American Athletic Conference

[Rlh04d]

Why do you think I dislike KU? Not true at all. I have zero opinion of the school, positive or negative. KU is a public university located in the Great Plains. That's it. Period. Iowa State is a public university located in the Great Plains. Period. Oklahoma State is public university located in the Great Plains. Period. I have no more like or dislike for KU than I do Mizzou. To me, they're all the same. Texas is different. On a side note, I have been to college football games at each of those schools.

KU is a topic because KU is one of the 10 teams in the Big 12. The Big 12 is rumored to be imploding. Looking at those 10 teams, along with other teams around the country, it is interesting to speculate. My value of KU declines simply because as Rlh04d said, money is driving realignment. Furthermore, football is driving the money. Interestingly enough, K-State derives more money from football than KU derives from both basketball and football. Therefore, I don't think KU being included in a P-4 realignment scenario is a slam dunk.

Now, if you read anything I've typed, I have been very consistent in saying that I believe KU squeaks in. Re-read all of my posts.

Lastly, the pictures are jokes, yes jokes, laugh at yourself a bit.

One interesting point for the West Virginia/Kansas comparison that surprised me: according to a Forbes article I read yesterday, West Virginia is actually making more for their tier 3/multimedia rights than Kansas is. That wouldn't be the only important thing for how much money either means to a conference, but it's interesting that WVU would be winning that comparison.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2013/04/18/west-virginias-media-rights-bidding-reflects-true-value-of-big-12s-tv-deals/

(That article was done after WVU's deal with IMG was challenged in court and had to be renegotiated, so it still shows the $110 mil over 12 years deal. Looks like the actual deal they signed was $86 million over 12 years, or $7.17 mil/year. That compared to the $6.5 mil/year mentioned in the Forbes article for KU. Not sure how old KU's deal is and if it would have been worth more than WVU's if negotiated at the same time, though. http://www.timeswv.com/sports/wvu-im...30d5107fb.html )

[shock]

If KU goes Independent do you think they will drop Football? As an independent KU loses $23 million a year from the Big 12 and would burn a like amount of dollars annually on one of the worst football teams in D1 football?

They will keep football and compete at a lower level. Its their only choice, unless they join the SEC, which is the only P4 that places a value on basketball enough to deal with a football program such as Kansas.

[MoValley John]

They will keep football and compete at a lower level. Its their only choice, unless they join the SEC, which is the only P4 that places a value on basketball enough to deal with a football program such as Kansas.

What about the ACC? A little more travel, but a lot more basketball? Then again, Florida State is not happy with the quality of football in the ACC. Also,would Kansas want to be in either the ACC, where they would be overshadowed by Duke and NC, our the ACC, where they would be second fiddle to Kentucky?

My guess is that Kansas would want the B1G, where they could be the top basketball school.

Getting back to WICHITA STATE, when all is said and done, look for the Shockers to end up in the MWC. Patience, grasshopper!

[Rlh04d]

What about the ACC? A little more travel, but a lot more basketball? Then again, Florida State is not happy with the quality of football in the ACC.

I think the ACC did a good job of placating FSU this last time around. Adding Louisville and Notre Dame (FSU/ND is going to happen so often it doesn't matter that they're a half member) did a good job of easing the tensions FSU had. As well as the significant contract increase from adding Syracuse and Pittsburgh. FSU's concerns were money and access to the CFB due to SOS, and both were fixed.

Now if the ACC expanded with both Kansas and UConn, that might cause some angst.

If something like this doomsday scenario actually happened, Kansas and UConn might end up as basketball-only members of a major conference. Which might be the kind of thing that would help us.

[MoValley John]

I think the ACC did a good job of placating FSU this last time around. Adding Louisville and Notre Dame (FSU/ND is going to happen so often it doesn't matter that they're a half member) did a good job of easing the tensions FSU had. As well as the significant contract increase from adding Syracuse and Pittsburgh.

Now if the ACC expanded with both Kansas and UConn, that might cause some angst.

Florida State won the last MNC out of the ACC, so it's working better than they thought. They weren't the happiest of schools when this all started, but they never went to the B12, so they must be satisfied with how things are working.

What would have been interesting is if Florida State stayed angry and bolted for the B12 with another ACC school. We wouldn't be talking about Kansas or K-State, but Wake Forest and VT, Pitt or ???

[MoValley John]

Schools could go from haves to have nots in the blink of an eye!

[Rlh04d]

Florida State won the last MNC out of the ACC, so it's working better than they thought. They weren't the happiest of schools when this all started, but they never went to the B12, so they must be satisfied with how things are working.

What would have been interesting is if Florida State stayed angry and bolted for the B12 with another ACC school. We wouldn't be talking about Kansas or K-State, but Wake Forest and VT, Pitt or ???

Yep. I wonder how close that was to happening. There was a rumor that the B12 wanted FSU bad but weren't willing to bring Clemson in with them. If that was true and the B12 could have expanded with those two, the balance of power would have completely changed.

