Since I've got about eight months to kill before next season, let me yak about this stuff a bit.
Nebraska. Here's how that went down--when it came time to vote up or down on their AAU membership, two B1G schools jumped ship and voted to kick them out. Understandably, Nebraska was, shall we say, upset. Phone lines were melted in the fallout. Of course, this all played out behind the scenes.
The two schools were both dominant football schools--and, under normal circumstances, I think those two would have stood as a solid block with the other B1G schools since the issues involved were how agricultural research was counted (and the entire B1G west has a stake in that) and how the Nebraska medical should be considered since it's not in Lincoln but rather in Omaha.
However, this was not normal circumstances. This was an opportunity for the academics at those two schools to remind the administrations they perceived as "football first" that the academic community is really first.
Anyway, after that behind-the-scenes fiasco, which was finally soothed over with promises that B1G would assist Nebraska back to AAU status, it was pretty easy to figure that the only schools that could get in next had better be solid academically. (If Delaney wanted UConn then, it simply wasn't the right time.) If the schools were solid academically and had a history of anemic football--think Rutgers--all the better for keeping the academic side happy, too.
I think enough time has passed now so that a non-AAU school might be considered, but curiously, with the academic community's approval and if they're NOT a football-first powerhouse. (I think UConn has a better shot than Oklahoma.)
When Delany says, "We're not focused on expansion right now, we just want to integrate our new additions." that's political speak for 'let's see if we can keep everybody happy so we don't have another mess like the Nebraska/AAU thing.'
In the meantime, although I think the situation with Nebraska is squared away, don't think there isn't some lingering fallout and a lot of hard feelings.
Meanwhile: Kentucky. When I called that a wildcard, I meant longshot--probably won't happen. But...the KY legislature mandated Kentucky to be a top 20 research institution by 2020. It ain't happening for them but it possibly makes them poachable by the B1G.
Again, a real longshot, but never underestimate the academic side of things. It makes them possibly poachable--and from the SEC.
In the meantime, while Kentucky struggles for years to get their academic act together, UConn chugs along getting more done in one year than Kentucky gets done in ten. If I didn't know better, I'd think somebody gave UConn a roadmap and a to do list...
Part of the problem with boards is the tendency to think expansion is as easy as swapping bubble gum cards in the treehouse on a summer afternoon. It's a lot more complicated than that: a lot of constituencies to appease or satisfy and a lot of vicious politics.
But, at the end of the day, the academic and research ends are important. Don't look at ACC's Louisville addition as a diss of UConn, but rather a "You made the right choice" for Maryland.
Nothing has changed my opinion that UConn is destined for B1G.
