Big 10 Expansion Talks Accelerate

ESPN ^ | April 18, 2010 | Adam Rittenberg

[bobjam]

The Big Ten expansion process will accelerate this week in Washington, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.

Sources tell the Tribune top Big Ten officials will discuss expansion Sunday in Washington, the site of the Association of American Universities meetings.

[rintense]

If they aren't on this list, they will not be asked:

AAU Membership: Public and Private

 

 

Public	Private	Canadian
Indiana University	Brandeis University	McGill University
Iowa State University	Brown University	University of Toronto
Michigan State University	California Institute of Technology
The Ohio State University	Carnegie Mellon University
The Pennsylvania State University	Case Western Reserve University
Purdue University	Columbia University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey	Cornell University
Stony Brook University-State University of New York	Duke University
Texas A&M University	Emory University
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York	Harvard University
The University of Arizona	The Johns Hopkins University
University of California, Davis	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of California, Berkeley	New York University
University of California, Irvine	Northwestern University
University of California, Los Angeles	Princeton University
University of California, San Diego	Rice University
University of California, Santa Barbara	Stanford University
University of Colorado at Boulder	Syracuse University
University of Florida	Tulane University
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign	The University of Chicago
The University of Iowa	University of Pennsylvania
The University of Kansas	University of Rochester
University of Maryland at College Park	University of Southern California
University of Michigan	Vanderbilt University
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities	Washington University in St. Louis
University of Missouri-Columbia	Yale University
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Oregon
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Texas at Austin
University of Virginia
University of Washington
The University of Wisconsin-Madison

[N3WBI3]

Now, now...

Not allowed to talk about Big Ten Expansion Rumors without knowing the rules:

http://www.ubbullrun.com/2010/02/ncaa-aq-theater-big-ten-expansion-rumor.html

[Sideshow Bob]

Rutgers is an AAU university, good football program (maybe not PennSt or OSU, but certainly in line, if not ahead of Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin)

****

Rutgers football program in line with or ahead of Wisconsin?

Hardly.

Since 1993:
Rutgers
79-118-1 (.401 winning pertage)
Zero Conference Championships
5 Bowl Games (4-1)
Insight, Texas, International, Papajohns.com, St. Petersburg

Wisconsin
147-65-4 (.690 winning percentage)
3 Conference Championships
15 Bowl Games (10-5)
Rose (3), Capital One (2), Outback (3), Champs Sports (2), Alamo, Sun, Music City, Copper, Hall Of Fame

While not as good as Wisonsin's recent history, I'd be willing to wager that Illinois & Purdue have far better recent records than Rutgers, too. And I won't even mention the fact that Big Least football is on par with Conference USA.

Oops, I guess that slipped out.

Want to compare basketball records next?

Look, I am reluctantly in favor of Big Ten expansion. But if the Big Ten can't pull in Notre Dame, they should be selective about whom they include. I'd prefer taking Missouri to any Big East school, but if forced to go east Pittsburgh makes far more sense for the Big Ten than Syracuse or Rutgers.

Adding Rutgers will not help Big Ten recruiting in New Jersey, it will only help Rutgers to recruit New Jersey.

[GeorgeTex]

The most logical team for the Big Ten would be Iowa State. There is no reason that Iowa and Iowa State should be in different conferences. That would leave a vacancy for someone like TCU to join the Big 12.

[CommerceComet]

Missouri to me is the best fit, except I don't know if they are quite at the academic level that the Big 10 wants.

How then would Iowa State fit? At least in disciplines with which I am familiar, Missouri > Iowa State and generally by quite a bit.

[N3WBI3]

George... for maximum financial impact the members will be in states that don’t have Big-10 Members..

Even by your logic I can think of one team that makes more sense. Pitt is a better program, a bigger name university and is just down I-79 from Penn State way better fit.

But Pitt won’t be the biggest want. Outside of ND the big ten is looking to add a new state to its footprint.

[Sideshow Bob]

Okay, I've looked at the Big Ten records since 1993.

Rutgers football is roughly the equivalent of Illinois or Minnesota and is ahead of only one Big Ten school - Indiana.

It trails Wisconsin & Penn State by a WIDE margin and Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern (yes, Northwestern) and Purdue by a good margin.

No thanks.

[bobjam]

In regards to Nebraska, Mizzou and ISU, I have a hard time seeing a break-up of the old Big 8 group.

It could be nice if Iowa and ISU were in the same conference, but there are some great in state rivalries involving teams from different conferences (Florida-FSU, Georgia-Georgia Tech, USC-Clemson, Kentucky-Louiville, Colorado-CSU). Having the team in different leagues actually adds to the rivalry.

[bobjam]

I believe the Big 12’s TV contract will be coming up for renewal soon. That is a good incentive for its members to stay- especially since the Big 12 ought to land a huge deal with ABC/ESPN.

[OKSooner]

After the way Nebraska got jobbed in the Big 12 conference championship game I couldn’t blame them.

[rintense]

Of all the schools, I think Nebraska is the best fit.

[OKSooner]

OTOH, at least IMHO, Missouri would be a good fit for the Big 10.

[Nasher]

"Pitt or WVU would fit.

That is what I'm thinking.

Both universities have solid football and basketball programs. Of the 2, I prefer WVU as it would expand the Big10 a bit closer to the "south" and the ability of adding OSU-WVU and/or Michigan-WVU games on a nearly yearly basis would only add to interest in the league.

[Kid Shelleen]

>>Most of the pro-Big East argument is around the basketball program <<
I read somewhere that Jamie Dixon would leave Pitt if they joined the Big Ten.

[Mikey_1962]

I was at a Michigan game when a Notre Dame fan was complaining about how ND was slow, ran the ball to much and their front line was too heavy and slow.

So I asked “So why aren't they in the Big Ten?”

[Mikey_1962]

Pitt or WVU would fit.

No way

The Big Ten is a Midwestern Conference and Kansas or Oklahoma would fit better since the Midwest starts at the Ohio-Pennsylvian border and goes to the Rockies.

BTW, I was against Penn State joining for the same reason.

[Nasher]

The Big Ten is a Midwestern Conference and Kansas or Oklahoma would fit better since the Midwest starts at the Ohio-Pennsylvian border and goes to the Rockies.

Teams like Kansas & Oklahoma would strengthen the Big10 but really weaken the Big12. Even though I'm an OSU fan, to me it would feel like we're stealing away some of the tradition from the Big12. I guess I'm too much of a traditionalist in preserving rivalries such as Nebraska-Oklahoma, Texas-Oklahoma,etc. :)

I wouldn't oppose getting WVU as they have only been part of the loosely put together Big East since the early 90's.

[CTGopher]

I like U of Cincinnati, even though they have a tiny stadium. Iowa State would be a great addition.

[bobjam]

I’ve always seen the Big 10 as an urban Rust Belt league. The Big 12 is a prairie league.

[Mikey_1962]

Iowa is the rust belt?

Minnesota is the rust belt?

They both have prairie dogs.

Maybe they should be called rust dogs.