If I had to guess Duke, Louisville and Pittsburgh may very well be three of the teams from the imploding ACC that end up in the Big 12 as well. Duke of course probably the crown jewel in terms of basketball and Louisville and Pitt pretty rich basketball tradition in their own right.

Everyone should give respect to RustShack. Take a look at his posts when OU-UT announced they were leaving in 2021 (November) and USC-UCLA leaving in 2022 (also November). He has pretty much been spot-on for years when it comes to realignment. I wish I could have bet on his predictions. Nicely done, RustShack.

If those schools are ever available the Big 12 would grab them and go to 20. But adding inventory now is smart -- particularly because no member had to sacrifice financially to make it happen.

If one of the P2 decides it wants a Big 12 school in the future, the Big 12 now has sufficient numbers to prevent a collapse from a departure or two.

If the Big XII can get UNC and Duke that would be such a pipe dream.

Football and to some extent men’s basketball is funding the non-revenue sports so these fragile softball players need to get a grip…

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Several softball players who compete for schools that are leaving the Pac-12 have spoken out against the latest round of conference realignment.<br><br>They cited mental health and further distances for their families to travel for road games. <a href="https://t.co/jeURfGGqjC">pic.twitter.com/jeURfGGqjC</a></p>&mdash; Andy Wittry (@AndyWittry) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndyWittry/status/1687691457119838208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Yea, but with a 18 or 20 team BB conference, you are only going to play each team once a year in the regular season.

So there should be plenty of great games in the conference and the conference race may be exciting, but I for one will be sad to no longer see each team play home and away.

Not sure what happens for the conference tournament.

I think protected rivalries will be the thing going forward. For instance, they will have KSU play KU, ISU, and 2 other teams (Colorado? Oklahoma State?) home/away.

So that's 8 games there and fill in the remaining with other teams that will alternate home/away every year. Of course, this is just spitballin, but I can see an angle like this.

I would think Duke and UNC would be a package deal due to rivalry and I would expect the Big 10 to snag them up quickly.

YEP!

Lulz...clown show

Combing thru some tweets and the Alex Smith ute fanbase are some delusional ****s. These guys are like Kentucky fans of the west. But kentucky has actually won stuff, maybe iowa states little bro? Had no idea what we were in for but if it brings more trolling opportunities I'll gladly take it.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Utah will now move on to the Big 12 and just run that conference ����*♂️</p>&mdash; Terrell Burgess (@TiTaniumT98) <a href="https://twitter.com/TiTaniumT98/status/1687630916347219968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just remember when you see Utah fans talking about how they’re going to walk into the Big 12 and dominate it, this is who we’re dealing with. <a href="https://t.co/B65yDe1QL6">pic.twitter.com/B65yDe1QL6</a></p>&mdash; qǝlɐɔ (@EMAWCaleb) <a href="https://twitter.com/EMAWCaleb/status/1687849040963104768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Utah?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Utah</a> fan is sick to his stomach at the thought of having to play in any of those crappy <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Big12?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Big12</a> towns. <a href="https://t.co/s4iPfL0YbV">pic.twitter.com/s4iPfL0YbV</a></p>&mdash; Message Board Geniuses (@BoardGeniuses) <a href="https://twitter.com/BoardGeniuses/status/1684942015568523264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

ROFL

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Now that we are the top dog in the Big12 we need to lay out some ground rules:<br><br>-We aren’t happy about being here either, but we’re happy to beat the shit of you while we are<br>-BYU, Cincy, UCF, and whatever that fourth school was are second rate Big12 members who can suck it<br>-Utah…</p>&mdash; Dwight SchrUTE 🌹🌹 (@DwightSchru_UTE) <a href="https://twitter.com/DwightSchru_UTE/status/1687618853931757573?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Their fans are really the Iowa State of the old Pac 12.

Hey now, what am I? Chopped liver? :p

I like softball a lot. It is a great sport.

But these players need to understand reality. The schools left because the difference in media money would make the schools couldn't compete with the big boys in the long run. They didn't leave on a lark. They left for smart, financial reasons.

And I am tired of everyone citing mental health and people rolling over because of it. It is an excuse at this point. Good grief, student athletes have it easy compared to what their age group went through decades ago.

And the players can stay close to home. Transfer to a Big Sky school. Or the WCC. But then they would complain because they wouldn't receive the same benefits as at a power five school.