Of course. It creates interest. What's better than the top basketball programs playing each other. In fact, this year the top basketball teams are playing each other in the preseason.

http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1260448

September 4, 2011

Sources: Texas being told to slow things down
Chip Brown
Orangebloods.com Columnist

Legislators and statewide office holders have swung into high-pressure mode to get Texas president Bill Powers and athletic director DeLoss Dodds to slow down any decision that might involve the Longhorns joining the Pac-12, multiple sources said Sunday.

With reports surfacing that Oklahoma is all but ready to commit to the Pac-12, Texas lawmakers are so concerned about the Longhorns possibly following suit that a full-court press is being made to slow things down by elected officials and corporate CEOs with influence, sources said.

"We don't want any hasty decision being made that hasn't been well thought out," one lawmaker told Orangebloods.com on Sunday.

Sources said the reason lawmakers are hot is that they received assurances from the Big 12, including Powers, that the Big 12 would survive without Texas A&M.

And because of those assurances, lawmakers did not take an aggressive stand against Texas A&M withdrawing from the Big 12. But that may be changing.

Sources said members of the Legislature are or will be reaching out to Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin to tell him the Aggies may no longer have the blessing of lawmakers to leave the Big 12, especially if it looks like the Big 12 will collapse.

According to sources close to Texas A&M, there is expected to be more movement involving the Aggies and the Southeastern Conference Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.

Sources say statewide office holders such as lieutenant governor David Dewhurst and Texas House Speaker Joe Straus haven't been active on realignment up to this point but now are getting involved.

A source in the Big 12 says there is also an increasing likelihood of litigation against the Southeastern Conference as well as the Pac-12 if the Big 12 comes apart.

In other words, it's about to get messy.

Orangebloods.com reported Friday night that Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe held an emergency conference call Friday afternoon with Big 12 presidents - excluding OU's David Boren, UT's Bill Powers and A&M's Bowen Loftin. The purpose of the call, sources said, was to get the rest of the Big 12 to "work on Texas" and keep the Longhorns in the league.

It's Beebe's belief that Oklahoma wouldn't be accepted into the Pac-12 without Texas, sources said. But sources have told Orangebloods.com Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott would take OU and Oklahoma State with or without Texas.

The question then becomes would OU go to the Pac-12 without Texas?

There is wide belief among those involved in this situation that OU needs the Texas rivalry and the ability to keep playing games in the state of Texas for recruiting purposes so much that it would forego the Pac-12 if Texas decided to stay in the Big 12.

But reports out of Oklahoma the past two days have said OU is totally focused on the Pac-12 and may be ready to commit.

A source close to Texas told Orangebloods.com Friday night that Texas is "leaning" toward the Pac-12 if Oklahoma would make such a move.

That source said Sunday the percentages of Texas joining OU in a move to the Pac-12 "are increasing. But a lot can change in seven or eight days."

Those things that could influence Texas' thought process are the pressure from lawmakers to hold the Big 12 together; ESPN's influence on the situation as the Tier 1 rights holder in the Big 12 and as the owner/operator of the Longhorn Network; and perhaps the appeal of another conference, the Texas source said.

A Texas source and an industry source say the Longhorn Network can be reworked to accommodate the Pac-12 and is not an obstacle for Texas to join that league. But sources say Texas has not indicated to ESPN that it plans to change conferences.

Legislative sources say Texas is telling them if Oklahoma leaves for the Pac-12, the Big 12 is dead and the Longhorns' best option would be to go with OU and join the Pac-12. Those legislative forces, however, are telling Texas to tell Oklahoma to slow down.

The pressure is mounting everywhere in this latest round of college realignment.

Stay tuned.

Teams the win half their games with an easy non-con.

To be honest Stewie I really don't know how many TV sets tune in to KU bball that aren't fans. I'm not that well versed in the demographics. If it were CBBall driving this change I think that would be a different matter.

Again I'm pretty much out of my element here ....

This is Texas! "We'll look and see, but if it doesn't make us the king of the conference....." There's no way in hell Texas goes to the PAC unless the PAC puts on the knee pads.

So basically you are using a somewhat invalid argument to say that KU would be more attractive than MU?

I could understand if you were saying that KU trumps K-State, ISU, Baylor, etc.....but MU offers more all around than KU.

Plus the Big 10 likes the MU academic status. In the case of the SEC, the academic status wouldn't really matter.

Plus...I can tell you that the SEC would have some members who are Basketball Powers who would want nothing to do with KU being in conference. (UK & FL)

I hope you are right, but I also hope Beebe and the Big XII powers that be get their heads on strait and start acting for the best interests of the conference as a whole and not just "what's best for Texas/OU/A&M".

http://www.statesman.com/sports/long...=rss_longhorns

I wonder why "Missouri's 'all-around'" didn't come first to his mind?

So ku should have no problem landing in one of the Big Ten, SEC, or PAC 12 given the huge basketball cash cow, right?

It would if there was no NCAA tournament. That is the biggest problem with basketball and why it is not a player in this. I have no idea why ppl cant understand this

Nice reach....

I think so. The million$ KU b-ball brings in is significant. It's the same with NC, KY, Duke. Not a big football presence but huge money in b-ball. That won't be ignored.

Good luck with that.

That's never been the model that Texas (or for that matter Texas A&M, Oklahoma or Nebraska) has ever voted for. Other conferences will demand that revenue be shared equally. Which is hilarious because those assholes are the ones that are breaking the conference apart because of it's "instability". And the instability is caused because the ****ing revenues aren't shared equally by the "stabilizers".

I guess I can enjoy a mid December trip to Nevada-Reno.

Exactly.

See...I can agree with this. Given the correct setup Basketball would be a large revenue generator and could set up the formation of a basketball superconference.