6 months later, here we are. Go time.
The Big 12 wants to expand, and there is some major muscle in the conference behind expansion. The desire for a Big 12 Network is a major driver for expansion, and the last obstacle is Texas' desire to wait for the outcome of the 10 Team Amendment. The Big 12's amendment appears dead on arrival unless Delaney is appeased somehow, which he won't be. There is no way the vote goes against Delaney. He wouldn't have said anything unless he knew he had already blocked it. We don't know if Texas will continue to block expansion regardless of the outcome of the vote.
I agree with others that BYU appears to be out of the picture based on Mendenhall taking a dead-end Virginia job. If he thought there was any realistic chance of BYU getting into a major conference, he would have waited a year. Virginia is where coaches go to finish their careers early.
That leaves us in a face-off with Cincinnati and Houston. Cincinnati seems like a lock, which means Houston vs. UConn, mano y mano. We are not a lock by any means, but I like our odds. It is up to Herbst and Manuel to close the deal.
It also appears that Herbst may be getting a helping hand from the media. There are major sports reporters running with this story, not just basement dwelling, twitter freaks from Appalachia and the northern prairie. Raising UConn's profile with the media helps us out with the Big 12 Presidents, who will feel at least a little pressure to take the best academic school of the options.
More importantly, the open discussion of UConn to the Big 12 must be causing some phones to ring around Tobacco Road. Any hope of an ACC network requires a major NYC presence, and if the Big 12 adds UConn, NYC becomes a 3 conference town. The ACC has a spot for us and we know there is support among many in the league, with our biggest opponents at BCU having retired. The ACC knows it has to add us before the Big 12 does, because the Big 12 offer will most likely be exploding. We will find out real soon if A) there is any real meat behind these rumors and B) whether UConn has enough support in the ACC for an invitation. If either A or B are true, failure is not an option.