Should Texas and OK bolt from the B12, which many are saying is inevitable at this point, then the B12 is gonna be on life support and would be in prime position to get raided. I am sure it would try to recover by grabbing schools like Houston, Cincinnati, or Central Florida, it sure feels like the more likely outcome would be other B12 schools going to other conferences. This will set off another round of conference movement.
So, what does it do to the ACC? I'm sure Jim Phillips is working the phones trying to figure out how to make this help our league. I suspect that once the SEC goes to 16, other conferences will try to do the same.
Phillips has already talked about wanting Notre Dame to join the conference. I think last season's football experiment with the Irish probably made that a bit more of a possibility. In addition to Notre Dame, I think Cincy would be a great addition -- strong in both football and hoops and a new, robust TV market. West Virginia, from the flailing B12, could be another good possibility, though they don't do much for our football footprint. I suppose I could see us looking into Houston, but they would be a pretty big leap outside of our regular conference footprint so I think that would be really unlikely. Tulane would seem like a good fit from a geographic and academic standpoint, but they would really need to upgrade their programs. I think Memphis could be an intriguing addition too.
So, -- with TV dollars being my primary driving factor -- my wish list would be (in order):
Notre Dame
Cincy
West Virginia
Memphis
Tulane
Central Florida
-Jason "if we don't care about the whole geographic thing, then Houston really jumps up that list... but I don't see the ACC reaching all the way into Texas" Evans