[MoValley John]

An interesting read regarding the Big 12 from a columnist in our local fishwrap.

http://m.omaha.com/huskers/barfknecht-during-realignment-four-others-from-big-took-a-look/article_2d507fc0-3337-11e5-8cc1-4373847a1bfe.html?mode=jqm

[Veritas]

An interesting read regarding the Big 12 from a columnist in our local fishwrap.

http://m.omaha.com/huskers/barfknech....html?mode=jqm

That last paragraph isn't anything new, while the rest of the article provides a summation of different reports and accounts. He throws a few personal anecdotes in the article to try to make the news original.

[shocka khan]

An interesting read regarding the Big 12 from a columnist in our local fishwrap.

http://m.omaha.com/huskers/barfknech....html?mode=jqm

Make no mistake about it, Nebraska was sore-assed at Texas when they left. I'm not saying that feeling wasn't deserved, only that Nebraska has an ax to grind with Texas.

Not only that, Nebraska was a little more vocal about it when they left.

I blame the B12 commissioner at the time, as well as the whole premise of the Longhorn network, which was a stupid idea cooked up by ESPN, which fed into UT's oversized ego.

[MoValley John]

Make no mistake about it, Nebraska was sore-assed at Texas when they left. I'm not saying that feeling wasn't deserved, only that Nebraska has an ax to grind with Texas.

Not only that, Nebraska was a little more vocal about it when they left.

I blame the B12 commissioner at the time, as well as the whole premise of the Longhorn network, which was a stupid idea cooked up by ESPN, which fed into UT's oversized ego.

Dan Beebe created the whole fiasco. Texas was sore assed at Nebraska and Nebraska was sore assed at Texas. Texas wanted to leverage a deal into the Pac, but needed a stable league to fall back on if the Pac thing didn't work out. At the time, Nebraska had only investigated the Big 10 once. It wasn't a serious inquiry, just cursory. Texas needed Nebraska to stay put. Unfortunately, Dan Beebe believed that Texas made the league. Dan Beebe did everything in his power to make sure Nebraska was stuck in the league. When Colorado bolted, Texas lost a Pac 10 bargaining chip and even though Nebraska had no intentions of leaving, Dan Beebe doubled the pressure on Nebraska. At this point, Nebraska's involvement in realignment was still one inquiry at the previous year's NCAA meetings. The demand from Beebe that Nebraska surrender all media rights to the Big 12 prompted Nebraska to pursue the Big 10. Nebraska still wanted to stay put and reluctantly agreed to do so if Texas would do the same. Not only did Texas refuse, but Beebe then threatened Nebraska with additional sanctions if they didn't comply. At that point, Nebraska left.

In the end, both Nebraska and Texas were butthurt. The thing is, there is no butthurt left in Nebraska. There are some, and the number declines daily, that long for the old Big 12, but they really remember the old Big 8. The Big 10 has been nothing but a positive for Nebraska. While the football team is, and probably always will be a shadow of its former self, money has poured in, facilitates have improved, seating at games has increased to over 90,000 and the competition is much better. Tailgating is exponentially better. So are academics.

The funny thing about all of this is neither Texas nor Nebraska wanted it to come to this. A few years back, the Omaha World Herald filed FOIA papers and received all emails from Nebraska and Texas. Deloss Dodds was very symathetic towards Nebraska, in one email, he even apoligized for Beebe's behavior. Dodds did not support the mandate that Nebraska sign away rights and he didn't support additional sanctions. From the emails, it appears that Beebe didn't believe he could control Texas, but he could force Nebraska to stay. He was wrong. And when a&m left, Beebe was done.

[SHOCKvalue]

Actually, the funny thing is how Husker fans, and/or residents of Nebraska the state, over-assume that's school's relevance in the overall scope of major college athletics. The disconnect is akin to Bruce Willis' character in The Sixth Sense complete aloofness towards his own mortality, in spite of the fact that all the indications of reality were staring him in the face.

UNL is a small public school in the context of the BCS realm, in one of the smallest population base and lowest population density states in the country, with academics impressing no one, all wrapped up in an athletic department that is somewhere between 10-20 years past any significant milestone in a major college sport. They are WSU baseball, scaled up and spread over an entire athletic department. Only they don't realize they are dead yet. Thankfully, most of us in the WSU fan base have come to terms with the state of our modern baseball program. When UNL fans and/or Nebraska residents have that same intellectual conversion we can start to lower the overall batsheit insane psychosis rating amongst that subset from its current 1.00.

I don't say this as some red-assed border state type rant; I say it as someone with possibly more connections to Nebraska than anyone else on SN. Believe me when I say, I know of what I speak.

EDIT: MVJ the above is not necessarily meant to be a personal attack on you.

[MoValley John]

Actually, the funny thing is how Husker fans, and/or residents of Nebraska the state, over-assume that's school's relevance in the overall scope of major college athletics. The disconnect is akin to Bruce Willis' character in The Sixth Sense complete aloofness towards his own mortality, in spite of the fact that all the indications of reality were staring him in the face.

