UNT will determine COA stipends soon

[untjim1995]

Can't disagree with Arkstfan.  You hear about the B12 actually expanding and going to 12 teams, but who are they gonna get?  BYU would be the closest.  Those that think Cinci and Memphis are going to be anointed into the B12, well, I still view those teams as Missouri Conference mats.  Good basketball but nothing more.

If BYU could move the needle, they'd already be there. But the Big XII is at full value right now. The three big drivers in the Big XII are UT, OU, and KU. OU and KU are already flirting very heard with the Big Ten and SEC, with the Pac-12 and ACC also possibilites. Its the GOR that keeps them in place. If they both leave, as has been mentioned heavily of late to go to the Big Ten, Texas is not staying in the Big 12 as its currently positioned. They either go with the other two or they go independent, which I still believe is their best bet. They can unleash all of the political baggage that would be Baylor, Tech, and TCU, by, in part, agreeing to still play them, as well as fellow independents BYU, ND, and Army. They can add in an FCS team to play, a few SBCUSA teams to buy, and then get other P5 games, all while keeping the LHN. The AAC would do backflips if Texas joined them for the other sports, just like the ACC did with ND.

In that scenario, the Pac-12 probably just stays at 12. They won't take religious schools, so that kills BYU, BU, and TCU, nor will they take schools with poor academic rankings that are below some of their current members, so Boise State, Texas Tech, OSU, and KSU are out. They won't take Iowa State becuase of having no market, even though they are AAU, and obviously WVU isn't a git geographically, academically, or market-wise. That leaves the ACC and the SEC to figure out if they want to stand pat at 14 football members or if they want o join the Big Ten in adding membership to get to 16. The SEC is all about TV markets for the SEC network, so I don't know if KSU, OSU, or WVU move the needle enough, although they have made it clear that they won't take two teams from the same state anymore, so if the ACC holds steady with its membership, then maybe KSU and OSU would be good fits. For $hits and giggles, lets say they do. Then, let's say the ACC adds WVU and UConn to get to 16, as well. The ship would have 60 conference mates, plus at least three independents with national name recognition, ND, BYU, and UT. I don't believe that Tech, TCU, Baylor, or ISU could pull off independence, so I suspect that the MWC will add them into their conference at that point. I could be wrong about TCU and Baylor, though--their money might be able to keep them afloat for a while as an independent in football to see if they can join the other three I mentioned above, knowing full well that the AAC would probably take them in, as well, as non-football members.

You could reshuffle the deck to include a few differnet names as G5s that could move up, but only UConn has the basketball gold in both genders to provide the most value, not to mention their proximity to the NE markets.I don't see how they could get passed up for expansion by Cincy, USF, UCF, Memphis, Houston, Boise State, or BYU. Anyone not mentioned is G5 going forward for good, unless they quit football/athletics.