Animus: The west div would be Neb, KSU, ISU, OSU, TexT & Baylor. Seatle to Tucson is 1600 miles, Bos to FSU [same div] is 1150 miles. Okla City to NYC is 1485, Okla City to Pittsburg is 1100 miles. Travell would be well within the confines of BCS conf. When you crunch the #,s travell would be less than Pac-10 & ACC. Buy a map, you'll stop laughing

Big XII
East - Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska
West - Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado State, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming

Championships in Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, or Salt Lake City

SWC
North - Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
South - Houston, Rice, Southern Methodist, Texas-El Paso (UTEP), Texas Christian, Tulsa

Championships in Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma City, or San Antonio

WAC
East - Boise State, Idaho, Nevada, Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV), New Mexico State, Utah State
West - Fresno State, Hawaii, Portland State, San Diego State, Sacramento State, San Jose State

Championships in Las Vegas, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, or San Jose

Conference USA
Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), Central Florida (UCF), East Carolina (ECU), Memphis, North Texas, South Florida, Southern Miss, Tulane

Conference Tournament in Birmingham, Dallas, Orlando, Memphis, or New Orleans.

Big 10
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Conference Tournament in Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianpolis, Milwaukee, or Minneapolis

Big East
East - Boston College, Buffalo, Connecticut, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple
West - Cincinnati, Louisville, Marshall, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh

Championships in Boston, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Hartford, Indianapolis, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, or Syracuse

Atlantic Coast
North - Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
South - Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami-FL, North Carolina State, Wake Forest

Championships in Charlotte, Greensboro (Basketball Only), Jacksonville, Richmond (Basketball Only), Miami, Tampa, or Washington (DC).

Pacific 10
Arizona, Arizona State, California, California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Oregon, Oregon State, Southern California (USC), Stanford, Washington, Washington State

Conference Tournament in Los Angeles, Oakland, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, or Seattle

Sun Belt Basketball
East - Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Middle Tennessee, South Alabama, Troy, Western Kentucky
West - Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, New Orleans

Sun Belt Football
Arkansas State, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, Troy, Western Kentucky

Conference Tournament in Birmingham, Jacksonville, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, New Orleans, Tampa

Mid-American
East - Akron, Bowling Green, Kent State, Miami-OH, Ohio, Youngstown State
West - Ball State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Western Michigan

Championships in Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, or Indianapolis

I simply can't see Texas, TAMU, Oklahoma, or Oklahoma State going along with any form of a revitalized SWC. The Whorns and Aggies (no derogatory name needed, they're Aggies) left the SWC (dragging TT and Baylor with them) for a reason. There may very well be a split, but the southern part of the conference won't be adding that many teams they would think of as beneath them.

If you started with the core base of Big XII South teams (UT, TAMU, TT, Baylor, OK, OK State), they would probably add TCU and inquire about Arkansas and LSU. Arkansas might move, LSU probably wouldn't. After that, it would boil down to schools like Houston, UTEP, East Carolina(just seeing if you're paying attention), and possibly Memphis or the New Mexico schools. Southern Miss might have an outside chance, as would Tulsa. I just can't see them adding enough schools to get to 12...maybe 9.

Then again, this is all assumign the north and south don't kiss and make up in the next few years.

templefootballfan Wrote:Animus: The west div would be Neb, KSU, ISU, OSU, TexT & Baylor. Seatle to Tucson is 1600 miles, Bos to FSU [same div] is 1150 miles. Okla City to NYC is 1485, Okla City to Pittsburg is 1100 miles. Travell would be well within the confines of BCS conf. When you crunch the #,s travell would be less than Pac-10 & ACC. Buy a map, you'll stop laughing

Are you just playing devil's advocate, or do you actually think this has a chance of happening? I personally don't give it any shot of occurring. Since we also are stretching the other conference distances to their extremes, we should try NYC to Boulder, CO. That's 1800 miles. I say slim to none chance of happening, and slim just left the building.

