Key tweets, and it's all gone to Hell.

[AZHuskiePop]

Our best hope is to hang in there for 5-7 years with a viable football program
We missed the bus this time if there even was a bus.
We better be ready for the next round,which is sure to happen.
It always amazes me how we can ridicule a league we weren't even competitive in until last year and than only barely.
When everyone on your schedule pencils you in as a sure win you have some work to do. Win 8-10 games every year and the Rent will need to be expanded regardless of the opposition

 

[Dooley]

Just to day dream - adding UConn, BYU, Cincy and one of USF/UCF would make for a respectable conference. It won't happen, but it doesn't stop me from giving it some thought. Bringing UT and OK football to FL, the northeast and the mtn west on a regular basis might actually do quite a bit for TV ratings and university branding. Especially if the existing B12 members were to truly buy into the additions. Ultimately, staying bottled up in 1 state with four rural satellite states in not formula for long term success in the modern era.

To a logically thinking mind, UConn makes 100% sense to any conference interested in its long term viability and making money. I am just not convinced that the B12 contains any logical thinkers, nor is it interested in any sort of long term planning. They will do the bare minimum to get its football championship game off the ground and worry about backfilling 5 years from now when Oklahoma decides its had enough watching schools like Rutgers, Purdue and Vanderbilt light its cigars with stacks of gazillion dollar bills.

 

[NYUConn]

The only way we legitimately have a shot is if the Big 12 decides that eastern expansion is the only rationale for expanding. Even then, without the hope of adding a network, you're expanding east to

1) Throw West Virginia a life raft,
2) have more EST content
3) potentially tap into new, stronger markets

Of all those reasons 3 is the most compelling as the eyeballs UConn brings in the HFD/NH and NYC DMA's could increase ratings, thus drive more advertising dollars the Big 12's way, but unfortunately with the absence of a network we're only talking a couple million a year possibly and may not be enough to offset travelling expenses the rest of the Big 12 would incur by making multiple trips east.

 

[Dooley]

Even in an eastern move, with a network off the table, the B12's expansion criteria list will be as follows:

1. who won the most football games in 2015?
2. see #1.

Houston, BYU, Cincinnati, Memphis. Those are your short-term B12 championship game expansion candidates. Cue up the OU to the SEC talk.

 

[NYUConn]

Well, if it's an eastern move then Houston and BYU are off the table.

At that point Cincy is the obvious No. 1 choice, but if they go two east then I think you can argue that without Fuentes Memphis's 2015 is an aberration and it's more palatable to take a 6-win UConn team with much more upside in Bob Diaco.

 

[Dooley]

Well, if it's an eastern move then Houston and BYU are off the table.

At that point Cincy is the obvious No. 1 choice, but if they go two east then I think you can argue that without Fuentes Memphis's 2015 is an aberration and it's more palatable to take a 6-win UConn team with much more upside in Bob Diaco.

My gut says they'll add BYU and Houston. No east teams whatsoever. BYU because it is the clear cut #1 football add. Houston because they won a lot of games last year and UT will get its demand met.

BYU won't hurt. Like UConn, they have the data that supports being added to a P5 conference. UH will feel like the hardest kick in the sack we've yet to endure because they don't even deliver the city of Houston. But they can be easily filled with another school that no UConn fan gives a hoot about and we can go on our blackout drunken merry way.

 

[Exit 4]

Even in an eastern move, with a network off the table, the B12's expansion criteria list will be as follows:

1. who won the most football games in 2015?
2. see #1.

Houston, BYU, Cincinnati, Memphis. Those are your short-term B12 championship game expansion candidates. Cue up the OU to the SEC talk.

Not that I disagree with your point - CRA rule #1 has been to pick winning football or cable boxes and cable boxes have become a clouded metric. However, just saying the obvious: Houston (more friggen Texas?!), BYU (okay, I have nothing against this idea, I think its a winner, BYU has a national following), Cincy (I can't say anything bad about this idea either other than it is a city school, not a flagship state uni) and Memphis (Memphis does nothing for the long term need to get the B12 out of the sticks and in big cities).

