Well, It's All Happening Now - The Big 12 Is Falling Apart Fast As Kansas Is Already Reportedly Trying To Join The Big 10
In the words of Jon Rothstein - and here we go. It was only a matter of time that we would hear someone from the conference trying to get out after the reports of Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC. The logical choice here is Kansas. They have a monster in Kansas basketball and well, they have a football team too. That counts. Can't wait to watch that Kansas/Rutgers rivalry one Saturday every fall. But it's the smart play from Kansas and honestly the Big 10. You can't be left without a major program in one of the two sports with all this realignment stuff. We saw it happen to Cincinnati and UConn the first time around until UConn was finally able to get into the Big East for basketball. UC is still in the AAC trying to get somewhere, anywhere.
What I do love about this is Kansas basketball joining the Big 10. Personally I wish they joined the ACC because what's geography anyways? Pretty sure Pitt, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Louisville aren't on the coast, so let's go west. That would be an all-time conference even though the Big 10 is loaded, obviously. Actually the more I think about it, the more I wish it was a sign-and-trade deal. Kansas signs with the ACC and gets traded for Maryland because let's be honest. Maryland belongs in the ACC. We need Maryland vs Duke, Maryland vs Wake, Maryland vs UNC like the old days. If Coach K is going to be too much of a coward to schedule Maryland in the ACC/Big 10 Tournament, we should just put them back in the conference.
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Here's what I'm most fascinated by. If it goes to the 4 SuperConferences with 16 teams each, 1 team is going to get left out. There are 65 teams in the 5 conferences right now for football. 15 in the ACC, 10 in the Big 12, 14 in the Big 10, 14 in the SEC and 12 in the Pac-12. Who is the one team most likely to be left out? It's gotta be someone from the Big 12 and the likely picks would be Baylor, Kansas State or TCU. If Kansas does go to the Big 10, that leaves 1 spot for 3 schools that make sense - WVU, Kansas State and Iowa State. Does WVU just go to the 16th spot in the ACC? What happens to Cincinnati? There's so many what-ifs but college sports is about to be completely new.
Think about this offseason from the two major sports. We had NIL, realignment, Coach K's ego tour announced, Roy retiring, Indiana/Arizona hiring new coaches in basketball, the transfer portal, a free year from last year's COVID season. It's wild right now and something we've never seen, that's why there are so many questions. Kansas vs Illinois in hoops though? Yeah, sign me the fuck up for that.