For Arizona State sports teams, 2024 will bring new experiences in Big 12

It has been a bittersweet athletic season so far for the state's major college programs. Arizona and Arizona State are both winding up competing in the Pac-12, where they have resided since 1978 (when it was the Pac-10), and looking ahead to 2024-25 sports season when they will be members of the Big 12 along with Colorado and Utah.

It's all a part of the changing landscape in college athletics with new conference alignments one of the most noteworthy developments.

ASU will depart the Pac-12 having won three conference football titles, the most recent coming in 2007 when it shared the honors with USC. The other titles came in 1986 and 1996, seasons highlighted by Rose Bowl appearances.

The fact that this is the last year of Pac-12 football as we know it is a bit ironic given the success of the soon-to-be extinct conference this season. Nine of the 12 teams were ranked at some point this season, and there were weeks with as many as six ranked at once.

Washington is in the College Football Playoff, knocking out contender Oregon in the conference title game. Two Pac-12 quarterbacks were finalists for the Heisman Trophy, and across the conference it was the best batch of signal callers the Pac-12 has seen in recent memory.

Outlook on ASU Football

ASU leaves the conference on the heels of back-to-back 3-9 finishes but energized by Kenny Dillingham, who is heading into his second year as head coach. At 33, he remains the youngest head coach at an FBS school.

While the wins were few the past season, the Sun Devils did some noteworthy things. Their last win came against UCLA in what will likely be their last game at the prestigious Rose Bowl venue. They pushed that still-unbeaten Washington team to the brink, losing to the Huskies in Seattle 15-7 without giving up an offensive touchdown. The Sun Devils were also within one score of perennial power USC until six minutes left in the fourth quarter. So there were some moments to build on in what was an injury-filled season.

It is reasonable to think ASU can compete at a high level in the Big 12, with the most successful brand this season in Texas headed out to the SEC, along with perennial title contender Oklahoma. Just two current Big 12 schools who are staying in the conference next year landed in the most recent CFP rankings. Even then, they're among the last few teams with Oklahoma State and Kansas State at 20 and 25, respectively.

Basketball, however, is another story. The Big 12 is a power on the men's side and it will get even stronger with the addition of the new teams, most notably Arizona. The Sun Devils have hung around the middle of the pack in the Pac-12, although there have been three postseason berths in the last five years.

How ASU Basketball can look in the Big 12

The Sun Devils are going to have to up their game to be able to compete in that conference, something coach Bobby Hurley has alluded to previously. It will be up to a new athletic director to see that the Sun Devils can get the additional resources needed to compete in the Big 12, which features the likes of Kansas, Baylor and Houston.

While the Sun Devils might not seem like they're poised to contend with such teams, they have had moments that would indicate otherwise. They boast two historic wins over Kansas, one by a 95-85 score at Kansas with the Jayhawks ranked No. 2 in 2017, then an 80-76 win the following season in Tempe with Kansas at No. 1.

On the women's side, the Pac-12 has traditionally been one of the premier basketball conferences, and in the last two years ASU has struggled miserably, going a combined 20-34 overall and 5-23 in Pac-12 play. So this is one scenario where the move will serve the Sun Devils well.

It remains to be seen what will happen with the so-called Olympic sports. The Big 12 is adding women's lacrosse and beach volleyball in 2024; both are sports in which ASU already fields teams.

The Pac-12 has traditionally been strong in Olympic sports like gymnastics, water polo and track and field. Before departing, former athletic director Ray Anderson said he would like to keep schools such as USC and UCLA on the schedule even though those universities are headed to the Big Ten. It makes sense from both a competitive and geographic standpoint.

A sport that could thrive even further, though, is wrestling. While just a few Pac-12 schools field teams, wrestling is a dominant sport in the Big 12. ASU wrestling likely will benefit most by the move.

In other sports, such as golf and ice hockey, the move is largely a non-factor. Golf plays a tournament schedule; the men's hockey team will become members of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference for the 2024-25 season.

It will be interesting to see how the added travel comes into play. It is easy to get to places such as Los Angeles, the Bay Area of California, and there is the luxury of lots of direct flights to Seattle and Portland, Ore. Getting to places such as Waco, Texas, and Manhattan, Kansas, won't be as easy. And next year the Big 12 will range from Arizona in the west to West Virginia in the east and Central Florida in the south. Details on scheduling have not been hashed out as of yet.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: For Arizona State sports, 2024 will bring new experiences in Big 12