Sunday, August 14, 2011

The way the ball bounces

So, yeah, the DARPA test didn't really go the way they wanted. Bummer. I hope they give it another shot.

But meanwhile, another interesting (if unrelated and considerably less explosive) scenario is afoot. The Big 12 Minus Two is now Minus Another One, as Texas A&M makes a play to join the SEC.

What does that mean for the University of Kansas? Good question. As a fan who grew up during the Big 8 era, I would be bummed if the geographic rivalries that made the conference special disappeared into a half-dozen other conferences.

KU's performance in the two big NCAA revenue sports--men's football and basketball--should be enough to make it attractive to any of the remaining power conferences. Basketball is a no-brainer. The football program's occasional brushes with greatness are enough to make money.

But even leaving geography out of the equation, I have no idea where they would be the best fit. KU roughly fits the profile of a Big 10 state school, I guess, but neither the Big 10 nor KU have been anything more than lukewarm about that idea. The ACC has a lot of other good basketball schools. Maybe my vote is with the PAC-10 (or Pac-16, whatever it is now), which would possibly bring the In-Laws of the Blog into the fold as KU fans.

Who knows. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out, and I'm sure that from a revenue perspective, KU and the other Big 12 schools will land on their feet. But I still can't shake the feeling that the diaspora means the Big 8 magic--diluted in the Big 12 years--will now disappear forever.

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