MaizeAndBlueWahoo

November 28th, 2012 at 10:31 AM ^

The rumor was that Louisville was the preferred choice of certain theoretically-less-fully-committed-to-the-conference schools in the southern echelons of the conference.  If so, smart choice.

VSS

November 28th, 2012 at 10:52 AM ^

I agree. It is a smart choice from an athletics perspective. And, for the basketball-oriented programs in the conference, I'm sure they were less reluctant about this. When we talked Big Ten expansion, I'd always thought that while Louisville wouldn't be a target for us, it would be a good get for another BCS conference, whether it's the Big 12, SEC, or ACC, which I thought was the least likely, although that was before Pitt and 'Cuse joined. 

Don

November 28th, 2012 at 12:43 PM ^

I've been wondering if that would be the biggest behind-the-scenes roadblock to Pitt's inclusion, aside from the much-discussed footprint issue and their move to the ACC.

It's too bad—they're as natural a pair of in-state rivals as are UNC and Duke.

M-Wolverine

November 28th, 2012 at 2:13 PM ^

How does that jibe with the complaining by Penn State they're they're out on an island in the East and felt we should expand in that direction?

Paterno even campaigned for it a little:

 

Let’s get a 12th team -- Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt -- we could have a little bit of a playoff.

http://www.mondesishouse.com/2009/05/paterno-pitt-in-big-ten.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4210656

 

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

November 28th, 2012 at 1:14 PM ^

From a source close to the President's office at GT. The source said that they are waiting to hire an AD and then decide.

That's not how the B1G operates. Remember how things went with Nebraska? Offers are not made to schools that "wait and then decide."  The B1G won't ask the question if it doesn't already know the answer is yes, and there's no way a school would go, "hey, new AD, do you want to join the B1G?  Oh, you don't?  OK, let's not do it then."  There's no need to have a new AD's input on this.

Perkis-Size Me

November 28th, 2012 at 1:15 PM ^

if we make any more acc additions, i just hope it will be UVA and Va Tech. Ga Tech is a great school and will give the B1G access to the hotbed of Georgia recruiting, but football-wise, they don't add much. its also a complete cultural mismatch.

Moonlight Graham

November 28th, 2012 at 1:30 PM ^

toward four megaconferences, and subsequently how the Big XII and ACC will fight for survival. Actually, it's only a trend in that it seems like conferences are eyeing 16 teams (talk that the SEC wants VT, the logic that the B1G can't possibly see Rutgers and Maryland as their endgame).

If all the conferences remain at 12 or 14 teams, we could be pretty close to finished. The Big XII could get back to an actual 12 by getting Florida State and Clemson, as has been suggested. The Pac 12 should just stand pat ... not sure adding a BYU, Boise or SDSU really helpts them any. The B1G may simply be done, too. The ACC would add Cincinnati and UConn to replace FSU and Clemson. 

But if the SEC and the B1G decide they want to go to 16 or 18, then the only place they have to pull from are the BIG XII and ACC, and I'd expect the Pac 12 to respond to any further expansion by those two with an offer to the four Big XII Texas schools and get themselves to 16. 

That move plus the likely solidarity between the four North Carolina schools to stick together and anchor the ACC would mean the end of the Big XII. The ACC would take West Virginia, the SEC would take the Oklahoma schools and possibly Kansas State, the B1G Kansas. In a four-megaconference scenario it seems like ND would be forced to join the ACC permanently, especially if the four CCG's play into the "BCS" semis. And by my count the ACC would also need to add UConn and/or Cincinnati, so it's basically getting to 16 by simply merging together most of the old Big East and ACC. Makes sense.

Oh, and the B1G needs one more team in addition to Kansas, and it will be GT. Book it.  

Condolences to Iowa State and possibly Kansas State. Somewhere on the map, someone is going to get screwed because there are really 69-70 "BCS"-level teams and only 64 slots. No conference in this scenario is going to share revenue among 18 teams and totally mess up their schedules while their counterparts share $$ and schedules among 16. Either Iowa State/Kansas State, NC State/Wake, or UConn/Cincinnati is going to get left behind, and Boise and BYU will never even have a chance to get in. Oh ... and USF. Were they ever really seriously considered a BCS school besides in name only anyway? The left-behind Big East will welcome strange bedfellows USF and Iowa State with open arms. Something tells me that Kansas State will end up somewhere, just not sure where ... The Pac 12 may take them instead of TCU.

 

ghost

November 28th, 2012 at 1:39 PM ^

I think the Texas to the Pac12 ship has sailed.  The four Texas schools to the Big12 is a non-starter.  Cal won't let Baylor in.  They refused to let them in the last and I can't imagine that is going to change.  For that same reason BYU to the Pac12 is also highly unlikely to happen.  In my opinion the conference to get crushed will be the ACC.  FSU voting against upping the exit fee makes pretty obvious that they are not long for the ACC.  

Brodie

November 28th, 2012 at 1:58 PM ^

I feel bad for Cincy, UConn and USF who took their big time football conference status seriously and invested in their programs. Especially sad is UConn who now has no hope of rescue, at least the other two can dream of Big 12 expansion. 

UMfanUConnalum

November 28th, 2012 at 3:53 PM ^

I am a huge Michigan fan, but a student at UConn. I ask many of the members of this website to do a little research about us before you question our academic capabilites. We are ranked as a top 20 National public University, which would be in the top half of the B1G academically. http://today.uconn.edu/blog/2011/09/u-s-news-ranks-uconn-among-top-20-p….

Also our acceptance rate according to http://collegeapps.about.com/od/choosingacollege/a/big-ten-comparison.h… would give us the second lowest acceptance rate in the B1G (we are at 47%) According to other sites the only schools in the B1G that have lower acceptance rates than us are NW and UofM. We are also referred to as a "Public Ivy" as term that Michigan is also viewed as. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Ivy.

Our basketball program is top notch and has won 3 national championships since 1999. The most of any team in the country. Not to mention our womens team who is unbelievable. Our football team lacks however, we usually consistently beat Rutgers and Maryland and even in this down year would have beaten the likes of Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, and Purdue.

We also have a strong market within New York and we would introduce Boston to the B1G market. (Our campus is roughly an hour away).

I am not saying we should be given a spot in the conference, I just believe people should get their facts together on us.