Report: Big 12 in Talks with Gonzaga About Joining Conference

The Big 12 is currently in talks about adding Gonzaga to the conference, Pete Thamel of ESPN first reported on Wednesday night. Thamel reports that Gonzaga Director of Athletics Chris Standiford met with new Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark in Texas last week.

Adding Gonzaga to the conference would benefit basketball tremendously. The Big 12 will add BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF to the conference starting in July 2023.

Yormark has been all about hearing all options in regards to expansion and conference realignment.

“There’s no doubt that the Big 12 is open for business,” Yormark said during football media day back in July.

Yormark also put an emphasis on the importance of men’s and women’s basketball during basketball media days in Kansas City a couple of weeks ago.

Gonzaga has put themselves in a position to be known as one of the modern day blue bloods. Since the hiring of Mark Few in 1999, the Bulldogs have reached the NCAA Tournament Championship twice, 2-Final Four’s, 12-Sweet Sixteen’s and 23-straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

The Zags have been at a weird crossroads since the latest conference realignment began. They don’t have a football program so which conference would take them in and create an odd number of teams? The Big East has been linked to Gonzaga most of the time, but now it appears the Big 12 will consider the Bulldogs.