Here is what I expect will be the next Full-fledged BCS conference:

C-USA East:
Marshall
ECU
UCF
UAB
Memphis
Southern Miss

C-USA West:
Tulsa
SMU
Rice
Tulane
UTEP
Houston

This C-USA configuration is already the only "coalition" conference having NCAA "equity conference" status and already has the best TV and bowl packages outside the "Power 5 +1". A major breakthrough is only a question of time and the longer C-USA is left as-is, the stronger we become. Screw TigerShark2 and the mule he rode in on.

animus Wrote:Note: This is only a theory.

Denver Post on the Big XII

I'll explain as to why.

If there is something of credence to this bad blood Mr. Kiszla points out. Could the Big XII split?

In the event it were to happen, I think this would lead into the MWC dissolving. Here's why. I believe the 6 North schools would keep the Big XII name and add from the MWC, Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah and Wyoming with the 6th addition being C-USA's Memphis. They would now go East-West instead of North-South yielding the alignment of:

Big XII
East - Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Memphis, Missouri, Nebraska
West - Air Force, BYU, Colorado, Colorado State, Utah, Wyoming

Championships can take place in either Denver or Kansas City.

The South schools would create the rebirth of the SWC adding TCU and New Mexico from the MWC and Houston, Rice, SMU and UTEP from Conference USA. They would go North-South yielding this realignment.

SWC
North - Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, UTEP
South - Baylor, Houston, New Mexico, Rice, Texas, Texas A & M

Championships can take place in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio or Oklahoma City.

It might be a little awkward but that's to keep the rivalries together.

SDSU and UNLV are left in the cold and would have no other choice than to return to the WAC. As for CUSA, it would not have a championship game anymore with the mass exodus, though I believe they would add Louisiana Tech and North Texas and here's how I think those 2 conferences would look like:

WAC
Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico State, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State

Basketball Tournament could find a permanent home in Las Vegas.

Conference USA
East Carolina, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, North Texas, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, UCF

Basketball Tournament could head to New Orleans (NO Arena), Birmingham (BJCC), Tulsa (NEW BOK Center) or Orlando (Orlando Arena)

We'll have to see how "As the Big XII Turns" ends out.

I think Memphis would fit more into the SWC south scenario. Also, add Southern Miss to that group to replace Rice and New Mexico (have nothing against those schools, but believe Memphis and USM to be better additions bringing additional eastern exposure.) Would switch either TCU/SMU with Baylor division wise.

Don't know whether or not they would be interested or not, but Louisville might be a team of interest in either Big 12 or SWC if something did happen.

New Mexico could go to the new Big 12, Rice would likely stay in C-USA.

DFW HOYA Wrote:For any number of reasons, this won't happen.

Texas and Texas A&M want nothing to do with TCU, Rice, Southern Methodist, et al. They would sooner jump to a 14 team SEC than reestablish the SWC. TTech and Baylor may be another story, but in this area the competitive level between the Big 12 and C-USA schools is akin to the Big East and the upper half of the A-10/CAA.

The old Big 8 schools may be dumb, as the saying goes, but they're not stupid. They won't be able to get the kind of revenues and BCS consideration by slicing off Texas and Oklahoma from its footprint. And whereas the B12 South has had the edge in football while the north had it in basketball, this too is moving south as former doormats like A&M and Baylor are ratcheting up their programs.

It's easy in large confernece to assume discord (though few seem to talk about the rift in the ACC, FWIW). The Big 12 has the same struggles any conference faces--heck, even the Ivy League has its haves (Harvard, Yale, Princeton) and have-nots (Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth). But both aren't going anywhere.

The voice of reason. (From the fan of a AA school, no less!)

For all the geographic grace of such dream conferences (and the help it provides in bowl scheduling) none of the scenarios discussed throughout represents a fiscal or competitive upgrade for either grouping when compared to what they'll find in the Big XII. No mock up of the revamped North would add enough to compensate for losing the Texas market. Nor would any additions to the South provide the appeal and exposure afforded from the Colorado and Missouri markets, Kansas basketball or Nebraska football. The US would be less interested in a Texas/Oklahoma conference, and neither Arkansas and/or LSU will be leaving the SEC for any SWC if that conference is recreated under the imbalanced schemes of UT, who's trying to pull a Joe-Pa/EAC and hoard the money all to themselves.

