For several years, the Big 12 was carried thanks to the work done by Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks.
Yes, there were the odd surprises every couple of seasons, but from the 2004-05 until the 2017-18 campaign, Kansas had won every single regular-season title offered.
Yet since then, KU has won three of the eight possible. Not a bad stat by any means, but it does represent a substantial shift away from the dominance the Jayhawks once held. Of course, part of this has to do with the fact that Kansas’ momentum has been cooled by the sudden rise of the NCAA Transfer Portal, among other factors, but it also goes to show the increase of talent in the league.
No one does it like the Big 12
The Big 12 had 13 players selected, their most in a single draft in the Modern Draft Era (since 1966) 📈 pic.twitter.com/AWmqtTG2az
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) June 25, 2026
Just because in the 2025-26 NCAA Tournament, the Elite Eight had just one team from the Big 12 in the Arizona Wildcats, does not all of a sudden mean that the assumed quality of the league was fraudulent. Six of the Big 12’s 16 colleges finished inside KenPom's top 25 as well.
While national championships will always be viewed as high on the list for deciding which conference is above the rest, it is important to consider the spontaneity of the NCAA Tournament. Last season, you had a No. 9-seeded Iowa and a No. 6-seeded Tennessee be two of the eight remaining teams left in the tournament. And it doesn’t take much scrolling through the annals of history to recall a 2023 Final Four comprised of a No. 4, two No. 5 and one No. 9 seeds.
Five of the 15 players selected to last season’s AP All-American squads also come from the Big 12, including two in the first team. Compared to other High-major conferences, three come from the SEC, two from the ACC and four come from the Big Ten.
While players, of course, decide the games, the Big 12 also enlists the game’s brightest minds, like T.J. Otzelberger from Iowa State, Kelvin Sampson from Houston, Tommy Lloyd from Arizona and Self.
What does the future say about the Big 12?
While losing out on two heavy hitters like AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson can make you think the conference may see a dip in quality, the Big 12 is still reeling in six of the nation’s top 25 freshman classes, along with four of the country’s top 25 transfer classes, according to 247Sports.
In ESPN’s article titled “2027 NBA mock draft: Early projections for top 60 prospects,” the Big 12 also holds five of their big boards top 30 names ahead of the 2027 NBA Draft, including three of the first four picks in, Tyran Stokes (No. 1, Kansas University), Caleb Holt (No. 3 Arizona) and Bruce Branch III (No. 4 BYU).
In Bart Torvik’s T-Rank 2027 projection metric, seven schools from the Big 12 were notched inside the top 40. Those include Houston (No. 3), Arizona (No. 5), Kansas (No. 12), Iowa State (No. 18), Texas Tech (No. 26), BYU (No. 37) and Cincinnati (No. 38).
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