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Message: [QUOTE="pj, post: 1229089, member: 2524"] TruDomGopher's account rings true. Being a traditional football power is really the only thing Nebraska has going for them. The state population is 1.88 million, the same as West Virginia, so little market for the BTN; little academics; no football recruiting ground, so the football program is likely to fade; no basketball. They really got in to the B1G just a year or two before the new model was proven, and before the B1G had committed strategically to markets, money, and academics. If they had a do-over, they'd surely prefer Missouri (6 million people, AAU) to Nebraska. There must have been regret at the Nebraska add, that motivated the commitment to markets, money, and academics that led to the East Coast focus and Rutgers/Maryland adds. To what degree this regret was fostered by growth of cable/BTN revenues leading to a greater focus on markets, by increased emphasis on academics, by increased emphasis on national lobbying power and therefore population, or by de-emphasis on football due to concussion/injury and southern recruiting issues, we can only guess. UConn fits the markets and money criteria and is working on academics. I think UConn to B1G makes too much sense not to happen. But, if the B1G is committed to even numbers of teams and gets opportunities to pick up the best of the ACC or B12, it's possible UConn could be passed over. One thing I wonder is, who would the B1G prefer, UConn or Kansas? The two are almost identical as universities on all academic and sporting metrics, except that UConn is contiguous to much better markets (New York and Boston) while Kansas is contiguous to potential additions (Oklahoma and Texas). I think the B1G would prefer UConn since growing in size brings costs/risks as well as benefits, while markets are clearly beneficial to all B1G schools. FranktheTank thinks Kansas would be favored. I think the B12 is on borrowed time and Texas will be out of reach for the B1G, so if the ACC holds together and the B1G doesn't want 15 or 17, it could come down to best 2 out of 3 from UConn, Kansas, Oklahoma. But I think what the B1G really wants is UConn + UVa or Va Tech, and stop at 16. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach