It is sometimes a challenge to get used to Arizonaβs affiliation with the Big 12 Conference. The feeling of being an outsider comes and goes.
For example, the Big 12 menβs and womenβs basketball media days last week in Kansas City were sponsored by Phillips 66, which is possibly the Big 12βs biggest sponsor.
The Big 12 logo is seen on the court during the second half of a game between Cincinnati and Oklahoma State in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament, March 11, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo.
Phillips 66? If youβve lived in Arizona your entire life, you may not have heard of it. Of the 2,527 Phillips 66 gas stations in America, none are in Arizona. There are also none in West Virginia, Florida and Ohio β states that include Big 12 schools Cincinnati, UCF and West Virginia. But Phillips 66 thrives in the home of the Texas Tech Red Raiders; there are 40 Phillips 66 stations in the Lubbock area and 552 in Kansas and Iowa, also home to Big 12 schools.
Perhaps the Big 12 can get Circle K, a familiar Tucson gasoline hot spot, to join its list of sponsors and those of us newbies in Arizona can feel more at home.