Texas won't find a better home that gives them more advantages than what the Big XII already affords them with the imbalanced payouts. If peer academic relationships is any factor in Texas' decisions they won't be aligning with UTEP, Houston, SMU and TCU over the likes of Missouri, ISU Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado, all of whom are often rated more highly than TAMU, TTU and Okie State. If they don't like having conference mates with meager budgets they're welcome to divvy up the purse evenly, just as the ACC, SEC, Big Ten and PAC 10 does. (The latter two of which they aspire to be involved with.)

I'd love to see a split if the North schools could retain their relative status and exposure and if Texas took a little on the chin, but in reality I know those institutions are best off where they are.

Gray Avenger Wrote:Here is what I expect will be the next Full-fledged BCS conference:

C-USA East:
Marshall
ECU
UCF
UAB
Memphis
Southern Miss

C-USA West:
Tulsa
SMU
Rice
Tulane
UTEP
Houston

This C-USA configuration is already the only "coalition" conference having NCAA "equity conference" status and already has the best TV and bowl packages outside the "Power 5 +1". A major breakthrough is only a question of time and the longer C-USA is left as-is, the stronger we become. Screw TigerShark2 and the mule he rode in on.

I see you have been reduced to Topcoog like insults to the BE. There is no power 5 +1. There are 6 power leagues that control the bcs, and weild the majority of power in the NCAA. The small amount of crediblity that you had here just took a major hit with that statement. We now know for sure that your intent here is to backhanded flames.

America East
North - Boston University, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Northeastern, Vermont
South - Albany, Binghamton, Hartford, Hofstra, Rhode Island, Stony Brook

Atlantic Sun
Belmont, Campbell, East Tennessee State, Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville, Kennessaw State, Lipscomb, Mercer, North Florida, South Carolina Upstate, Stetson

Atlantic 12
East - Drexel, Fordham, LaSalle, Providence, Saint John's, Seton Hall
West - Duquesne, George Washington, Georgetown, Saint Bonaventure, Saint Joseph's, Villanova

Big Sky
Eastern Washington, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Southern Utah, Weber State

Big South
Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, Gardner Webb, High Point, Liberty, Longwood, North Carolina-Ashville (UNCA), Presbyterian, Radford, Savannah State, Virginia Military, Winthrop

Big West
Cal Poly, Cal-Davis, Cal-Irvine, Cal-Riverside, Cal-Santa Barbara, Cal State-Bakersfield, Cal State-Fullerton, Cal State-Northridge, Long Beach State

Colonial Athletic
North - Delaware, George Mason, Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC), Richmond, Towson, Virginia Commonwealth
South - Charlotte, Georgia State, James Madison, North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW), Old Dominion, William & Mary

Great Southwest
Centenary, Lamar, Oral Roberts, Texas-Arlington, Texas-Pan American, Texas-San Antonio, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Utah Valley State

Horizon League
Chicago State, Cleveland State, Illinois-Chicago, Indiana-Purdue at Indianpolis (IUPUI), Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne (IPFW), Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), Wisconsin-Green Bay (UWGB), Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), Wright State

Ivy League
Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Yale

Metro Atlantic
Canisius, Fairfield, Iona, Loyola-MD, Manhattan, Marist, Niagara, Rider, Saint Peters, Siena

Mid-Eastern Athletic
Bethune Cookman, Coppin State, Delaware State, Florida A&M, Hampton, Howard, Maryland East-Shore, Morgan State, Norfolk State, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central, South Carolina State, Winston-Salem State

Missouri Valley
Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, South Dakota, South Dakota State

Northeastern
Central Connecticut State, Fairleigh Dickinsion, Long Island-Brooklyn, Monmouth, Mount Saint Mary's, New Jersey Tech, Quinnipiac, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, Saint Francis-NY, Saint Francis-PA, Wagner

