Hey, Missouri … what’s up?
It’s not happening, but the Big Ten could try to make amends for totally dropping the ball back in 2011 when it didn’t expand with Mizzou.
Missouri fills all the Big Ten’s self-made requirements, it lands the Kansas City and St. Louis markets, and it’s an easy rival for Illinois, Nebraska and Iowa.
It makes a whole lot of sense, but Mizzou doesn’t have the Texas-and-Oklahoma-to-the-SEC objection that Texas A&M has. With the revenue and deals the SEC will get, business-wise it wouldn’t be worth the trouble to leave.
So if Texas isn’t realistically on the table for the Big Ten, and the ACC deals would be impossible to navigate through, and if Notre Dame is a mega-reach, and Texas A&M and Missouri likely aren’t moving …
Hey, Kansas … what’s up?
Basketball doesn’t really matter in all of this, but it sure helps.
Blow off how bad the football program has been – these things do go in cycles – and run with the idea that the mediocrity might be a plus here.
Coaches and other Big Ten schools will be happy to battle in hoops, and if there’s not a major threat – at least for right now – from the football side, cool.
Think Rutgers when it comes to how the Big Ten easily accepted the addition.
Kansas has a national brand, it’s Kansas City with a little bit of St. Louis. It’s a perfect geographical fit for Nebraska and Iowa, and it would seamlessly slide right on into the Big Ten West without any problem.
And yeah, it’s an AAU-level school. Since that really, really matters …