Where do the Kansas Jayhawks stand in conference realignment talks?

Kansas basketball

Basketball is, without question, KU’s most important sport. A move to the ACC or SEC wouldn’t be welcomed by either KU or those conferences. Let’s say they moved to the Big Ten — they’d compete against schools like Purdue, Michigan State, Indiana, and Michigan. None of those teams are true “basketball schools” like a Kansas, Duke, or Kentucky. That’s not to say that other Big 12 schools are college hoops powerhouses, though Baylor, K-State, and others have formed incredibly successful programs.

The Big 12 is the best basketball conference in the nation and has been for a few years now — but the B1G is a close second. And despite Brett Yormark’s excellent job as commissioner, the Big Ten is still a much more prevalent conference in the realm of college sports. KU could likely garner a bigger media rights deal if they really wanted to solidify themselves as a top-notch basketball conference.

Excluding Maryland and Rutgers, current Big Ten schools are somewhere near the Midwest region. So geographically, it makes sense for Kansas. But does it make sense for the Big Ten anymore? They added USC and UCLA, effective in 2024. Adding the Jayhawks would push that number to 17 total schools, which almost seems unfathomable. One more school would likely have to be added to even it out. The idea of a mega-conference is appealing but also extremely messy.

Adding Kansas immediately makes the Big Ten the undisputed best basketball conference in the nation on top of already being top-3 in football. But considering the move wouldn’t go down for several years, it’s difficult to predict what the future holds.