Ohio Valley
Austin Peay, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Morehead State, Murray State, Southeast Missouri State, Tennesee-Martin, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech

Patriot League
American, Army, Buckell, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh, Navy

Pioneer League
Butler, Dayton, Detroit, Evansville, Oakland (MI), Valparaiso, Xavier

Southern Conference
North - Appalachian State, Chattanooga, Davidson, Elon, North Carolina-Greensboro (UNCG), Western Carolina
South - Charleston, Citadel, Furman, Georgia Southern, Samford, Wofford

Soutland Conference
Central Arkansas, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Southeastern Louisiana, Texas State

Summit League
Bradley, Creighton, De Paul, Drake, Loyola (IL), Marquette, St. Louis, Wichita State

West Coast
Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary's, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Seattle

CollegeCard Wrote:

templefootballfan Wrote:Animus: The west div would be Neb, KSU, ISU, OSU, TexT & Baylor. Seatle to Tucson is 1600 miles, Bos to FSU [same div] is 1150 miles. Okla City to NYC is 1485, Okla City to Pittsburg is 1100 miles. Travell would be well within the confines of BCS conf. When you crunch the #,s travell would be less than Pac-10 & ACC. Buy a map, you'll stop laughing

Are you just playing devil's advocate, or do you actually think this has a chance of happening? I personally don't give it any shot of occurring. Since we also are stretching the other conference distances to their extremes, we should try NYC to Boulder, CO. That's 1800 miles. I say slim to none chance of happening, and slim just left the building.

One geographically it doesn't make sence. 2 there is no real tradition between the big 8 and the eastern independents. 3 it is out of both the big 8 and eastern indy's footprint. sure the schools have played in the past but not that often. It doesn't make sence and will not happen period so yes i have a reason to laugh at the suggestion.

David Krysakowski Wrote:Big XII
East - Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska
West - Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado State, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming

Championships in Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, or Salt Lake City

SWC
North - Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
South - Houston, Rice, Southern Methodist, Texas-El Paso (UTEP), Texas Christian, Tulsa

Championships in Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma City, or San Antonio

WAC
East - Boise State, Idaho, Nevada, Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV), New Mexico State, Utah State
West - Fresno State, Hawaii, Portland State, San Diego State, Sacramento State, San Jose State

Championships in Las Vegas, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, or San Jose

Conference USA
Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), Central Florida (UCF), East Carolina (ECU), Memphis, North Texas, South Florida, Southern Miss, Tulane

Conference Tournament in Birmingham, Dallas, Orlando, Memphis, or New Orleans.

Big 10
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Conference Tournament in Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianpolis, Milwaukee, or Minneapolis

Big East
East - Boston College, Buffalo, Connecticut, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple
West - Cincinnati, Louisville, Marshall, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh

Championships in Boston, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Hartford, Indianapolis, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, or Syracuse

Atlantic Coast
North - Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
South - Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami-FL, North Carolina State, Wake Forest

Championships in Charlotte, Greensboro (Basketball Only), Jacksonville, Richmond (Basketball Only), Miami, Tampa, or Washington (DC).

Pacific 10
Arizona, Arizona State, California, California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Oregon, Oregon State, Southern California (USC), Stanford, Washington, Washington State

Conference Tournament in Los Angeles, Oakland, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, or Seattle

Sun Belt Basketball
East - Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Middle Tennessee, South Alabama, Troy, Western Kentucky
West - Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, New Orleans

Sun Belt Football
Arkansas State, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, Troy, Western Kentucky

Conference Tournament in Birmingham, Jacksonville, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, New Orleans, Tampa

Mid-American
East - Akron, Bowling Green, Kent State, Miami-OH, Ohio, Youngstown State
West - Ball State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Western Michigan

Championships in Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, or Indianapolis

You have too much time on your hands

GunnerFan Wrote:

DFW HOYA Wrote:For any number of reasons, this won't happen.

