Jan 15, the big 5 will cast a vote on whether or not the Big 12 (now with only 10 teams) will need to have 2 divisions of 6 teams or more and have a formal league championship game.
If the vote is Yes, the big 12 will have to add two teams. If the vote is no, the big 12 will sit tight. Now, here is the argument…The other power teams feel that a championship game should carry a lot more weight then any head to head matchup in regular play. That game also causes more wear and tear as well as injuries and the big 12 now avoids all that. So it this vote allows the big 12 to stay as is, I predict that there will be an amendment that says, “A league that has a playoff, ie, the other 4 leagues, will be favored with a 2 loss team over a 1 loss big 12 team”
In this case, a 2 loss Stanford of the P12 would jump a 1 loss OU.
Either way, this would force the big 12 to expand by 2 teams and every thing points of Cinn of the AAC and BYU, Indy.
It is being reported on local sports talk that BYU President is in discussion with the Big 12… what that means… no one knows… but that is what they are reporting…
Harmon seems to think that BYU will be invited but only in Football. He goes on to say that he has watched Utah struggle in the p12 with their teams (outside of football and basketball) and that BYU should leave their teams where they are. I would say that Basketball needs to follow the Football team into the B12.
Right now, we are still looking in to join the big 12 for FB. So that Jan 15th we shall see. IF we get invited for FB and yes I would like BB in too. Or we could play them more during pre season many years to come in BB.
Right now all I care is when (this year or few years) they will expand and if they are going to add BYU in.
The argument to your point would be that BYU would get better as better recruits would come to BYU once it is in a league that has gyms that seat more than 3000.
Kids like to be seen. I think being in the WCC is a killer for BB recruiting, because seriously–if you are an ego fed ESPN top 300 baller, you will have 20 other schools telling you that if you go to BYU you will play half your games in half empty rec league gyms so late at night that half the country will never see you play. I don’t think there is any doubt that playing in better venues would attract one or two additional good players each year, and that’s all it would take to go from being OK/good to good/great.
I read that our league refs this year are drawn from a pool that includes refs from several conferences, with the result being better officiating overall. That said, my take on the refs has always been this: the best refs want to be in the best leagues, just like the best players want to play in the best leagues. The Rec League is at or near the bottom in NBA talent, and likewise it’s at or near the bottom in officiating talent. Like would a ref really rather work games in half empty junior college gyms for peanuts than work games in front of 3x the fans for way more money? So I would venture a guess that the Big12 has significantly better officiating than does the Rec League.
I think the reffing thing gets way too much attention. I watched the Ut-Duke game last month and the refs were homers for Duke. I attended the Jazz game last night and they gave call after call to Houston’s Howard and Mr. Beard while hosing Utah’s scrub players. It happens in every league from HS to NBA. The stars get star treatment so I have never felt the WCC reffing was that bad outside of a Gonzaga game or two.
But back to football. I hope BYU gets the invite and that our basketball team leaves the rec. league.
nice…turned to my wife with 5 minutes to go and said, “The fix is in, they will get every call”. I was shocked they called the Beard on his foul on the Duke kid.
Totally agree Chris… that is the biggest problem with officiating. What? That they can’t help hide their bias and sometimes it comes from the best refs out there because they have big ego’s that they need to keep feeding.
I think overall that the better refs are in the leagues that probably pay more but there are a lot of good officials who don’t get paid as much because they won’t cower to the establishment or play the bias game.
What about Houston, UCF, Memphis, SMU, Rice., UTEP, or Boise State,
I mention Boise State, because over the last decade, they have had more success than any other team on my list.
I mention Houston, because they have had a lot of success this past decade. I mention UCF for their accomplishments over the past decade.
I mention SMU, Rice and Texas Tec because they are all instate with Baylor, TCU, Texas Longhorns. Geographically they would all be considered for the geography convenience.
Yes, BYU would open a new market in Utah for the Big 12 along with fans from California and Idaho, and elsewhere through out the Nation and outside the Nation.
My point is, even Air Force and Colorado State are in consideration, and as already stated above, Cincinnati.
Just because the Big 12 may find it necessary to expand by two teams, does not guarantee that BYU will be one of those two teams.
We desperately need to get accepted into a P5 conference. While I prefer the Pac 12, I would certainly be happy to be invited into the Big 12 or any other P5 conference.
The Big 12 will not be inviting in-state teams. They do not want to have to compete for recruits, does that make sense? As for the others, BSU would be a candidate for football only, as would CSU but this boils down to TV sets and who brings revenue to table and only BYU and maybe a florida team could do that.
Most likely BYU would be invited for football only as we would opt to leave our Olympic sports in the WCC. Sucks for our BBall team.
I really do agree with what you are saying except for one thing.
The Big 12 names 6 other Universities that they would rather have than BYU. Or to put it in a different way, BYU is not listed among the first 6 choices that the Big 12 says they would take if they had to take any at all, however, they do not want to take any at all at this time.
