Less is more for 'New, Improved Big 12'

The name is about the only thing that’s the same, and that’s one thing most everyone would change given the chance. Something about there being 10 teams in the Big 12 Conference makes people nuts, though it doesn’t seem to bother anyone that American Airlines flies to Europe and Asia.

Yeah, think about that one all you mathletes.

Kansas coach Bill Self is excited about both his team next year and the new-look, 10-team Big 12. (AP Photo)

The Big 12 is a brand. Its name is not as established as the Big Ten’s or SEC’s, but it’s had less time. To start over now would complicate the process, and the conference already has lots to process as it moves forward looking dramatically different than how we remember it.

There’s so much change perhaps the league office should consider calling it the “New, Improved Big 12.”

1. The double-round-robin format. With the departure of Nebraska and Colorado reducing the league’s membership, the Big 12 now can require all basketball teams to play each other in home-and-home series. That would be impractical in a 12-member league.

The Big 12 will be unique among BCS leagues, however, in being able to determine, as Kansas coach Bill Self says, “a true champion.”

For the first time since the league was formed, Kansas and Texas will play on each other’s courts inside the same season.

“Playing Texas every other year in our fieldhouse didn’t create the rivalry that should exist for our two schools,” Self said Thursday on the league’s summer teleconference.

Every member of the league has had to consider how to schedule given that there’ll be two more league games than in past years and that most of the remaining members have been strong programs -- historically or recently, or both.

“I don’t know that any of us have it figured out,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said.

2. The wave of new coaches. Texas Tech coach Billy Gillispie will begin his first season with the Red Raiders in the fall.

“I’m the seventh-longest tenured coach in this league,” Gillispie said. “That happened very quickly.”

Gillispie was the first of four new coaches hired by Big 12 programs, joined by Oklahoma’s Lon Kruger, Missouri’s Frank Haith and Texas A&M’s Billy Kennedy.

Given that the league had to dip that often into what appeared to be a fairly shallow pool of available candidates, it appears to have done well.

Kruger has proven he’s a proficient program builder everywhere he’s been this side of the NBA. Haith did underrated work in a difficult job at Miami. Kennedy solidified a winner’s resume at Murray State. And Gillispie, though he struggled terribly at Kentucky, is back home in Texas where he was tremendously successful at UTEP and Texas A&M.

“Anytime you take on a new job, it feels like you have sand in your eyes the entire year,” Gillispie said. “It doesn’t matter if your team has been winning, what the situation you inherit is. Every coach likes to do things differently, so you’re going 1,000 miles an hour.

“But when we came back to Texas, there’s so much familiarity with the high school coaches, the junior college coaches -- which is going to have to be a big part of what we do. There is a great deal of comfort. It eases the transition, being back home.”

3. Roster upheaval at Texas and Kansas. The Longhorns lost five of their six leading scorers, three of them to NBA Draft early entry. Kansas lost five of its seven top scorers, including three to early entry.

These two programs have dominated the Big 12. Kansas has won every league title the past seven seasons, and Texas tied for first twice in that period. But each seems about to be uncommonly vulnerable given the extreme number of departures and the fact neither is near the top of this year's recruiting rankings.

Texas coach Rick Barnes can point to a similar, successful rebuild after the Longhorns reached the 2006 Elite Eight and such players as Daniel Gibson (surprisingly) and LaMarcus Aldridge (as expected) left for the pros. Of course, the Longhorns had Kevin Durant coming in then. Freshman point guard Myck Kabongo is great, but he’s not K.D.

“This is what we have right now,” Barnes said. “We believe in what we’re doing.”

For his part, Self points out that only a year ago Kansas saw center Cole Aldrich and shooter Xavier Henry leave early and Sherron Collins depart as one of the program’s all-time greats. And this year’s team did better -- going 35-3 vs. 33-3.

“Kansas math is such, you lose Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich and you’re supposed to get better,” Self said. “I don’t think we’ll take a step backwards. I think we’ll take a step sideways.

“I’m really excited. My batteries are probably about as charged as they’ve been, because it is going to be a challenge.

“We’ve recruited pretty good. We haven’t hit a home run from a scouting service perspective, but I think we’ve got guys that fit what we need. But I’m excited about next year. I think we’ll be good.”