The name sounded fine. Had the same stateliness as, say, the Big Ten. Big is a strong word. Short, powerful. Twelve is a good word. One syllable. For all its many problems, one thing you can say about the Big 12. Its name is never abbreviated.

The name played to history. Two thirds of the original Big 12 came from the Big Eight. The Big 12 was a nod that despite all the clamor that this was a new conference, separate and distinct from the old Big Eight, the historical ties remained strong.

And the name fit. There indeed were 12 schools. Don’t sleep on that.

You know the history. The Big 12 now is 10 schools, including just eight that were in the original dozen and just five that were in the old Big Eight.

The Big 12 name was retained for the same reason it was adopted. No one could come up with a better alternative. Scrap the Big 12 name, and what happens if expansion looms? Scrap the Big 12 name, and rebranding starts all over.