 

[Dooley]

Not that I disagree with your point - CRA rule #1 has been to pick winning football or cable boxes and cable boxes have become a clouded metric. However, just saying the obvious: Houston (more friggen Texas?!), BYU (okay, I have nothing against this idea, I think its a winner, BYU has a national following), Cincy (I can't say anything bad about this idea either other than it is a city school, not a flagship state uni) and Memphis (Memphis does nothing for the long term need to get the B12 out of the sticks and in big cities).

Houston and Memphis because the B12 doesn't make any sense. If they could add SMU and North Texas without too much fanfare, they would.

Neither UH or Memphis has anything close to P5 data to support their candidacy as a viable long-term P5 option. But the B12 isn't thinking long-term. All of that Boren talk about academics, markets, network, long term growth, blah blah blah...none of it is applicable any longer. What is applicable: getting a football championship launched ASAP so they can make sure their top team won't be passed over by the Playoff committee. That's their thinking. An ASAP championship game means they will want two programs who have won a lot lately. That's why I think BYU and Houston.

 

[NYUConn]

My gut says they'll add BYU and Houston. No east teams whatsoever. BYU because it is the clear cut #1 football add. Houston because they won a lot of games last year and UT will get its demand met.

BYU won't hurt. Like UConn, they have the data that supports being added to a P5 conference. UH will feel like the hardest kick in the sack we've yet to endure because they don't even deliver the city of Houston. But they can be easily filled with another school that no UConn fan gives a hoot about and we can go on our blackout drunken merry way.

Agree with your outlook.

Though, the Houston loss won't actually irk me that much for a couple reasons:

1) We were never a real fit for the Big 12, so not like we're losing out like we did for the ACC.
2) Cincy, our best sports rivalry in the American, would have lost out too.
3) Houston probably should never have been left out of the Big 12 to begin with, so really it's just correcting a mistake from 25 years ago.

Now, what's interesting is how does Houston get into the Big 12?

If I am the non-Texas Big 12, I make Houston's admission contingent on voting to oust Baylor. Baylor brings nothing market-wise to the conference and is a HUGE albatross around the conference's neck with zero history of success before the Briles/Starr regime sold it's soul for some athletic success.

Probably not likely to shake out that way, but if I'm David Boren, that's what I'd push for.

 

[SubbaBub]

If I'm the Leftover 8 schools, I push expansion ASAP. You know the thing is blowing up in 6 years. Have 6 years to strengthen the teams you are going to pick anyway and perhaps save the conference. Otherwise you are looking at a pool of G5 teams six more years into the P5/G5 gap in money and exposure. No G5 is going to be more attractive than they are right now.

Does anyone remember how TCU and Louisville.were doing 6 years ago? No.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

 

[Huskybite]

View attachment 14255

Wow, first selfies and now quoting pop tunes. He's a groundbreaker for sure---the first High School Cheerleader to lead 2 major universities---tip of the hat to you, Santa Ono!

 

[Dooley]

Agree with your outlook.

Though, the Houston loss won't actually irk me that much for a couple reasons:

1) We were never a real fit for the Big 12, so not like we're losing out like we did for the ACC.
2) Cincy, our best sports rivalry in the American, would have lost out too.
3) Houston probably should never have been left out of the Big 12 to begin with, so really it's just correcting a mistake from 25 years ago.

Now, what's interesting is how does Houston get into the Big 12?

If I am the non-Texas Big 12, I make Houston's admission contingent on voting to oust Baylor. Baylor brings nothing market-wise to the conference and is a HUGE albatross around the conference's neck with zero history of success before the Briles/Starr regime sold it's soul for some athletic success.

Probably not likely to shake out that way, but if I'm David Boren, that's what I'd push for.

I don't think they'll kick out Baylor. They'll let the NCAA impose their harshest 2 week probation sentence ever and a hefty $500 fine to the Baylor football program and call it fair justice. Besides, if you kick out Baylor, they're back to where they are now: needing to add another school to create bigger, equal divisions. If they have to add 3, that's when it becomes more difficult to lock out Cincinnati (or anyone else from the AAC). But I don't think it would get there. They'll add Houston and BYU as football only members, get their 2 divisions of 6 and then brace for the inevitable departures of Oklahoma and probably Kansas 5-7 years from now.

