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Which BYU Sports are ready to compete in the Big 12?

By Adam Gibby

PROVO, UT - OCTOBER 30: Uriah Leiataua #58 of the BYU Cougars celebrates sacking Brennan Armstrong #5 of the Virginia Cavaliers during their game October 30, 2021 at the LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
PROVO, UT - OCTOBER 30: Uriah Leiataua #58 of the BYU Cougars celebrates sacking Brennan Armstrong #5 of the Virginia Cavaliers during their game October 30, 2021 at the LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images) /
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PROVO, UT – MARCH 23: Te’Jon Lucas #3 of the Brigham Young Cougars drives to the basket past teammate Fousseyni Traore #45 and Michael Flowers #12 of the Washington State Cougars during the second half of their quarterfinals game of the NIT tournament March 23, 2022 at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
PROVO, UT – MARCH 23: Te’Jon Lucas #3 of the Brigham Young Cougars drives to the basket past teammate Fousseyni Traore #45 and Michael Flowers #12 of the Washington State Cougars during the second half of their quarterfinals game of the NIT tournament March 23, 2022 at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images) /

Teams not ready for the Big 12

This is the section that quite honestly you can skip if you’d like. No matter how much you love BYU, there are just some sports that aren’t ready for that jump, heck they aren’t even competing well in the WCC right now.

Baseball: The Cougars have been an upper middle of the pack team since they joined the WCC, but have really struggled against better competition. As just one example, this year the Cougars were riding a nine game win streak and played Utah who was on their own nine game losing streak. Despite the game being in Provo, the Cougars lost. The Big 12 is really good in baseball. BYU’s 100 ranking in RPI would rank them ninth in the Big 12 and Iowa State doesn’t even have a team.

Men’s Basketball: The Big 12 in men’s basketball is what the SEC is for football. This league is stacked and unless Mark Pope figures out how to drastically get this team turned around (from decent to great), it could be a few long years for BYU as they adjust to games that essentially are a mix between Gonzaga and St. Mary’s every single game.

Men’s and Women’s Tennis: Of all the programs at BYU, tennis has been the program that has struggled the most to make any noise in the WCC. While the men’s side in the Big 12 only has six teams currently, all six finished with winning records outside of Big 12 play. On the women’s side, eight of the ten teams finished with the same achievement with Texas winning the entire league. Long story short, this is one program that is going to really struggle and may never be a top contender in the conference.

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