Texas and Texas A&M want nothing to do with TCU, Rice, Southern Methodist, et al. They would sooner jump to a 14 team SEC than reestablish the SWC. TTech and Baylor may be another story, but in this area the competitive level between the Big 12 and C-USA schools is akin to the Big East and the upper half of the A-10/CAA.

The old Big 8 schools may be dumb, as the saying goes, but they're not stupid. They won't be able to get the kind of revenues and BCS consideration by slicing off Texas and Oklahoma from its footprint. And whereas the B12 South has had the edge in football while the north had it in basketball, this too is moving south as former doormats like A&M and Baylor are ratcheting up their programs.

It's easy in large confernece to assume discord (though few seem to talk about the rift in the ACC, FWIW). The Big 12 has the same struggles any conference faces--heck, even the Ivy League has its haves (Harvard, Yale, Princeton) and have-nots (Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth). But both aren't going anywhere.

The voice of reason. (From the fan of a AA school, no less!)

For all the geographic grace of such dream conferences (and the help it provides in bowl scheduling) none of the scenarios discussed throughout represents a fiscal or competitive upgrade for either grouping when compared to what they'll find in the Big XII. No mock up of the revamped North would add enough to compensate for losing the Texas market. Nor would any additions to the South provide the appeal and exposure afforded from the Colorado and Missouri markets, Kansas basketball or Nebraska football. The US would be less interested in a Texas/Oklahoma conference, and neither Arkansas and/or LSU will be leaving the SEC for any SWC if that conference is recreated under the imbalanced schemes of UT, who's trying to pull a Joe-Pa/EAC and hoard the money all to themselves.

Texas won't find a better home that gives them more advantages than what the Big XII already affords them with the imbalanced payouts. If peer academic relationships is any factor in Texas' decisions they won't be aligning with UTEP, Houston, SMU and TCU over the likes of Missouri, ISU Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado, all of whom are often rated more highly than TAMU, TTU and Okie State. If they don't like having conference mates with meager budgets they're welcome to divvy up the purse evenly, just as the ACC, SEC, Big Ten and PAC 10 does. (The latter two of which they aspire to be involved with.)

I'd love to see a split if the North schools could retain their relative status and exposure and if Texas took a little on the chin, but in reality I know those institutions are best off where they are.

I've talked to a few fans from the big 12 on college footballnews.com and they seem to hate the championchip game for whatever reason. So if there is a split just because of that one single game i highly doubt that both sides will make new conference that have 12 teams and have the same problem all over again.

animus Wrote:I've talked to a few fans from the big 12 on college footballnews.com and they seem to hate the championchip game for whatever reason.

And fans tend to mirror the thinking of the coaches. But coaches have never, and will never, be making conference decisions. As I'm sure you are aware, these decisions are made by university presidents in consultation with their ADs.

The big stumbling block for some of the Big 12 presidents and their ADs is the uneven distribution of the TV contract monies. They want equal sharing of all revenue (after travel expenses for bowl and NCAA tourney teams are deducted), like other BCS conferences besides them and the Big East.

Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and A&M don't want this (although, it is reported that A&M almost sided with the have-nots on this last vote). Weiberg has been attempting to get equal revenue sharing for years, but couldn't get one of those four schools to budge.

To even think that the other schools will vote to do away with the B12 championship game, another source of revenue and sometimes a showcase game for one of the have-nots from the North shows how totally out of touch Stoops is with the economic realities of the situation.

To paraphrase from an earlier newspaper article on the Big 12 topic - either you have equal revenue sharing or you shut up about the quality of the competition.

Quote:So if there is a split just because of that one single game i highly doubt that both sides will make new conference that have 12 teams and have the same problem all over again.

Agreed. If there is a split, the Texas-Oklahoma contingent will only go to 10 teams at best.

Still, I think DWFHoya and GunnerFan are correct in that there simply is no 10 team (or even 12-team) configuration that is likely to get the revenue nearly equal to the current Big 12 configuration WITHOUT Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri as part of the mix. And since three of those programs want equal revenue sharing, I highly doubt they are going to agree to a split and put themselves in a worse situation than they are now in this regard.

