BYU, Cincy, and UCF seem like the obvious top 3. For the 4th option, I'm torn between Houston (if the existing Texas schools are cool with it), Memphis, or UNLV (for the above mentioned reasons).
Expansion Candidates
- Thread starter CYCLNST8
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Massive alumni base is the main attraction. Like 70K students last year.
If the Big12 survives, I would drop WVU and go with:
ISU
KU
KSU
OSU
Baylor
TCU
TT
CSU
BYU
SDSU
Boise State
UNLV (Maybe)
I would rather look West than East.
Apparently their fans are pretty arrogant from what I understand. Not that they could be more than the schools they would be replacing.
Add BYU and Boise State. Add some cool road trips west. Also pick up UCF and USF. Otherwise, pretty much any option is blah.
We're not "dropping" WVU. They're worth more than everybody being considered with the possible exception of Brigham Young. The ACC might want to pick them up in some hypothetical future to restore their rivalry with Pitt, but there's no way at this point you're kicking them out over geographical factors.
Adding Cincinnati (which seems to be a 100% lock and has seemed to be coming for a long time) would also make them less isolated for having two schools now in the PA-OH-WV region instead of one.
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UNLV FB will be a nonstarter in town because Raiders. Their BB program hasn't been good for a long time. Tark the Shark and Lon Kruger were their last good ones. I wonder if Lon's kid will have success there?
I agree with you on those 4, they just seem to fit the best (though all but Cincy have some warts imho).
WRT UCF love -- big talent rich state, growing school, some level of success already. The problem is they are super isolated geographically, unless you dump BYU in favor of USF or someone in Georgia or Louisana, and that seems worse than adding them. The problem with this 12 team conference is you go from WV to BYU already, grabbing another compass point in Florida just makes it worse.
It's not this poll, but if the Big12 has to add teams and survive on its own... I'd go all the way to 16 - in for a penny, in for a pound. Then you could look at making a real east division, add both UCF, USF. Then it gets tougher. Maybe idk Lousiana or Southern Miss or somebody like that. Maybe even UNLV for the Vegas connection. No sexy dance partners left at that point in the dance.
How's that working out for the Pac12?
As much as I'd like to agree with you (western trips are great), East is where the viewers, recruiting base, and money is. Not to mention our Mountaineer pals.
My concern is the bigger you make the conference, the more diluted it gets. Maybe it can be done incrementally instead of all at once. Add 2-4 at a time.
If there is a chance of later getting in a P4 league then there is also value to not elevating more competitors. Better to chop off the top AAC programs and leave the rest of that league as a C-USA that has no hope of stealing a Pac-12 or ACC slot in 10 years. That’s why I like 12 schools personally
You picked the same four I did and arranged them the same way I would.
I know the media is going to trash such a "JV" conference, but that honestly is both a very good football conference and an excellent basketball conference. Almost everybody up there has been highly ranked in football in the past five years, and Baylor just won the NCAA tournament.
Most recently ranked...
2021 preseason = Iowa State (high #7)
2020 = Brigham Young (high #8)
2020 = Central Florida (high #11)
2020 = Cincinnati (high #6)
2020 = Kansas State (high #16)
2020 = Oklahoma State (high #6)
2019 = Baylor (high #8)
2019 = Texas Christian (high #25)
2018 = Houston (high #17)
2018 = Texas Tech (high #25)
2018 = West Virginia (high #6)
2009 = Kansas (high #16)
Half this hypothetical conference was ranked at some point last year.
That conference would have ended last year with these teams ranked...
#8 = Cincinnati
#10 = Iowa State
#16 = BYU
#21 = Oklahoma State
4/12 = 33.3%
Compared to...
ACC = 5/12 (41.7%)
Big Ten = 3/14 (21.4%)
Pac-12 = 2/12 (16.7%)
SEC = 4/14 (28.6%)
I know ESPN is going to be ESPN and the national media of all stripes is dumb, but why would that be considered a "minor" conference? It had more ranked teams than the Big Ten and Pac-12.
More of the conference would have been ranked as a % than the S E ******* C!