PHOENIX – Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark made some bold statements about the strength of men’s and women’s basketball in the league on Tuesday during the first day of the Big 12 Basketball Media Days at Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center.
For example: “The Big 12 remains the second-best basketball league behind only the NBA,” Yormark said. “I think I said that last year, but I’m going to say it again this year.”
Yormark took the stage with some data to back up his words.
“Our basketball success extended to the next level,” Yormark said. “A conference-record nine first-round NBA draft selections, four in the top 10, including the top two overall picks.”
The No. 1 and No. 2 picks of the 2026 NBA draft were BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, whom the Washington Wizards selected, and Darryn Peterson of Kansas, who went second to the Utah Jazz.
Yormark also noted the league’s strength on the women’s side, citing the 2026 WNBA draft that saw five Big 12 picks, including No. 2 pick Olivia Miles, whom the Minnesota Lynx drafted out of Texas Christian. She went on to be named the unanimous selection for WNBA Rookie of the Year.
The conference is consistently evolving, on and off the court, and this year it united men’s and women’s programs for the media days in an effort to showcase its depth.
Two days, 16 institutions, with athletes and coaches from Arizona State, Baylor, Cincinnati, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech and Utah on Tuesday, followed by Arizona, BYU, Central Florida, Houston, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU and West Virginia on Wednesday.
Yormark said the Big 12 also appears poised for future success with 11 of the top-ranked 40 recruits committing to Big 12 programs, including the nation’s top two men’s basketball players.
“I don’t think there’s a better time to be part of the Big 12 than right now,” Yormark said. “We have an incredible runway ahead of us. Love the cohesion amongst the 16.”
ASU men’s basketball
Yormark welcomed three new men’s coaches to the Big 12, including ASU’s Randy Bennett.
After 25 years at the helm for St. Mary’s, Bennett joined the Sun Devil coaching staff, a position that’s always lingered in the back of his mind.
“I grew up in Mesa, which is 10 minutes away from Arizona State University,” said Bennett, who played at Westwood High and Mesa Community College, where his father Tom coached. “I grew up as a Sun Devil. That’s who I rooted for. I knew which team in the state that I was rooting for the whole time.”
Bennett and his Gaels players who followed him plan to bring their same defensive mindset to Tempe – built from dominating on the boards and emphasizing speed.
Guard Dillan Shaw, a Gael turned Sun Devil, has family ties to ASU, as his uncle is former Sun Devils power forward Mike Batiste. But the ties that primarily drew him to the desert come from the relationship he has established with Bennett.
By believing in Bennett and his culture, Shaw believes he can help lay the groundwork for those unfamiliar with the new coach’s game style.
“We’re trying to establish probably more of a defensive mindset,” Shaw said. “Same thing we carry over from St. Mary’s: defense and rebounding. We’re looking to build off of that – see where we can go from there.”
Creating a culture takes a group, with two of the three team captains coming from St. Mary’s, Bennett trusts that they’ll help him meld players from the two programs.
“I’m glad that Dillan and Paulius are part of that because I’ve coached them, we’ve coached them,” Bennett said. “They know our program. They know what we’re trying to be. As a coach, you can only do so much. Your players got to buy in.”
ASU women’s basketball
In her first season as ASU’s women’s coach, Molly Miller and the Sun Devils opened with a 15-0 record and finished with a brief trip to the NCAA Tournament, losing in the First Four.
An idea that guided year one remains prevalent today. Miller calls it “benergy” (bench-energy) – the idea that “everyone can get in the game,” even the fans, igniting the inferno.
“When you can have the fans buy into what we’re doing on both ends, they’re loving to see them play hard,” Miller said. “You get this holistic approach to the game. You have fans, players, coaches. There’s this energy around what we’re doing at Arizona State. It’s more than women’s basketball.”
Like Bennett, leadership is one of Miller and the team’s foundations, but this year she has returners to do some of the work for her.
Forward McKinna Brackens is in her second year as a Sun Devil and she has made significant strides since her transfer from UNLV. Brackens’ averages jumped from 6.8 points to 14.4 points per game, her rebounds increased from 4.5 to 6.4 per game and she registered a career-high scoring game of 31 points.
The improvements Brackens made under Miller enabled her to grow on the court, but now she is working to develop her skills off of it – aiming to be a more vocal leader. She knows what Miller wants from the team and is eager to fill that role.
“Off the court as a leader and continuing to build my confidence,” Brackens said, ticking off her objectives this season. “Working on things that I wanted to do better last year. Then just stepping up as a more vocal leader in practice because, yes, I was here last year, I know what she expects. Just being able to be an extension of her out there.”
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