So, (as of this writing) as it’s apparently played out, the Pac-12 will not be raiding the Big 12 for the Red River schools (Tx, Ok, OSU, TT) and WVU will not be leaving for the SEC. Saving Missouri still possibly bolting for the SEC or UConn for the ACC, it would seem that the realignment stuff has stabilized a bit and the Big 12/Big East “survivor” combo scenario has died down a bit.
I say “so what?” They should still merge with their full membership. Then you’ve got a 16 team football and 24 team basketball conference that opens both former conferences up to a lot more TV markets. The membership looks like this:
Football Schools:
Baylor
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Texas Tech
Connecticut
Cincinnati
Louisville
Rutgers
South Florida
TCU
West Virginia
Other sports (basketball):
Georgetown
Providence
Villanova
Seton Hall
St. John’s
Notre Dame
Marquette
Depaul
Now all of the sudden you have a much more survivable and desirable conference for all parties. I’ll grant you, the basketball schedulers will have a nightmare on their hands and the conference would have the carbon footprint of the Chinese coal industry, but this theoretical conference has a lot going for it.
It’s much less scary if a UConn, Rutgers or Missouri leaves. So What? Just go grab Boise State or Central Florida. Or use your new size and leverage to actually get Notre Dame to join for football.
And despite having to figure out how to schedule that many teams in basketball, can you say Wow! That’s putting a lot of basketball power into one conference.
Or maybe they merge only for football. That’s okay too, it’s still a much more robust, solid situation for the schools.
Also, you could call the divisions Red and Blue instead of East and West.
