Maryland, Rutgers, Missouri, and Nebraska have to be thanking their lucky stars they got in when they did.
And of course I have to make a dig at byu. Remember when they went independent and said at the time it was the wave of the future? That all the really good football schools would be going independent? I’m gonna guess that ain’t happening.
Is it, though?
I was actually a bit jealous of the perceived scheduling freedom that independence offers, especially when we were faced with playing the tedious Pacific Conference teams week in and week out.
I caught a little bit of Bill Reilly’s interview with Steve Bartle of Utezone. Steve mentiioned that the Utes had Ezra Asuzar from ECU in over the weekend that is looking at the Utes, Seton Hall and NC State, but I can’t remember his name They are also hosting a 6’8" 190 lb guard by the name of Mike Sharavjants from USF. He is from Mongolia. He is visiting Illinois as well.
Apparently Smith has had several discussions with Peery, the assistant coach from UNLV.
It is.
The whole conference is like the top 1/3 when the MWC was at its strength with Utah, TCU, and BYU carrying the water. And obviously basketball is another level.
Here’s the problem though…
The old MWC (I’m talking Utah era) had the same problem that the B12 has that I think is going to be a problem for the B12 over time: no blue bloods.
Ya gotta have 'em, and we’ve got jack.
We’re a whole conference of the “muddy middle.” We’re going to tear each other apart like we did in the P12 with no USC to get the benefit of the doubt just because of the name on the jersey or because they just got a new coach that’s going to make all of the prior year’s problems go away. No one in this conference will get that.
Utah’s in a decent place now, and is set up for a good year this year. But we’re not a blue blood. And while I think blue blood is a club that is closed for new membership, I do think schools can become “new money” like Oregon has where you get some sort of quasi blue blood juice. I think that’s the best Utah can hope for, but I think it would require us to kick some serious butt in the B12 for the next five years or so, and probably need to happen with the change of a coach to prove doubters that we’re not just a KW thing.
This is a basketball thread. I’d argue Kansas is a top 5 blue blood program.
I understand and share that concern, though I see one potentially large mitigating factor. Although football clearly drives the bus, Bret Yormark is also focusing on basketball, even though it’s already the #1 conference. He’s talked about separating football and basketball broadcasting rights for the next round of TV negotiations because he’s convinced that the basketball side is undervalued. I hope he’s right.
The other basketball aspect that gives me hope for the future is the thought that if the Big-12 is clearly the #1 conference, that, plus its size and heritage, may be enough to result in a P3 if the SEC and B1G form their own football division. I can see what he’s angling to achieve. By creating the best basketball conference, it may put the Big-12 on the better side of the next realignment. The ACC, IMO, is dead man walking, just waiting for the right combination of member schools to topple it, something that Stanford, Cal and SMU won’t be able to prevent. If that happens, I can see Yormark making a pitch for the best of whatever is left over after the SEC and B1G pick the carcass, with an emphasis as much on basketball (such as Duke) as football, provided the new schools are additive.
That’s my hope and perspective. Will it happen or be enough to create a P3? Who knows?
Touche.
Sometimes I forget where I am in my middle age. 
(Yes, agree re: Kansas hoops.)
It’s not. And I don’t see it ever being so.
Still, it’s a VERY good basketball conference.
But P3 isn’t going to come from being a competitive basketball conference. Basketball is 2nd, but it’s a distant second.
based on the tourney results, the Big XII wasnt the best basketball conference in 2024. The likelyhood of the Big XII holding that top spot in the future seems very shakey. They’ll be a good hoops conference but you could easily see the SEC, ACC or even the Big East challenge for that top spot.
I think Arizona is also a blue blood, simply because of the talent they land year after year.
I honestly don’t understand the focus on ‘blue blood’ programs. Do Ivy League schools hold this classification, in your opinion?
I guess the value of a player’s “name, image or likeness” depends on what a school is willing to pay for them. Capitalism!
Actually, NIL is a giant, unregulated loophole that’s being ruthlessly exploited. Golly, who could possibly have seen this coming?
I love it. Chaos is quite enjoyable, imho.
What do you propose?
How will you legislate against a kid taking a life-changing deal with the highest bidder? And why would a student get a bid that high if the bidder didn’t believe there was a satisfactory return on their investment?
Personally, I’m an old boomer and felt a paid quality education plus all the extras an athlete recieved was “pay” enough, and this is coming from a dad who currently has a kid in the system (non revenue generating sport) getting a modest NIL payment. He gets about $500 a month for working camps etc. His bestie is a starting safety for a P4 school and gets about $1000 a month in NIL. I think that’s what most had in mind when talking NIL – but once that box was opened it was obvious that athletes had the right to make their money while they could. You going to tell a kid that came from nothing that someone thinks they’re worth $2 million today, but we’re going limit him to a grand a month?
It sucks. I get it. But, the market, for the most part, will regulate it now, just as it did for your career and my career, and we’ll have to adapt, just as we always have. But once again, it’s another example of how I feel like I’ve lived two separate lives – a pre covid and a post covid life. Life turned bizarre in many ways the last 4 years – some examples, The outrageous pay of LIV vs PGA, cost of housing, shutting the world down, a hundred protected gender identities & pronouns, the explosion of social media. I imagine it will become even more complicated as time marches on.
Kinda like when Utah deregulated the sale and discharge of fireworks. That June-July sounded like I was living in Beruit, Lebanon during the Lebanese War!
The courts have decided that the athletes are entitled to compensation for the use of their their name, image or likeness. So come up with some reasonable rules about what that means. At this point, universities are flat-out paying athletes for agreeing to transfer and play for their school. The notion that the players are being paid for their NIL is simply a fig leaf covering what’s actually happening–massive cash outlays. Even the NFL and NBA have a salary cap. Could we at least start there? Just spitballing here.
The difficulty seems to me to be: in the pros, the players union can negotiate a salary cap as part of a labor agreement and enforce it against members. Who negotaties on behalf of college players? Who can enforce a cap? What incentive do players have to do anything other than the floodgate? Somebody is going to have to be really creative and imaginitive.
I assume that unions will develop for college players as well.
you might be right. Would have to happen I suppose
I guess one of us needs to assume the role of Diogenes and grab a lantern as we search the college sports world for someone in this mess who is actually creative and imaginative. I think you’re perfect for the job!