 

[Exit 4]

I don't think they'll kick out Baylor. They'll let the NCAA impose their harshest 2 week probation sentence ever and a hefty $500 fine to the Baylor football program and call it fair justice. Besides, if you kick out Baylor, they're back to where they are now: needing to add another school to create bigger, equal divisions. If they have to add 3, that's when it becomes more difficult to lock out Cincinnati (or anyone else from the AAC). But I don't think it would get there. They'll add Houston and BYU as football only members, get their 2 divisions of 6 and then brace for the inevitable departures of Oklahoma and probably Kansas 5-7 years from now.

Given the financials stakes involved, it would be interesting to see if the B12 really had the power and resolve to kick out Baylor if it wanted too. Surely Baylor wouldn't go quietly. There is too much at stake for Baylor not to defend itself vigorously and exhaustively in such an event.

 

[Dooley]

Given the financials stakes involved, it would be interesting to see if the B12 really had the power and resolve to kick out Baylor if it wanted too. Surely Baylor wouldn't go quietly. There is too much at stake for Baylor not to defend itself vigorously and exhaustively in such an event.

The media circus that would surround this would be more damning to the B12 than anything else. Of course Baylor would defend itself vigorously. It is a matter of making tens of millions of dollars in P5 revenue vs making a few hundred dollars in G5 revenue. They just built a brand new football stadium on the backs of covering up that program's criminal activity. And these days, their fans and administration look more delusional than Penn State JoePa backers in their own defense of the Art Briles' regime. There is no way on Earth that Baylor would go down without swinging with everything it has.

Sadly, the B12 needs Baylor too. Remember, B12 expansion is about NOTHING else other than football. They are only expanding because they paid a firm a quarter of a million dollars to tell them what we all knew all along: you have better odds of a playoff entrant if you play an extra meaningful game. They want to ensure that as many football programs in that conference remain strong and competitive while they cling for dear life to their Power conference label.

 

[billybud]

Wish Santa had gone all Marley...from one of my faves

Good friends we have, oh, good friends we have lost
Along the way, yeah!
In this great future, you can't forget your past;
So dry your tears, I say. Yeah!

No, woman, no cry;
No, woman, no cry. Eh, yeah!


Baylor will start 2016 as #22 in ESPN's FPI...(a power index) which ESPN uses for their rankings. They are the third highest ranking Big 12 team in the preseason FPI ratings.

The conference may sanction them lightly, but they have been a valuable member. of late, to the conference.

 

[billybud]

Baylor will be limping for a while...they have now released six 2016 signees from their National Letters of Intent....to transfer.

 

[NickyNewark]

It's amazing they weren't invited to the ACC.

Weren't interested and told them behind the scenes....they knew where they should be and are there and rising..

 

[whaler11]

Weren't interested and told them behind the scenes....they knew where they should be and are there and rising..

Oh good the only poster worse than Billy is back.

 

[billybud]

Baylor has now lost 11 of its 2016 signees....half the class is leaving...ouchie. No need for sanctions, the kids have done it themselves.

 

[Husky25]

Assault is not an NCAA violation. It is a criminal one. If crime were an NCAA violation every D-1 program in Florida would have already received the death penalty.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Baylor has now lost 11 of its 2016 signees....half the class is leaving...ouchie. No need for sanctions, the kids have done it themselves.

Oh, they deserve sanctions...and so much worse.

 

[ct06111]

Pretty impressive: UConn is the only school in the country to have a first round pick in the NBA, NFL, NHL, WNBA, MLS and MLB since 2014.

62 UConn athletes drafted in 1st round
Who'll Get The First Round? At UConn, 62 Athletes Have Gone Early In A Draft

 

[billybud]

The number of NBA, WNBA, and soccer first rounders are really impressive.

Especially the NBA first rounders. And I didn't even realize that Andre Drummond and Kemba Walker were out of UConn.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

The number of NBA, WNBA, and soccer first rounders are really impressive.

Especially the NBA first rounders. And I didn't even realize that Andre Drummond and Kemba Walker were out of UConn.

AD I could see, he played 1 year, on for us was a very disappointing team
(They lost in the first Round )
Kemba was a freshman on the 2009 FF team
Then had one of the greatest Post season runs in history leading us to a Big East and then a National Championship in 2011.
You apparently don't follow college BB