The inaugural Big 12 season is all but in the books, and it was neither captivating nor did it ever feel like 鈥渉ome.鈥
Chapter 1 of Arizona鈥檚 experience in the Big 12 should be titled 鈥淪trangers in Our Midst.鈥
Do you know who won the most Big 12 conference championships? Texas Tech. Yes, Texas Tech. The Red Raiders won league titles in softball, women鈥檚 tennis, men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 outdoor track and men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 indoor track.
Texas Tech鈥檚 NiJaree Canady holds up the title belt after being named the Most Outstanding Player in the Big 12 Softball Championship on May 10, 2025, at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.
That鈥檚 not exactly the old Pac-12, in which you knew the names of the coaches and athletes, the Olympians, the NFL quarterbacks, first-round NBA draft picks, World Series champs, and a history of each school鈥檚 sports successes from Jackie Robinson to Gronk.
It鈥檚 a solid bet that most UA fans have been to at least one or two games on every campus in the old Pac-12, most of which were destination journeys.
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Have you ever been to Lubbock, Texas? A few years ago, I punched up a list of the Bottom Four, the least favorite cities I had visited in decades of sports writing. Lubbock was No. 1, a shade ahead of Stillwater, Waco and Manhattan, Kansas 鈥 all Big 12 encampments.
No wonder Texas and Oklahoma sought more elite companionship in the SEC.
I bring this to your attention because the Big 12 completed the year with four total NCAA championships: BYU won men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 cross country, TCU won beach volleyball and Oklahoma State won men鈥檚 golf.
That would be a good year for USC or Stanford or Oregon.
The old Pac-12 partners combined to win 514 NCAA championships, the new Big 12 (or 16, if you鈥檙e counting) has won 238. And it鈥檚 not pretty.
Oklahoma State, the Big 12 leader in NCAA titles, won 34 in wrestling and another in equestrian. West Virginia has won 20 NCAA championships, which you probably think is a typo. But 19 of the Mountaineers鈥 championships are in men鈥檚 rifle competition.
Kansas State is one of three Power 4 schools to never win an NCAA championship, although typical of the Big 12鈥檚 lack of appeal, KSU has been the new Big 12鈥檚 leading football school for 30 years, since Bill Snyder made K-State a consistent Top 25 program.
Yet BYU, not Kansas State, is the most appealing name on Arizona鈥檚 home football schedule, and probably in the Big 12 altogether. The Cougars still get mileage from their 1984 football national championship, but otherwise have 13 NCAA championships 鈥 seven in men鈥檚 cross country and six in women鈥檚 cross country.
That鈥檚 barely half of ASU鈥檚 26, and ASU hasn鈥檛 been an elite athletic program since 1980.
If we are to believe that Texas Tech had the Big 12鈥檚 most successful sports season, 2024-25, with six conference championships and an impressive bolt to the Women鈥檚 College World Series finals, it must be noted that this was probably the top season in Tech sports history. Across 100 years, Texas Tech has only won three NCAA titles: women鈥檚 hoops, 1993; men鈥檚 track, 2019, 2024.
If Texas Tech is your sports leader, ESPN is going to look the other way.
Oh, well. At least UA fans will have a chance to get a look at Big 12 competitors up close next May when the Wildcats are host to the Big 12 Track and Field Championships. This may be difficult to believe, but the Big 12 now has more Top 25 track teams (men鈥檚 and women鈥檚) than the old Pac-12, and by quite a margin. Track and field might be the Big 12鈥檚 best sport. The final regular-season rankings:
Men: 1. USC; 14. Texas Tech; 16. BYU; 19. Arizona, 25. Houston.
Women: 3. USC; 4. Baylor; 5. Oregon; 8. Texas Tech; 10. BYU; 14, TCU.
It may be the most encouraging development of the year. See you at Drachman Stadium next May. Introductions may be in order.
Arizona鈥檚 softball success seems forgotten | Greg Hansen
