Cincinnati and Memphis to the Big 12 (see link below). If you google it, there are a lot of other media outlets carrying the story, so it would appear to be a rumor with some legs. The article makes several interesting points which makes it very plausible.
1. Financially Cincinnati is making the facility upgrades that the Big 12 would require. And the FedEx CEO is fully opening his checkbook for Memphis as well.
2. West Virginia had been hanging out there by itself, geographically speaking, since joining the Big 12. The addition of Cincinnati and Memphis would tie West Virginia into the conference .
3. The Big 12 is facing penalties for not having a Big 12 title game, and effectively have a tie for 1st place this season. Adding two new members will take care of that.
I think the main appeal of both of these schools is that they would bring traditionally strong basketball programs to the Big 12, which added to Kansas, Kansas State, Texas, and OSU would make it a truly elite basketball conference. Despite Memphis' fluke season in football this year, it's obvious the Big 12 has no expectations out of them for football. They would be battling Iowa State for last place year in and year out. Cincinnati might manage to become competitive in football at the Big 12 level over time.
So the obvious question is if these two leave the AAC, it's likely the AAC will once again be pulling two teams from C-USA to fill the open spots. So who will it be? Which teams in our conference have the greatest market share, since that seems to be the only thing that the AAC is interested in?
And of course, if the above happens which 3 teams will Britton Banowsky add to C-USA?
This post was edited on 12/6 6:44 PM by SoMissFan
Rumor of Memphis & Cincinnati to the Big 12
1. Financially Cincinnati is making the facility upgrades that the Big 12 would require. And the FedEx CEO is fully opening his checkbook for Memphis as well.
2. West Virginia had been hanging out there by itself, geographically speaking, since joining the Big 12. The addition of Cincinnati and Memphis would tie West Virginia into the conference .
3. The Big 12 is facing penalties for not having a Big 12 title game, and effectively have a tie for 1st place this season. Adding two new members will take care of that.
I think the main appeal of both of these schools is that they would bring traditionally strong basketball programs to the Big 12, which added to Kansas, Kansas State, Texas, and OSU would make it a truly elite basketball conference. Despite Memphis' fluke season in football this year, it's obvious the Big 12 has no expectations out of them for football. They would be battling Iowa State for last place year in and year out. Cincinnati might manage to become competitive in football at the Big 12 level over time.
So the obvious question is if these two leave the AAC, it's likely the AAC will once again be pulling two teams from C-USA to fill the open spots. So who will it be? Which teams in our conference have the greatest market share, since that seems to be the only thing that the AAC is interested in?
And of course, if the above happens which 3 teams will Britton Banowsky add to C-USA?
This post was edited on 12/6 6:44 PM by SoMissFan
Rumor of Memphis & Cincinnati to the Big 12