(06-16-2016 06:31 PM)Nebraskafan Wrote:  

(06-16-2016 05:56 PM)omniorange Wrote:  

(06-16-2016 11:49 AM)Nebraskafan Wrote:  

(06-16-2016 11:12 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  NebFan,

Virginia and ... ?

I'd take Iowa St or Missouri for the West, but probably no dice on either.

The list of 15 was not made public, but I have been able to find the following schools that were vetted:

Notre Dame
Oklahoma
A&M
Iowa State
Kansas
Missouri
UVA
UNC
Duke
Rutgers
Maryland
Nebraska
Georgia Tech

Vandy was vetted recently. Kansas and Oklahoma were vetted as tranvel partners post signing of the GOR.

Original list back in 2010 for the first group was: Iowa State, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and A&M. That would have put the conference at 16 teams.

In the end, I bet Delany finishes things off at the 18 mark and then retires.

Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas.

I don't see the ACC schools being available anymore before Delany retires. The ACC will be getting some sort of network and that will stabilie their schools for several years.

So the move west to create a western division that goes south is the move that I see Delany making before he retires.

The plan in 2010 was thinking about making a division made up of:

Oklahoma
Wisconsin
Nebraska
Texas A&M
Iowa
Iowa State
Minnesota
Kansas

IL, NW and Purdue would have been put in the east.

Kansas and Oklahoma are still there for the taking. Then add in Missouri. Texas is the wildcard. Getting those schools brings back the Kansas vs Missouri rivalry and the Nebraska vs Oklahoma rivalry.

The other realignment mistake that was made several years ago was West Virginia not going to the ACC or the SEC. West Virginia should go to the ACC so they can get their true rivalry back too.

Neither ND nor Texas were vetted by the consultant group since their value was known. So ND was not on the list, just as the Longhorns were not on the list (per Alvarez himself in February of 2010 regarding Texas). I think Texas replaces Iowa State in the potential Western division you have above, at least at the time the consultant was actually hired to do the vetting. Maybe Iowa State was added after it became apparent that the B1G was not going to get Texas, Texas A&M, and ND?

Anyway, the original list of 15 were those besides ND and Texas. Remember back in 2010 Texas and ND were in constant communication with each other which kept going even after both decided the B1G wasn't the answer at that time for either of them. This explains why Texas was so adamant in trying to get ND on board as a partial two years later.

Eleven of the other 12 you listed were on the original list of names I received from a Penn State board of trustees member at that time. Iowa State was not on the list I received. But then, I have seen other lists that included the likes of Kentucky and West Virginia on it. So I suppose anything is possible when getting down to the last four.

Cheers,
Neil

You are wrong. Notre Dame was on the list. Notre Dame was offered. Notre Dame was told to take their sport or it goes to Rutgers.

The 15 didn't include Texas. Texas was it's own list and was not apart of the 2010 grouping.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/badgers/84822917.html

I don't see anywhere in that article where it says ND was on that list. The mention of ND is again from Alvarez that he doesn't see the Irish giving up independence. If ND wanted in they were going to get in and that has been the case since the 90s. No vetting was necessary to determine their value. Any more than there was a need to vet Texas, since they, like ND, are in a class of their own.

As for your insistence that ND was told to take their spot or it goes to Rutgers, that obviously didn't happen in 2010. Nor was it likely to have occurred in 2012 since ND accepted the invite to the ACC for partial two months prior to Maryland and Rutgers accepting invites to the Big Ten.

However in 2010 and after Nebraska was basically assured privately it would get spot #12, an expansion to 16 was still possible which would include ND. It was probably determined that this would be the conference's last ditch effort to get the Irish. The rumor out of Indiana in June 2010 was that it would be ND, Maryland, Rutgers, and Syracuse. But again, like Alvarez said, ND wants to be indy. And they still do.

I think the fact that the B1G turned to Maryland and Rutgers as #13 and #14 lays some credence to that Indiana rumor (whether or not Syracuse was #16 or not).

Cheers,
Neil