A Farewell to the Big 12 Network (1996-2014)
Posted by Nate Kotisso on January 2nd, 2015Early 2003.
The Big 12’s slate of syndicated conference games, known as the Big 12 Network, ended its over-the-air broadcasts in March 2014.
I was eight years old then which, by rule, meant I was in a time of life where most kids began sampling the world around them, figuring out what they do and do not like. Mostly, I liked eating and running my mouth in school. But on one lazy Saturday afternoon, while waiting for something to grab my attention as I flipped through the channels, something finally did. Growing up without cable TV, finding something even mildly amusing was rare on a Saturday. This was a basketball game, of some kind. I knew that for sure. One of the teams playing was from Texas. In fact, it was Texas and they were blowing out another Big 12 team. My first impressions of them: Wow, they look like they’re pretty good. And hey, I’m from Houston. It felt like a natural fit to become a Texas Longhorns fan. So I did.
I wasn’t able to catch the Longhorns on TV every Saturday but when I did, I began to learn most of the names on that Texas team. The first was T.J. Ford, the point guard who I heard the announcers talk about almost all the time. Then Brandon Mouton who I remember wearing a beard. James Thomas, their big man in dreds. Royal Ivey because how are you gonna forget a name like that, and so on. The more they played, the more they won and the happier I got. But I also got used to watching other teams too through the years like Kansas’ reign atop the Big 12 from Hinrich to Wiggins, the death and resurgence of Iowa State and the birth of a second basketball power in the state of Texas.
What you have to remember about the games that aired on the ESPN Plus (before it was renamed Big 12 Network) over-the-air package was that they were “the reject games.” After the attractive Big 12 basketball match-ups were selected by ESPN, ESPN2, ABC or CBS for maximum exposure, the leftover match-ups aired on ESPN Plus and most of those games involved Colorado, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Kansas State or Baylor. In June 2003, I began hearing news reports about a Baylor basketball player disappearing. I hadn’t heard of Patrick Dennehy up to that point but there was no chance I’d forget his name from then on.
The Patrick Dennehy Murder/Scandal Left Baylor in Complete Disarray
As the disturbing details emerged about Dennehy’s death, teammate Carlton Dotson’s involvement and coach Dave Bliss’ actions in the aftermath, the NCAA came down hard on Baylor basketball. The sentence: two years probation and no postseason play for the 2003-04 season. Every player from that 2002-03 team had the freedom to leave Baylor and transfer to any other school in the country, including other schools within the Big 12, without having to sit out a year. Truth is, there wasn’t much to be salvaged of Baylor’s basketball program, NCAA sanctions or not. Whoever had the guts to take the Baylor head coaching job had to be a nut and Scott Drew was just crazy enough to do it. Since their games had little or no appeal on national television, the ESPN Plus package aired so many Baylor games over the next few seasons, you could have renamed it “The Baylor Television Network” and no one would have thought twice. The Bears became another favorite team of mine to watch merely out of sympathy for what the program had to go through under the previous regime. The players were memorable even if they weren’t listed on any Naismith or Wooden Award lists. Aaron Bruce? The Aussie was a sharpshooter who could catch-and-shoot like few could. Kevin Rogers? Elite athleticism who dazzled with dunks and could swat a shot from Waco to Killeen (which is about 60 miles from Waco). Curtis Jerrells? A score-first lefty who also played the point. Tweety Carter? Because his name and hair were just as good as his game. And then Baylor had their breakthrough.
I watched Baylor play at Texas Tech on ESPN Plus on March 8, 2008. The final game of conference play. It was the biggest Baylor basketball game in over 50 years. The Bears came into the game in the hunt for a potential at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and a win over the Red Raiders would ensure a 9-7 conference record. On the back of LaceDarius Dunn, the Bears prevailed 86-73. Dunn hit six three-pointers and poured a then career-high of 38 points which would only be a foreshadowing of his last three years in Waco. Baylor was able to absorb a loss in the Big 12 Tournament’s first round and still get an at-large bid to the Tournament. The program we now know as Baylor had arrived (Sidebar: 2007-08 was an awesome year for the Big 12. Along with Baylor, Michael Beasley ruled at Kansas State, Texas made it to the Elite Eight, A&M played a fun NCAA second round game with UCLA and, of course, Kansas cut down the nets in San Antonio).
Through these games broadcast on over-the-air television, the players and coaches brought Big 12 basketball to life. I remember watching freshman JamesOn Curry make his Big 12 debut against Colorado on a special Sunday ESPN Plus broadcast. The thin air inside the Coors Events Center wasn’t enough to stop Curry from scoring 22 points including six made three-pointers. Watching Iowa State’s Curtis Stinson and Will Blalock work their voodoo on the opposition was mesmerizing. Speaking of duos, Kevin Bookout-Taj Gray were lethal at OU. Most will remember Colorado turning things around when Tad Boyle had Alec Burks and Cory Higgins at his disposal but before them, Richard Roby was a deadly player too. Bob Knight’s trio of Andre Emmett, Ronald Ross and the small marksman Jarrius Jackson made you pay attention to what was going on at Lubbock. Demarre Carroll, Jorge Brian Diaz, Sherron Collins, Donald Sloan, James Anderson…the list of memorable players could last forever if I’m not careful. And is it weird that my only memory of Jim Wooldridge at Kansas State is when he wore a neck brace during his last year in Manhattan?
…
ESPN announced in March that their family of networks would be absorbing all of the Big 12 Conference games beginning with the 2014-15 season. This was a shock to hear at first but even I knew college sports television was heading in a direction where these 1970s and 1980s-style syndicated TV deals with power conferences were going by the wayside. The Big 12 Network was a memorable part of my childhood. I so looked forward to New Year’s because it meant I was much closer to Saturday Big 12 basketball. We’ve gotten so used to turning on our TVs at 12:30 p.m. central time in January to hear Doug Bell welcome us to the Studio 66 pregame show and another year of Big 12 Network basketball. Those memories of players and games and coaches all manifested within me during Saturday afternoons in the winter. The winters down in Houston are nothing compared to the pounding the Midwest takes but 55 degree weather could not convince me to go outside even if Colorado-Baylor was on TV. And the voices we heard on that broadcast. The calm and cool Chris Piper, the excitable Stacey King and their top analyst (in my humble opinion) Reid Gettys. Dave Armstrong, Brad Sham, Jon Sundvold, Mitch Holthus, Ron Franklin and the dearly departed Fred White and Paul Splittorff. We’ll miss them all.
I now have access to all Big 12 conference games on cable like most do but it’ll still feel weird without the Big 12 Network on Saturday afternoons. Sure, I grew up with the Big 12 era but before then the Big Eight had had a syndicated TV deal for basketball games that dates back to the 1980s. Saturday would essentially mark the end of that era as well. If anything, as Big 12 basketball fans, we’ve got to be used to change by now, right? Four charter members of the Big 12 aren’t even around anymore. I’m not an outright Texas and/or Baylor fan anymore and only appreciate each program at an equal level. Nothing will ever be the same as it used to be. It’s the difficult part of realizing that it’s time to grow up and move on with life. Something I will reluctantly do.
