Report: Big 12 expansion talks with Gonzaga, UConn to 'take center stage' at league meetings

The Big 12 will host spring meetings later this week, with the conference’s officials linking up in West Virginia. As it has been under new commissioner Brett Yormark, expansion is a hot topic — both incoming and outgoing clubs. Yormark has not been afraid to pursue big fish and will reportedly continue at league meetings.

According to SI’s Ross Dellenger, Big 12 expansion talks with Gonzaga will “take center stage” in West Virginia this week. As things stand, the Big 12 will have 12 teams beginning in the summer of 2024 but Yormark allegedly wants the number closer to 16.

“Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark and other league officials continue deep discussions with the Zags as well as with the school’s consulting firm Navigate, sources tell Sports Illustrated,” Dellinger said. “Navigate is a data-driven company that is assisting Gonzaga in a potential move from the West Coast Conference and into a Power 5 league.”

As Gonzaga would be a pure basketball play for the Big 12 out on the West coast, Yormark is looking to cover the conference from sea to shining see. Dellenger also reports talks with UConn have continued fresh off winning a national championship this past season.

“As SI reported in a story published May 15, the Big 12 is also targeting another basketball power out East: five-time national champion UConn,” he said. “A pairing of the two would give the league dominant hoops programs on either coast.”

Meetings between the conference’s presidents and athletic directors will begin on Wednesday and take place through Friday. Big decisions are ahead of the Big 12.

Brett Yormark, Big 12 looking to build powerhouse basketball conference

If Gonzaga and UConn were to meet during a regular season nonconference matchup, it would be a highlighted game on the schedule. Getting the two as conference opponents on a yearly basis would be quite the move from Yormark. But the Big 12 would have so much more in basketball than those two elite programs.

For years, Kansas has been the standard of the Big 12. Head coach Bill Self just secured his second national championship during the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Nearly every single season, a conference championship is won in Lawrence.

Baylor is a recent national title winner as well, with Scott Drew establishing his program alongside the Jayhawks. He will compete in the state of Texas with Houston beginning in the 2024-2025 season. Add in fellow new member Cincinnati plus risers Kansas State and Iowa State — the Big 12 has something special going on in the basketball world.