Speculation and hallway analysis grow each time the sequestered dozen sends out a note asking about some nuance in the case. What does this mean? How are they leaning?
For the last week, the Big 12 Conference has been on trial with its own membership mulling its fate. The more the schools considered the ramifications of their decision, the more logic and reason began to creep into the ultimate verdict, not to mention the promise of millions more in revenue.
So, rather than hastily sending a viable league to the gallows, electric chair or the death penalty of choice, the jury of its peers saw a life worth salvaging that could once again be a productive member of society.
Obituary templates of the late, great Big 12 were all but etched in stone. With each unnamed source who whispered something in the corridors, media outlets rushed to give the conference its last rites. Even when University of Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds and others made statements about keeping the conference intact as a first option, the comments felt like bones being thrown to traditionalists and the schools on the outs.
There's not much sex appeal in reporting that the remaining 10 members of the conference are sticking it out after sniper fire picked off Colorado and Nebraska. The dominoes were bound to tumble. The house of cards had to collapse. Oh, how we fall for the foregone conclusions.
Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe, who spent the last week being skewered, pulled off a Houdini act with the less is more philosophy. A substantially greater TV pact for fewer schools became enticing with Texas having the ability to pursue its own network deal; a deal it wouldn't have gotten in the "Pac-16."
Texas A&M showed an independent spirit by not holding hands with the Longhorns and skipping off to the West Coast, where the Aggies aren't a cultural fit. Their dalliance with the SEC stuck a wrench in matters as the prospect of the A&M-Texas rivalry ending became a real possibility. Although the Aggies might have slid into the SEC nicely, it would likely have stalled their return to football prominence for ages. Plus, they would have had to rewrite the lyrics to their fight song.
For those of us who like the hoops aspect of the league, the reduction in size barely causes a ripple. Nebraska's women exploded on the scene last season, but there's little tradition to speak of there and the Cornhuskers will be out to prove they weren't just a one-year wonder. It's not the ACC, but the competition isn't far behind in both the men's and women's games.
The collective sighs of relief were palpable, stretching from Waco to Ames, Iowa to Columbus, Mo., to Lawrence and Manhattan, Kan. The schools in these towns would have been nomads that eventually would have found a home, but nothing like the digs they've enjoyed in the Big 12. None of the five are consistent football powers, but all have built and maintained prominent basketball programs for either the men or women or both.
