with the new.

Credit Commissioner Brett Yormark to beat gold in the conference’s revision. It is impossible to replace the brands in Oklahoma and Texas, so what did Big 12 do? Got the right pieces at the right time in the right place – to remind the college sports world about the movements are not about football.

In 2023 Big 12 added Houston; Not the biggest football team in Texas, but a men’s basketball program coming out of a four consecutive Sweet 16 -bunks, one last four performance in 2021 and still running high in the sport. Also with that year was Cincinnati and Central Florida. In the first season of the league, Houston went 15-3 and won the regular seasonal title before doing the conference tournament final.

The year after the big 12 snapped up Arizona Along with three other PAC-12 schools that brought a basketball power center that stacked the winner left and right, while it dominated the “Champions Conference” since Tommy Lloyd came in.

In its preliminary campaign in Big 12, Arizona’s conference success has transferred. Wildcats stormed out to an 11-2 start and are number two at the conference. The team over them? Cougars at 12-1. D.

The two teams meet Saturday in a heavy weight matchup Of the new cats responsible.

“Any time a good team comes into the league, I’m sure a lot of the coaches in this league probably thought the same thing when we got into the league,” said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson.

The emergence of Houston and Arizona in their formative big 12 years may come as a shock, even with all the aforementioned accolades. Yes, Houston dominated the American athletic conference, but who did it really give competition? They didn’t get many tests until March. Yes, Arizona controlled PAC-12, but outside UCLA and occasionally Oregon it wasn’t a deep league anymore.

Any doubt as to whether they were legitimate programs have been put to rest. It happened, Sampson said, because both teams built a culture that the players could “touch and believe.”

Think of Arizona before Tommy Lloyd. It quickly sinked towards the end of Sean Miller’s tenure – partly because of recruitment violations – and the program needed someone to bring faith back to Tucson quickly. Sampson said he knew it was a big rental for Arizona when it announced Lloyd as a coach in April 2021, and with Lloyd’s international approach to the game, the fan base swung immediately.

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There is evidence that the BIG 12 movement is not made for everyone. Now back in the league, Colorado is at the bottom of the position and is still looking for the first league victory. Just above Buffaloes is Arizona State with a 3-10 conference record. Utah is hardly over the other former PAC-12 schools in 12th place with a 5-8 brand.

“If it was done in the eastern time zone or east of Mississippi, I think he would get more credit,” said Sampson. “In the coaching profession you know who the right ones are and Tommy is right.

“He knows how to train, know how to build, and kudos to Arizona to give him an opportunity.”

The same could be said for Sampson. Houston hadn’t sniffed success as Phi Slama Jama Days in the 1980s before the veteran coach came in. Since 2019, it has been to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament every year and won part of a conference championship every season.

In the meantime, the long -standing Big 12 forces can only see the new children’s running of them. Kansas, Forsy season # 1 Hold Back-to-Back Seasons, lost its grip on the choke team it had on the league. Jayhawks are 18-13 in Big 12 since last season, far from the program with 12 conference tournament titles. They end the regular season with a scary slate of Houston then Arizona.

Iowa State, which has been revived under TJ Otzelberger, learned first hand how hard it is to win in Arizona. It has not recovered since.

Only Texas Tech can say it has handled the new blood this season with victories against both Houston and Arizona, but Wildcats got revenge last week. Houston is waiting for his chance at the end of the month.

But before that, Wildcats and Cougars will play in a top 15 matchup in what will be a rocking McKale center. The winner has control over the league first place and owns a draw if needed before March 8.

Saturday decides nothing. After all, the Big 12 is a chaotic where almost any result can happen.

But Houston and Arizona take the center and push those who occupied it so long. All the current members can do is see and realize that the new kids on the block are legitimate.

“Arizona wasn’t good because they were in PAC-12. We were not good because we were in the American, ”Sampson said. “Arizona was good because they are good. They can play anywhere and I always felt we could too. “