Big Ten Expansion Musings

In case you missed it, Joe Paterno came out in favor of Big Ten expansion this week and said he had floated the idea to the conference powers. Their response, according to Paterno? "You know, it's a conference that's dominated by a couple of people," Paterno said. "If I start talking, they're polite, but they snicker."

Those couple of people (and Paterno was more explicit later in the conference) are Jim Delany and Jim Delany's shadow, commissioner of the Big Ten, dream crusher, and favorite of old men everywhere more bitter than Paterno (which is just about all of them). Delany's already brushed off Paterno's suggestion.

Paterno's reasons are sound and you can read them in the ESPN article. But just for fun, let's take a look at who the most viable candidates for Big Ten expansion would be.

The criteria I am considering are strength in football and basketball, and marketability/profit potential. I am not looking at academics. Academics are too subjective. This school is better in the Princeton Review, this school is better in U.S. News and World Report, this school is better looking at it this way, this school is better measuring that way, etc. If you're not an Ivy League school, Duke, Vanderbilt, or Stanford, you can be generally be measured against most schools. So I'm throwing it out entirely.

Finally, a school must either be in a Big Ten state, or border a Big Ten state, for consideration. Let's move east to west.

Oh yes, I'm also not including Notre Dame. They've already said no a thousands times, there is no angle to ND joining the Big Ten that hasn't already been analyzed to death, and it's my fantasy that their failures in football will continue for decades, they come to the Big Ten with a hangdog face and a tail between their legs and they say, "Okay, we'll join," and the Big Ten laughs and tells them to go apply to the Missouri Valley Conference.

SYRACUSE

Pro: Just about the best possible basketball get the Big Ten could pull in, and would open up a new, populous market for the conference.

Con: The Big Ten does not need another mediocre football team that loses to MAC schools.

PITTSBURGH

Pro: Solid in both sports, natural rivalry with Penn State.

Con: Somewhat lacking in fan support, no real new market as such.

I pause here to point out that the three schools Paterno mentioned were the above two, and Rutgers. At first, I was surprised at Paterno's East Coast bias, and Rutgers doesn't even rate a mention, but he was addressing a question specifically about Northeast football, so I will give him a pass.

CINCINNATI

Pro: Easily could develop a great basketball rivalry with Ohio State, could also build on their recent football success.

Con: Really just not a sexy pick next to the other potential candidates.

KENTUCKY

Pro: Probably even a better score than Syracuse in basketball, and would really be a kick in the nuts to the SEC. Kentucky has no real football traction in the conference and historically, the reverse is true with basketball: Kentucky is the SEC, and the conference has no real basketball identity without them (sorry, LSU and Arkansas).

Con: Culturally Southern, so probably would not want to leave either of that reason or because they may not want a stronger basketball conference. (Indeed, I'm not including Nebraska because they are too historically interwoven the Big 8/12, I just can't see them doing it).

LOUISVILLE

Pro: Basketball again, would be a lot more open to bolting their current conference. Football could get good again in a hurry.

Con: Not sure if it works for the Big Ten to expand southward. Not as enticing as Kentucky, to be honest.

IOWA STATE

Pro: Pre-existing outstanding rivalry with a current member.

Con: They are so rarely good at football or basketball, not a new market.

MISSOURI

Pro: At the moment, the best football team the Big Ten could get. Good basketball, too. Two new media markets. Existing rivalry with current member.

Con: Their rivalry Illinois is largely artificial and pales to their rivalry with Kansas.

NORTH DAKOTA STATE

Pro: Calm down and keep reading. I'm not really suggesting the Big Ten should offer membership to NDSU. But just as the IOC shortlists potential host cities that have absolutely no shot of winning the Olympics (2012 Istanbul, anyone)? I did want to highlight a school that is in the geographical purview that I laid down that has put together an impressive resume.

The Bison have jumped from Division II to Division 1-AA in 2004 and have are already become conference champions in both sports, though not necessarily recognized due to the probationary period. They made the Big Dance this year and should've beaten Minnesota in football two years ago. They would give Minnesota a natural rivalry. Their jump in levels and immediate success at the higher level is reminiscent of Marshall's move from 1-AA to 1-A in 1997.

Cons: (Smiles politely and applauds.)

"And the winner is..." (Cameras divide up the screen, looking at the eight candidate schools, all dressed in tuxes, looking anxious, squeezing the hands of their loved ones.)

(The emcee struggles with the envelope and finally tears it open. He reads it to himself first and arches his eyebrows, enjoying the fact that he knows a second before anyone else does.)

"...Missouri!" (Black and old gold streamers fall from the ceiling, cheers, hugs, and applause from the Mizzou section, until the camera catches a dejected Dave Wannstedt slouching in his chair.)