The Big 18 -- Take 2

Now that it seems as if Big 10(11) expansion is inevitable, and the move to mega-conferences a very real possibility, I have been doing a bit more reading and have come to realize the AAU (Association of American Universities) membership would likely be a significant criteria for any school gaining entrance to whatever will become of the Big 10(11). In my original super-conference model ( http://mgoblog.com/diaries/big-18 ) I included UCONN in the Eastern Division largely based on their basketball prowess. Upon finding out that they are not a AAU school, some re-jigging was needed. The first task was to find an AAU school that was geographically suited and has a reputation in either basketball or football and is part of a vulnerable conference (Big East and Big 12 and to a lesser extent, the ACC). The candidate: The University of Kansas Jayhawks. If we can go as far as Missouri and Nebraska to the west and New Jersey to the east, we can certainly snap up Kansas. For the second time we introduce the Big 18 and its new television juggernaut: the Big 18 Network Big 18 Western Division Nebraska Wisconsin Iowa Minnesota Northwestern Missouri Big 18 Central Division Michigan Michigan State Notre Dame Kansas Indiana Illinois Big 18 Eastern Division Ohio State Penn State Pitt Purdue Syracuse Rutgers [Oh, as as a parting note, as a Canadian born fan, I just thought it fun to note that both McGill and University of Toronto are both AAU schools and both have football teams]