Texas Basketball: 3 teams that benefit from collapse of the Big 12

West Virginia

A wildcard in the discussion of which men’s hoops programs actually benefit from the Longhorns and Sooners leaving the Big 12 for the SEC is the West Virginia Mountainers. West Virginia and head coach Bob Huggins have become one of the more traditional contenders in the Big 12 in men’s hoops in the past decade.

And with that, the value and overall marketability of the West Virginia basketball program likely followed. If West Virginia had an elevated football program, then it would be potentially the most valuable school for a conference like the ACC to pick off in this round of conference realignment. But instead, West Virginia will have to rally on geographic proximity and relevance of the basketball program almost exclusively to find another home if the Big 12 dissolves.

In the last seven seasons (six of which were possible to even make it to the Big Dance), the Mountaineers got a high single-digit seed in the NCAA Tournament five times. One of those seasons that West Virginia didn’t make it to the NCAA Tournament was in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And when West Virginia missed out on the Big Dance last year, the team almost surely would’ve received a single-digit seed by the Selection Committee. West Virginia rounded out last season with the 24th slot in the final AP Poll.

The consistency of West Virginia’s basketball program and geographic proximity to the rest of the schools in the ACC would make it a natural fit. If West Virginia were to land in the ACC in this round of conference realignment, it’s hard to say that wouldn’t be a win for the school, and men’s hoops program specifically.