(01-10-2018 08:41 PM)XLance Wrote:  

(01-10-2018 06:24 PM)vandiver49 Wrote:  

(01-09-2018 02:08 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  

(01-09-2018 01:55 PM)murrdcu Wrote:  

(01-09-2018 08:02 AM)XLance Wrote:  The secret meetings are already being planned in Chicago.
Being left out, after sneaking Ohio State in previously, must not be sitting well with the PTB of the B1G.
I think those guys will chomp down hard on their cigars and condescend to include Oklahoma as a top priority for expansion. The B1G must have better football in the western portion of their conference...Wisconsin can't prop up the west all by themselves.

Or the B1G follows in the SEC’s footsteps when Sankey met with the SEC AD’s and they worked out plan to improve their abysmal basketball conference to what it’s improved to today.

The B1G already added Nebraska to “fix” the West. If they add just Oklahoma to the west, how can the B1G hope OU won’t dip considerably like NU did?

I'm not quite sure the reasoning behind the addition of Nebraska was to balance the East and West. Nebraska, at the time, had come off several decades of consistent dominance. The B1G also went to the Leaders/Legends format which kind of negates any idea that the idea was always for an East/West format. Also, at the time, a conference needed 12 schools for a CCG.

If I were the B1G during that time period, I would've sent a mass offer to Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. There was a report that the B1G received a package offer from a combination of Iowa St, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M.

Had the B1G gone my way with N/K/M/O/T, they'd look like:

West: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin
East: Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan St, Ohio St, Penn St

Fairly balanced with a bunch of state flagships.

Texas A&M still heads to the SEC. Colorado still heads to the PAC with Utah. Perhaps Oklahoma St goes with Texas A&M instead of Missouri? Who knows. The SEC said a lot by taking Missouri and made the Tigers feel welcomed in a way the B1G was idiotic not to do. It also gave the SEC stronger borders with Oklahoma football and Kansas basketball.

I doubt the SEC would've taken Missouri for the sole sake of spiting the B1G, but sometimes realignment moves are more like chess - you might not make the best move in the world but you're setting yourself up for the win.

I always felt the B1G picked NU over Mizzou because They felt they would still be there. If Maryland hasn’t made their financial woes public, then I think the picks are KU and the Tigers.

Simple strategy that was also used by the ACC.
Take your farthest target first and work back into the center.
The most logical targets for the B1G were like a push out along their outer perimeter.
(Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia/Virginia Tech, Pitt/Rutgers/Maryland/Syracuse)

The strategies worked out for both of you about the same. Maryland and Rutgers two footprint adds when the pay model was changing. About the same as Syracuse and Pitt, or Boston College and Miami.