(03-05-2014 11:16 AM)john01992 Wrote:  

(03-05-2014 10:13 AM)SMUmustangs Wrote:  

(03-04-2014 08:43 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(03-04-2014 08:14 PM)SMUmustangs Wrote:  

(03-04-2014 04:30 PM)john01992 Wrote:  lets see someone who thinks the b12 is gonna fail because they are the weakest p5 conference in academics, markets & overall size???????

or someone who wants to prop up the b12 because they are a fanboy of one of those schools and wants """to dismiss all of as irrelevant"""? and proclaim the b12 is as strong as ever despite losing 4 members.

no.....you tell me who has an agenda.......

I am not the one that starts these discussions about a conference I hate. So who has the agenda? If you hate the Big12 why bother yourself.

You post statements that have no basis. Fanboy? and where did I proclaim that the Big12 was as strong as ever? or to dismiss all of as irrelevant...whatever that means

There is an old saying, "when losing an argument change the subject". We were talking expansion and now you are talking about me proclaiming the Big12 as good as ever before losing 4 teams.

John, I mean no offense. You add a lot to this board. I just think you are off base on this Big12 thing.

all i said was the 4 schools i would add if i was commish......

my bad for not thinking you guys had a legit shot at BYU, fsu, clemson and pitt

i think the b12 is by far the weakest of the 5 conference. <== that's not hate just a logical outlook on the conference.

i am not using rice as a way to bash the b12. i think they offer a lot of what the b12 truly needs right now and would be a great strategic add.

i just think considering who the opponents of the rice addition are (fans of texas schools/b12 fans) i think the backlash has more to do with a nerve i hit rather than people willing to have a legitimate argument.

You give yourself too much credit. No nerve hit. You are just wrong about adding Rice. Actually, if you were familiar with this area you would know that Houston would likely be added long before Rice is even considered. In fact since before the Big12 was formed there has been talk about Houston in the Big12. Houston seems to have always had that as a goal and working toward it. Not once have I ever heard or read anything about Rice to the Big12, nor seen any evidence that they even have a goal of the Big12.

Finally, calling people names like "dude" will not help you win an argument.

you give yourself too much credit. all UH does for the b12 is provide a poor mans version of tech or UT. rice brings to the table things that can actually ADD to the stability of the b12. the way i see it regardless of who the b12 brings in that program is going to have a losing record in most years. so if that program is gonna be a loser.....at least make its value something other than TV ratings/football. and rice fits the bill for that. they have a stadium that is much closer to b12 standards than most g5 schools. they have the academics than can help the b12 make up for the academic core the b12 lost in conference realignment. Rice is more of a traditional rival of texas and other southern b12 schools than any other g5 school out there.

the truth is you CAN argue that Rice could very well be a very smart & strategic add for the b12. anyone who wants to flat out deny this is out of touch.

and if the term "dude" is offensive or annoying to you.... i strongly encourage you to man up.

Except that you are entirely out of touch with the primary reasons that would be behind any decision to expand by the Big-12. They are actually happy at 10. Expansion would be driven by the desire to become more attractive to TV. The Big-12 has the smallest population footprint of any P5 conference. Adding Rice or Houston doesn't materially add to the footprint. Houston has way more fans than Rice, so it would be the most likely way to increase audience share in Houston, but both would only add marginally to B-12 ratings because the current 4 Texas based B12 schools already command a reasonably strong amount of interest in Houston. So, neither Houston or Rice are likely additions.

The key would be to expand B-12 markets and to a lesser extent, recruiting territories. Even if academics was a major factor, Tulane makes way more sense than Rice. It provides a new state market, intrudes into SEC space, and claims one of the top recruiting regions in the nation (Louisiana has more D1 recruits per capita than any other state).

The other primary consideration would be to relieve the travel situation for West Virginia by adding Cincy.

Frankly, I doubt more than 2 would be added, but if TV market and population footprint are driving the move---then maybe ECU and UCF might even get calls. Both are large schools with strong support in highly populated states that are strong recruiting areas.

Rice has spent the last 20 years de-emphasizing athletics. While they have shown some signs of reversing that trend of late---there is no way they would see an invite to a P5 conference in front of a number of more qualified schools that have been pouring money into athletics. If the key is to increase the popularity, footprint, and fanbase size of the Big-12, adding a school with 6K students isn't part of the plan. Its really just that simple.