Big 12 Big East merger gaining steam.

[DRCHIRO]

Really? Why?

Because they suck.

[gocubs2118]

This would be a garbage conference.

And it's not a "best case scenario", either. Best case would be that Texas, OU, OSU and Tech go nowhere, and the B12 skims off the best remaining teams from everywhere else.

Suddenly BYU looks much better.

That isn't a garbage conference. It isn't great but it's way better than the current Big East.

[Cyclone90]

Missouri would rather go B1G than SEC. A KU\MU\ISU\ND package might be an appealing add. Notre Dame might be the only realistic non-AAU candidate.

I'm sure they would, but if they get the SEC invite first it would be tough to pass up and the Big 10 seems to be sitting back and watching for the moment. It would certainly help us if Mizzou was left in the dust for the time being so we could be the odd filler of your aforementioned Big 10 expansion.

My pipe dream is that the Big 10 has had their eye on us all along as a filler, but doesn't want to play their card too early and take a spot that would otherwise be more beneficial.

[Clone83]

Notre Dame isn't AAU and Nebraska isn't anymore either, although I believe they were at their invite. But I agree on the AAU school list. Essentially ISU, Kansas, Mizzou and Rutgers are the only AAU schools left on the table. West Virginia doesn't have a chance in hell at the Big 10. They're a worse school than TTech. Rice is an interesting AAU school that would give the Big 10 a Texas school. Not likely, but interesting. Mizzou and Rutgers could be gone to the ACC and SEC shortly. Unfortunately I think the Big 10 would be perfectly happy to take KU and ND and stop at 14. We're not going unless a #14 or #16 filler is needed.

My big fear is the Big East/Big 12 merges next year and creates a big exit fee, and then several years later the Big 10 decides to expand and leaves us locked to mediocrity.

This is why I think there is some limit to everyone agreeing to some enormous exit fee, with as fluid with everything is, and has been since the Big Ten went shopping a year or two ago. Some of this has just got to be based on trust, as best as you can.

What you just said here about ISU is surely what many other schools have thought.

[HoopsTournament]

I still think whatever it ends up being will only be a 2-3 year stop gap until either the SEC or Big Ten starts looking to expand again. You're telling me that the Pac-16 and ACC are both going to have divisions the size of the old Big East and there won't be any pressure applied to the BCS to guarantee them more than 1 BCS bid? If that becomes the case suddenly I don't see the Big Ten and SEC being content at 12 or 14.

Those leagues will only have 2 out of 11 votes. Do you know how the BCS works?

[enisthemenace]

Any Big Ten scenario that has Kansas State is a non starter. Academics are not good enough, and neither is their athletics department.

They're higher rated than Louisville and Cincy, so might as well throw them out too...

[enisthemenace]

What if TBoone's 'boys and Taco Tech can't get into the club with their big brothers? That may be enough to hold MU for now, with key acquisitions. Add five more: BYU, LVille, Houston, WVA, and TCU.

North: ISU, MIZZOU, KU, KSU, LVILLE, WVA
South: TT, Baylor, TCU, Houston, OSU, BYU

Tell OU and the Horns to take a long walk off a short California pier, put together a unified vision for all teams, and let's move on.

If OSU doesn't make the cut, Kansas will.

[TheHelgo]

It may be our ticket but the only issue I have with it is that it seems like another conference held together by duct tape. .

Hey! Look at what MacGuyver accomplished with duct tape alone!

[hoosman]

I know that this is not what you want to hear, but if ISU gets hosed, and they probably will, then I am not going to bother watching any NCAA football unless it is ISU. The entire sport has been taken over by greed, backstabbing, cheating, and commercialism.