Will the B1G 18 prove to be the new 'Conference of Champions'?

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Hickey: Will the B1G 18 prove to be the new 'Conference of Champions'?​

Alex Hickey

Pour one out — or maybe in this instance, light one up — for poor Bill Walton.

The heartbreak is likely real and pronounced for a man who worshipped at the twin altars of the Pac-12 Conference and the Grateful Dead. The Dead, ironically, are the only of those entities that remains alive.

The worst days of Walton’s life are probably now ranked:

1. Losing to Notre Dame to end UCLA’s 88-game winning streak.
2. The death of Jerry Garcia.
3. Richard Nixon re-elected in 1972.
4. UCLA moving to the Big Ten.
5. The death of the Pac-12.

It was Walton who popularized the phrase “Conference of Champions,” which he dropped at least a dozen times per game he broadcasted. (And some would maintain that wasn’t the only thing he was dropping.)

The conference itself proudly adopted the label. Most fans, however, treated Walton’s boosterism as schtick. A running gag.

In a technical sense, Walton wasn’t lying. The Pac-12 was the nation’s powerhouse in many Olympic sports. And the same used to be true in revenue sports. UCLA in basketball. USC in football. USC and Arizona State in baseball. Stanford and USC in women’s basketball.

All championship pedigrees. But with the exception of Stanford women’s hoops, all back in the day.

It was the lack of recent success in big-time sports that caused people to chuckle at Walton banging the Conference of Champions drum.

But now that the Pac-12 is dead, where does that drum circle go? Is the 18-team B1G poised to take the mantle of “Conference of Champions?”

Well …

The B1G is big. Will it be great?​

Beginning in 2024, the B1G will be the nation’s largest conference with 18 members. But in football and men’s basketball, it’s likely to maintain the same spots in the pecking order.

The SEC is still king in football. Toppling it is going to take some time. But it could be plausible by the end of the decade.

With a 12-team Playoff setup, having 2 more teams than any other conference may prove advantageous. Before the Pacific expansion, it was quite unlikely that the B1G would put more than 3 teams into the field. Now we could see years with 4 B1G teams in the CFP — though the same is also true for the 16-team SEC.

Having an extra crack at the title can’t hurt the cause. Although as Ohio State and Michigan showed last year, it also doesn’t guarantee any thing.

The money, on the other hand, might make the difference. Oregon and Washington will be on a lower scale initially, but the remainder of the programs stand to make $10-15 million per year more from media rights than their SEC counterparts.

Ultimately, that should result in B1G programs hiring the top coaching staffs in the country. And unless they invest that money like the New York Mets, that money should theoretically begin producing championships.

That, perhaps, is the only way in which the Big Ten finds itself a stronger conference than when it was an 11-team league in 2010. The money is paving a potential path ahead of the SEC that did not previously exist.

There’s no guarantee the B1G won’t trip over itself on the way up that path, but at least it’s there. Football is in the same place it was before, but with greater growth potential.

The same doesn’t feel true for men’s basketball.

If anything, the B1G is actually falling behind a step. The Big 12 is increasing its margin as the nation’s top basketball conference in the land.

Big 12 teams have played in 3 of the past 4 national championship games and cut down the nets in 2021 and ’22. Adding Arizona and Houston to that mix will build even more muscle. And it’s no secret that commissioner Brett Yormark wants to add Gonzaga as a basketball-only member, although finding the right partner for the Zags could prove difficult.

Of the 4 schools joining the B1G, only UCLA brings juice in men’s basketball. Oregon and USC are solid programs, but only in a “capable of making the second week of the Tournament” kind of way.

Personally, I believe it impossible to recruit championship players to play on Oregon’s travesty of a floor. However, the youths may see things differently.

Regardless of one’s tastes in hardwood design, the Big 12 and Big East both appear unlikely to cede ground to the Big Ten (Big 18?) as the top 1-2 punch in men’s hoops. As in football, rising to the top will likely need to be an equation adding time plus money.

Early on, we’re more likely to see a championship impact in women’s sports, particularly softball and basketball. But even in those sports, the B1G is just solidifying its place as the No. 2 conference behind the SEC.

Volleyball is certainly not driving the bus of conference realignment, but it stands as the lone sport in which the B1G is building a definitive behemoth. Oregon and Washington give an already deep league another pair of top 10-caliber programs. They will further enhance a league with 5 national championships since 2015.

Other than that, the B1G won’t be any closer to the mountaintop on the national stage. Not immediately, at least. But if it eventually does happen, it won’t be because of the 4 schools the conference is adding.

It’ll be because of the money all 18 are collectively making.

Hickey: Will the B1G 18 prove to be the new 'Conference of Champions'?

Has anyone thought of poor Bill Walton? With the Pac-12 dying, will the B1G inherit the mantle of 'Conference of Champions?'

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