Meek empties out the Big 12 notebook.
After a brief respite over the weekend, the conference realignment rumor mill was back in full swing yesterday.
Texas sent a delegation to Norman, Okla., over the weekend in an attempt to convince OU to stay in the Big 12. Apparently, it didn't go so well.
That led to Chip Brown's evolving story Monday that Oklahoma's board will vote to apply for Pac-12 membership by the end of the month, with Oklahoma State to follow.
Mike Slive is talking about Texas A&M and scheduling for a 13-team conference in 2012-13, so it sounds like, threat of litigation or not, that the SEC plans to add the Aggies (no surprise).
Texas considers the survival of the Big 12 its top priority, with a move to the ACC second, and independence third. Conspicuous by its absence: Pac-12.
Pacific Takes has a look at who could become the 15th and 16th schools in the Pac-12 if OU and OSU become members, but Texas declines. K-State, KU and Missouri are discussed. Beware, one of the natives in the comments is very anti-KSU. One thing the commenter, and a lot of fans around the country who complain about certain rumored additions to their conferences, doesn't realize is that if you want 16-team conferences, you're not going to have 16 schools that are perfect fits. The Pac-12 conference sits way out there on the west coast, and there just aren't 16 perfect options that are a reasonable geographic fit. Colorado was a geographic stretch to begin with, now we're talking about the states of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri? And if you're against K-State, then what are your other options? BYU isn't a fit for cultural and scheduling reasons, Boise State is a worse academic fit than K-State and the Oklahoma schools, and beyond that you're left with choosing schools from New Mexico, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and the other western states. Bottom line is that if you want to add schools that have been in an AQ conference, you can't be especially picky. Of course, Texas could solve that problem for Pac-12 fans, athletic directors, chancellors and Larry Scott, but it's not a sure bet it will.
Has Texas overplayed its hand in the realignment game? It appears the answer is yes, barring some sort of collusion among UT, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.