Conference Hokey-Pokey™: Obfuscation & Absurdity

♦ MU's Deaton discusses OU, future of Big 12 (St. Louis Post Dispatch)

Mizzou chancellor Brady Deaton, the chairman of the Big 12 board, said Wednesday night that he anticipates clarification of the University of Oklahoma's future alignment intentions within 10 to 14 days but that he remained hopeful the conference could stay viable even if OU — and probably Oklahoma State with it — were to leave.

"I don't want to go too far there, (but) there's a legal basis for the Big 12 to go on and, certainly, I would expect that to continue," he said in a phone interview.
Not that Deaton is expecting Oklahoma to go.

"If things change, we'll try to keep it together and move forward with other members," he said, later adding, "I'm a little more optimistic certainly today than I was maybe a week ago. . .

♦ Report: Texas has three viable realignment options (Austin AMerican Statesman)

A high-ranking Texas source said that the ACC has been in contact with Texas, but added that talks hadn't progressed to a mature phase. In fact, the source wasn't sure what other schools the ACC would look to add besides Texas.

Don't take that to mean it won't work.

The ACC is willing to talk about a unique conference format that has intrigued Texas. Instead of divisions, the conference could be divided into four pods, with each pod containing four teams, to aid scheduling.
. . .
"Texas really isn't happy with the way the Pac-12 would like to align the conference," a well-placed source said. "They want to put all the former Pac-8 schools in one division and group all the former Big 12 schools (assuming Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech join) with Utah and the Arizona schools."

Texas wants to be in the same division as UCLA and Southern Cal, which would be tougher, but it would also guarantee the Longhorns a trip to Los Angeles every year. Think recruiting.

♦ This was a Texas-sized fiasco in living color (Los Angeles Times)

There are no heroes here. Spread the blame like peanut butter.

Texas got greedy.

The rest of the conference may have deserved what it got it for enabling its own Frankenstein monster.

The NCAA acted, as always, at mule speed.

And ESPN, whose roots, once journalism and now cash flow, had to know better, but chose to get richer rather than do right.

At the sports books in Las Vegas, they call that a parlay.

♦ This columnist's fantasies are even more far fetched as his column title is long and rambling: The Big 12 might be able to survive even without OU, A&M and Oklahoma State. I’ve been doing some serious thinking on this topic, and you know what that means.(Houston Chronicle)

I know you’re cynical, and so are Texas officials.

But if you tell the story just so, you can make the case that the programs at SMU, UH and Baylor are a whisker away from being on the national landscape. All three have very good coaches and all three play an exciting brand of football. SMU has a new stadium, and UH and Baylor plan to build ‘em.

If A&M could be talked into staying—and Aggies would riot in the streets if that happened—it would be a very strong conference. Without the Aggies, it’s way less than that.

But does Texas have better options? Any other option would either be a nightmare in terms of travel or require a reworking of the Longhorn Network revenues. . .

♦ If Big 12 implodes, what is best for Mizzou? (St. Louis Post Dispatch)

KATHLEEN NELSON: What strikes me as odd about this whole flapdoodle is that football seems to be steering the decision. If that's the the case, the Big East gives Missouri the best home. The Tigers would appear to be consistent contenders for the conference's BCS bid. But for basketball, Missouri would have a hard time being anything but an also-ran.

Geographically and athletically, the Big Ten is best. But those guys seem to have some hang-up about Missouri; either because the conference gains nothing TV-wise or doesn't consider the school an academic fit. The coastal conferences would be a logisitcal nightmare and probably would reinforce the reputation of Missouri's fans as "not traveling well."