Ok, the other day we talked about the various meltdowns actual and potential
of the really too big conferences and offered this scenario as outlined in The Poop Sheet: Notre Dame turns down the Big 10/1, which then raids the Big 12 for
Mizzou, thus making the Big10/1 the Big 12 and the Big 12 the Big 11, which won't do not
least of all because while it trashes their name, they also need 12 teams for a playoff, so they go make a run
after Arkansas, which makes them the Big 12 again but leaves the SEC short one school...
Well to the list of the unstable large conferences (and we forgot the Big
East, which is in serious trouble), we
can also add the Big West, which is going to collapse any day now.Â
So to repeat: the Big 10/1 is kind of edgy for a 12th, the Big 12 might lose
a school to the Big 10/1, the SEC just might lose a school to the Big 12, the
WAC just imploded and law suits are a possibility, the Big West is following
suit, and the Big East is a chronically unstable mess.Â
So what do these six conferences have in common? They all got greedy
and bloated and they have to stay bloated or die.
So what's the lesson? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Let the other
conferences fall apart. The ACC, at nine, can stay strong and be ready to step
in when the others screw up - not to scoop up expansion schools so we can repeat
the stupidity, but rather as a strong, identifiable group, a brand name if you
must, which can compete across the board for national honors.
Hollywood calls this counterprogramming, but the rest of us can just call it not being greedy.