Unless they think totally radically, which is something university presidents seldom do.

Cheers,
Neil

animus Wrote:I've talked to a few fans from the big 12 on college footballnews.com and they seem to hate the championchip game for whatever reason. So if there is a split just because of that one single game i highly doubt that both sides will make new conference that have 12 teams and have the same problem all over again.

Only in a worst case scenario for any schools left behind, who might need the numbers to expand exposure and revenue. Otherwise, agreed.

Methinks this is mostly overreaction to single issues in a time-frame still defined be the last realignments. "ISU is unhappy with something, ere go the Big XII MUST be dissolved!"

i can agree with that omni

omnicarrier Wrote:To paraphrase from an earlier newspaper article on the Big 12 topic - either you have equal revenue sharing or you shut up about the quality of the competition.

Sums it up right there. The problem with the Big XII and ACC championship games has been the imbalance (or, for the ACC last year *sigh*, the near total absence) of talent to make the event match the hype. How badly did Texas trounce Oklahoma the other year? The ACC at least has a mechanism and efforts underway to improve, but the Big XII has fewer resources for their weaker siblings to rise above themselves.

I've noted elsewhere that Missouri, as the only 1-A school in a state of 5M people, must be the program most guilty of under performing in the bigger sports. They have better facilities and resources than many other conference mates but still can't achieve consistent success of late. ISU has some ambitious dreams for facility improvements but lacks the $ and media exposure to make the jump on their own so long as UT and OU dominate the Big XII air time. In time these schools will improve their comparable standing to the Southern Division, but in the meantime they shouldn't be faulted by the same organizations that are keeping the economic differences in place.

GunnerFan Wrote:Methinks this is mostly overreaction to single issues in a time-frame still defined be the last realignments. "ISU is unhappy with something, ere go the Big XII MUST be dissolved!"

I think there is more to it than that now, considering Weiberg's departure for a 'lesser' position with the Big Ten. And I'd say most of the angst is coming from Texas and Oklahoma (maintaining unbalanced TV revenue sharing, wanting to do away with the B12 championship game, complaining about the quality of competition from the North, etc.), using Iowa State as the easy scapegoat, since it is the majority that want equal revenue sharing and to hang unto the B12 championship game and it is the minority that do not want either.

Of course, one of the amusing sidebars to all the angst is Texas' belief that the conference is so inferior for their academics, particular in terms of research. And yet, after the two Texas schools, 5 of the 6 North schools rate higher in terms of excellence in research programs ahead of either Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

And in terms of overall academic reputation, all 6 North schools exceed Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech in terms of academics.

Cheers,
Neil

omnicarrier Wrote:Of course, one of the amusing sidebars to all the angst is Texas' belief that the conference is so inferior for their academics, particular in terms of research. And yet, after the two Texas schools, 5 of the 6 North schools rate higher in terms of excellence in research programs ahead of either Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

And in terms of overall academic reputation, all 6 North schools exceed Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech in terms of academics.

A point I've obviously debated with many Texas fans before, but alas you and I appear have mystical insight into sources unbeknownst to them!

Quote:And I'd say most of the angst is coming from Texas and Oklahoma

And from my vantage point you'd be right. Those already poised to gain the most from the conference hate to see that last hurdle before their appointments with greatness! I guess in contrast to the SEC they don't see their own conference as deep with worthy teams, so why bother.

Texas is such a perplexing piece to me. If they're so valuable and popular why is DKR Stadium only being expanded to 90k as opposed to 100k+? But sports needs it's villains, doesn't it?

CatsClaw Wrote:That would be interesting. While the conference Memphis would be in would be decent, if the Big 12 did split and effected the MWC and C-USA I would like to see Memphis go on the other side with Oklahoma and Texas, and Texas A&M and OK State and those guys. I think that conference would have a ton of stability and potential.

What?

Memphis is a basketball school.

Memphis in a conference with Missouri and Kansas would be awesome.

It's much ado about nothing. Who cares about the Big12? It has nothing to do with the BEast. :muttering: