http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5265439


You must be loving this right about now. I do have to say, things were kind of depressing on campus last Friday when I went to enroll and offically become a student. Personally I am not too worried about this situation. If the Pac 10 does take 6 teams and collapse the Big 12 then I think the other conferences will be forced to try and keep up with the Pac 10. If the other conference follow the Pac 10's lead then it would be hard to imagine that KU is left out of the picture. The one conference I have not heard much mention of is the ACC. Kansas would fit in perfectly with the basketball rich conference of the ACC, and the potential for a KU-UNC game every year should be mouth watering to any CBB fan. The schools that seem to be really screwed are Kansas State, Iowa State, and Baylor. If the Big 12 collapses then I do not see much hope for those schools to rebound effectively.


As a life long Tigers fan you must be in a heaven right now, not only do you have a chance to join the Big 10, but you can potentially deal a death blow to the University of Kansas at the same time.


On a side note, if Kansas can rebound and get into a major conference still then I am all for the Big 12 breaking up. I have not liked the way the Big 12 has been run in recent years.

 

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well.. It is really fun listening to all the talk atm. But being a lifelong Tiger fan, I know better than to count any chickens before they hatch. While I am 80% confident we end up in the Big 10, until it is officially announced, signed, sealed, and delivered, and the first game has actually been played - only then will I feel like its ok to talk about it!


However. It is fun hearing how KU higher ups are contacting us because they 'need' us. Especially when just a couple years ago, they called us a second rate university. Yes, seeing karma reveal herself is pretty pleasant feeling.


As for what happens to ku. I know you don't believe this, but you guys will be on the outside looking in. The ACC is just too far away (and they can pick up leftover Big East schools). I truly believe that the Mountain West will pick up some combination of schools (including KU and Kstate) and become a BCS conference. Basketball just doesn't mean anything during expansion talks - and if you don't believe me, there are plenty of articles out there by big time sports reporters about how KU will be left out in the cold. Basketball revenue has been maxed out and frankly, KU just doesn't have anything else to offer a conference. Football - nope, academic standards - nope, large TV markets - nope (I'm not saying they are horrible in those areas - just that they don't stand out to make a conference go "hey"

Even basketball is kind of in jeopardy with all the investigations going on atm. This is absolutely the worst time for the FBI to be snooping around, Lew to be under fire, and other accusations. Even if KU had a chance to get into another conference, they have no bargaining power right now. The basketball slush fund goes away, how will you guys get any of these players to come to the middle of nowhere?

Personally, I see Baylor going to the SEC. The other south teams and Colorado to the Pac-10, and MU/NU to Big 10. Though a large part of my gut tells me that the OK schools hold out for an SEC offer...

 

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I do not think that Baylor has much of a chance outside of the Big 12. I read somewhere that the Pac 10 is not even considering Baylor an option at all. Kansas State, has little chance outside of the mountian west conference, and Iowa State is in a simliar shape as Kansas, wrong place wrong time. The biggest problem with Kansas is not its sports, it is the population of the state of Kansas. If it was all about sports then what is not to like about Kansas. Even in football we are the only Big 12 North team to win anything significant in football the past half dozen plus years. I do not buy into this regionality thing anymore, it is clear that region has nothing to do with it anymore. The Big 10 killed that line of thought when they went after Texas, which is clearly not close to their region. The Pac 10 is clearly looking outside of their region. Region location does not matter as much in todays sports as it did many decades ago. I could just be in denial but I am not overlly worried about KU. There is a long way to go, and who knows where we will end up, but I find it hard to believe Kansas will not end up in a BCS conference when all is said and done.


Becareful using Kharma, because it is a two way street. If what is happening to Kansas is kharma from a little statement they made about Missouri, what kind of negitive kharma do you think Missouri will get for killing the Big 12 and dealing a potential deathblow to four universities?


Edit: The only thing that has me frustrated with this whole situation is the way that the Kansas leaders are handling this. Begging and pleading with schools to stay is having a very negitive appearence, they are making the school look like cry babies. Just let those schools leave that want to leave, let the Big 12 disolve and then go join MWC. At the end of the day I do not think that would be all that bad of a deal, as you said the MWC will be a BCS conference pretty quickly.

 

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Haven't you been paying attention? Mizzou will not be the death knell for the Big 12. NO ONE cares what we do! Its all about Nebraska and IF they leave. Mizzou isn't a prize in the expansion, but a very safe and profitable throw in according to all the 'experts'. Ten years from now everyone will blame the collapse of the Big 12 on Nebraska.


As for Baylor, I only think they get into the SEC because that would give the SEC an 'in' to the Texas markets. I think the SEC goes after Miami or Fl State, Baylor or TCU, Georgia Tech/Clemson/Virginia Tech/Louisville/Cincy. That is IF they can't get the OK schools who most people see as a better fit for the SEC than the PAC10. Its all just up in the air atm.

 

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I just read an article saying that it is expected that the Big 10 will invite Nebraska and stop there for the time being. I have to say that this is a very interesting time in sports right now. For the first time that I can remember early baseball season has been interesting, and it has nothing to do with baseball that is making this time interesting. The thing with Baylor is they offer nothing but television sets to anyone, and the SEC can enter the Texas market easier and probably more successfully with TCU. It will be interesting see how this all shapes out. If the report I read is true and only Nebraska gets an invite then I think everything else will remain normal. The Big 12 will add TCU to get back to 12 and the Pac 10 will swallow a couple of teams out west and the other conferences will hold pat. I don't think a single school is the lynchpin here other than Texas, the key IMO is going to be how many teams the Big 10 wants to add. Texas is the wildcard school if they leave the Big 12 regardless of what Nebraska does, then the Big 12 is finished.


http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/06/source-big-ten-expansion-will-happen-in-steps.html

 

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