UNL is a small public school in the context of the BCS realm, in one of the smallest population base and lowest population density states in the country, with academics impressing no one, all wrapped up in an athletic department that is somewhere between 10-20 years past any significant milestone in a major college sport. They are WSU baseball, scaled up and spread over an entire athletic department. Only they don't realize they are dead yet. Thankfully, most of us in the WSU fan base have come to terms with the state of our modern baseball program. When UNL fans and/or Nebraska residents have that same intellectual conversion we can start to lower the overall batsheit insane psychosis rating amongst that subset from its current 1.00.

I don't say this as some red-assed border state type rant; I say it as someone with possibly more connections to Nebraska than anyone else on SN. Believe me when I say, I know of what I speak.

I don't disagree with any of this. In fact, when you look at my above post, I specifically said that they probably won't ever be where they once were in football. That said, their batshit mentality probably swung in their favour with the Big 10. Nebraska fans, just like KU fans, tend to be delusional in their idea of self importance.

Academically, at least in the scope of research, Nebraska has gained greatly. One needs to look no further than UNMC, and their new research facilities, to see that. There are currently three separate expansion projects happening, a new student facility, outpatient surgery center, a cancer research and hospital wing, along with a parking structure. These advances have little to do with the football team, but lots of funding came through B1G research money. I don't know what it has impacted in Lincoln, but the B1G has been huge to the hospital in Omaha.

[SHOCKvalue]

Academically, at least in the scope of research, Nebraska has gained greatly. One needs to look no further than UNMC, and their new research facilities, to see that. There are currently three separate expansion projects happening, a new student facility, outpatient surgery center, a cancer research and hospital wing, along with a parking structure. These advances have little to do with the football team, but lots of funding came through B1G research money. I don't know what it has impacted in Lincoln, but the B1G has been huge to the hospital in Omaha.

Conspicuous consumption is a popular thing to do in Omaha, much more so than any other town I am familiar with of similar size in the Midwest and Great Plains. The difference in median household income in Omaha versus Wichita is roughly a yearly cable bill's advantage to the "Big O," yet people, businesses, and academic centers spend money like there is some grand rat race with their respective neighbor. It is a very odd town in this regard, within the contexts of this region of the country. This factoid does not equate to academic relevance, however.

Utilizing the Forbes college rankings (easy to use, relevant, generally respected), UNL's academic ranking totally tanks the B10's overall notch, and would hypothetically even still bring down the B12's average. UNL brings up the rear of the B10 by large margin (at #280 themselves), by coming in nearly 100 spots lower than the next lowest member school (Iowa at #192), and over 150 spots lower than the B10 median of 114. UNL even ranks lower than the median of 257 in the B12.

Academically, UNL is not fooling anyone outside of Nebraska. Perhaps a case of groupthink, and spoon-feeding of a certain angle by the OWH, has everyone in Omaha, Lincoln, and the State of Nebraska fooled, but outside of such it isn't flying.

[MoValley John]

Conspicuous consumption is a popular thing to do in Omaha, much more so than any other town I am familiar with of similar size in the Midwest and Great Plains. The difference in median household income in Omaha versus Wichita is roughly a yearly cable bill's advantage to the "Big O," yet people, businesses, and academic centers spend money like there is some grand rat race with their respective neighbor. It is a very odd town in this regard, within the contexts of this region of the country. This factoid does not equate to academic relevance, however.

Utilizing the Forbes college rankings (easy to use, relevant, generally respected), UNL's academic ranking totally tanks the B10's overall notch, and would hypothetically even still bring down the B12's average. UNL brings up the rear of the B10 by large margin (at #280 themselves), by coming in nearly 100 spots lower than the next lowest member school (Iowa at #192), and over 150 spots lower than the B10 median of 114. UNL even ranks lower than the median of 257 in the B12.

Academically, UNL is not fooling anyone outside of Nebraska. Perhaps a case of groupthink, and spoon-feeding of a certain angle by the OWH, has everyone in Omaha, Lincoln, and the State of Nebraska fooled, but outside of such it isn't flying.

Gained greatly is relative. UNL is a very average university when it comes to rankings. At the same time, they have gained greatly. A school can gain greatly and still be very average. To look at the expansion of the Med Center, to see the advancements and growth, to see how much B1G research money is being funneled there, then to dismiss it, is silly.

I don't understand your Wichita/ Omaha comparison. They are two Midwestern cities. Similar demos, similar values, similar everything. I don't see this grand rat race in Omaha, maybe because I don't participate in that crap. Neither do my neighbors. I'm sure you can find a bunch of Joneses trying to keep up with each other in Omaha, but I bet you can find the same thing in Dees Moines, Lincoln, Kansas City and yes, Wichita. A lot of that of what you are complaining might just be a thing that you are fighting with.

Yes, the University of Nebraska is average, but it is much better than it was 10 years ago. And no, their football team will probably never again vie for a national title.