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Message: [QUOTE="jostar1, post: 4704773, member: 1737"] [B]The Big 12 Didn’t Just Survive an Exodus, It’s Having a Renaissance[/B] PAT FORDE 3 HOURS AGO And now the Buffalo has landed, as the Big 12 continues to be the aggressor in the survival dance with the Pac-12. As multiple league sources have told Sports Illustrated this month, the opportunity to add a Power 5 member was a strong motivator. The question now is whether one or more of Colorado’s Pac-12 compatriots want to come along. “If Colorado brings the four corners [fellow Pac-12 members Utah, Arizona and Arizona State], that’s the ideal scenario,” one source told SI. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. Our schools love the four corners, going from 12 to 16. Can Colorado bring in Arizona or Utah? Arizona more likely than Utah.” Sixteen is the ideal the Big 12 wants, matching the Big Ten and SEC, but 14 will work. Thirteen is tougher to manage, and if nobody in the Pac-12 rides Colorado’s coattails out, that brings Connecticut into play. (UConn is more coveted by Yormark than some of the current league members, so it would be interesting to see how that potential dance plays out between commissioner and campus leaders.) Other options: San Diego State, which was left hanging by the dithering Pac-12, would certainly like to land in a power conference; Gonzaga is the top basketball-centric possibility; some have mentioned St. John’s as a hoops draw as well. Adding Colorado doesn’t appreciably elevate the league in comparison to the SEC and Big Ten. But it keeps the Atlantic Coast Conference on notice that an aggressive peer is always lurking. And it opens more distance on the Pac-12, a league that turned down a merger with the Big 12 less than two years ago. [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.si.com/college/2023/07/27/big-12-adding-colorado-conference-realignment[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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