Voice of the Hawkeyes Board

B1G will be the elite basketball conference.

I don't know if this is good for the other conferences in terms of growing into mega or super conferences.

I've made it pretty clear that I'm not a fan of further expansion. Sure it makes are bball conference even stronger, but further expansion continues to take away from decades worth of rivalries and make fans travel even further if they want to go to away games. Just not a fan at all.

A formal invitation won't be issued unless the answer is "yes." I think UVA would be a logical candidate for #16. I'm wondering if the B1G will stop at 16. Why not 20? By rounding up the AAU members of the ACC, we could cause Texas to reconsider. They are no longer tethered to A&M and the Longhorn network is a disaster. The academic side of Texas would be euphoric with at B1G affiliation. A side benefit of gutting the ACC is isolating Notre Dame.

I agree, especially the part about Notre Dame but I also don't see UNC, UVA, GT or any ACC schools joining the Big 10 or another conference until the matter of Maryland's $52M exit fee is resolved. A North Carolina superior court judge rejected the school's motion yesterday to have the exit fee waived. So it looks like UMD will have to (a) appeal, (b) buck up and pay the $52M in its entirety, (c) negotiate a lesser settlement, or (d) go to court. The ACC wants (b) or (d). Even (a) is acceptable because time is the ACC's ally--the longer the matter is delayed, the more it works in the ACC's favor to reinforce its fortress's sagging walls. But it can't afford to settle for less because it would set a dangerous precedent. That means UNC, UVA, GT will watch and wait because Maryland's outcome will tell them how much it's going to cost them if they want to get out.

No one's going to get kicked out of the Big 10. Serious breach of contract lawsuit just waiting to happen.

An interesting side effect of Big 10 expansion with an east coast tilt is that the East Division (or whatever they decide to call it) would technically be a mini-Big 10/ACC merger of Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers and two more ACC defectors (assume UNC and UVA). That's a loaded potato with a lot of big markets and prime recruiting states, which could turn the west division into the old Big 12 North, which could actually work in Iowa's favor because as a member of the weaker division, the Hawkeyes would have an easier path to the Big 10 championship game than the teams in the East. Basically, it would be get to Indy and take your chances on the upset.

If the ACC starts to come apart at the seams as the Big 10, SEC and Big 12 gut it, will Notre Dame finally cave in and join? If it does, would the Big 10 take a shot at Kansas, which a) is in the AAU, b) adjoins an existing Big 10 state, and c) might cash out of the Big 12 for a shot being in the best basketball conference?

Very interesting point about the potential benefit to Iowa of a loaded Big Ten Eastern Division. As long as Nebraska is in Iowa's division, that division will remain relevant on a national scale. And more trips to Indy - win or lose - would make the program much easier to sell on the recruiting trail.

Regarding Notre Dame, I don't see what their motivation would be to join a conference even in that possible landscape of college football that you described. I don't think they'll ever have trouble filling out their schedule, they have their own channel and don't have to split the revenue from that, and they don't have to split the revenue from their bowl appearances either. Unless NBC backs out on Notre Dame, I don't see them joining a conference anytime soon.

I think if it goes to four super conferences, the four conferences will come together and say to keep more money for themselves:

'1.)Our national championship game will be a final four playoffs of the four conference champs
2.)Only schedule games within teams of the four super conferences'

They will strong arm ND to choose a conference. That's if four conferences are formed. Other teams will be relatively playing a lesser division for less dough. Just my thoughts.

Even if we eventually end up with four superconferences, your hypothetical assumes the complete elimination of the NCAA. Otherwise, there's no way a championship would exist that doesn't give access to other programs at that level (FBS).

Also, there's way too much money to be made by including Notre Dame both in regular season games and in the championship discussion for the Irish to ever be excluded.

Lastly, even if we get to four superconferences, there would almost certainly be some type of allocation that would allow schools outside those conferences to qualify for the playoff system.

Please tell me that your intent was not to compare the Big Ten and how it values it's members to that of the Big East?

I think you're overreacting because you don't agree with expansion....but the Big Ten is looking to secure additional markets, not axe those it already has.

Where to start, indeed.

Temple was a football-only member of the Big East Conference from 1991 until 2004. It was forced out of the league due to poor attendance averages, non-competitiveness, and a lack of commitment to the football program from university officials. I think that the Big 10 would have a very hard time making that argument about full-fledged members. Football may be the straw that stirs the drink but it's not the only ingredient. Temple played the 2005 and 2006 seasons as an independent before joining the MAC from 2007-2011. In a textbook case of what goes around comes around, Temple rejoined the Big East with football membership in the 2012 season and all other sports in 2013.

Michigan and ND's contract ends after 2014. They were scheduled to play 2015, 2016 and 2017 but Notre Dame called it off last September. http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/092512aaa.html. They had previously agreed to take a 2-year hiatus from 2018-19. That means that after 2014 and outside of a bowl or playoff game, their rivalry is technically dead. And that's obviously regardless, contrary to your point, of what Michigan wants.

As the Big 10 moves toward 9 and possibly 10 conference games, OOC games will have to be cut. At the same time, ND's agreed to play four ACC opponents per year. Add in Navy, BC and USC and that's more than half their schedule right there. If Kansas-Missouri, Texas-Texas A&M and other storied rivalries can be trash-canned in the name of expansion, why not ND-MSU and ND-PU? Again, what makes the Irish not only immune to what's happening to other schools but masters of not only their own domain but their opponents' as well?