Your Morning Conference Realignment Update

((ht: statesman.com))

Well, the next dominos to fall in the "Galactic Realignment" of College Football should fall if not today (Monday), then sometime in the next couple of days.

We, along with the rest of the universe, reported both Texas and Oklahoma regents would be meeting today to discuss their options. Those options, at least from their perspective got a bit clearer this weekend when Pitt and Syracuse committed to the ACC.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, substantive talks between Texas and others with the Pac-12 occurred this weekend. Made more convenient due to Texas playing UCLA in Los Angeles. This despite Pac-12 commish Larry Scott saying just last week, "We're happy where we are". And we will say, these schools are coming to the Pac-12, not the other way around.

Statesman reporter Kirk Bohls reports Texas would prefer to stay in the Big 12, but that may not be possible.

Read the entire story RIGHT HERE

What it appears will happen is this: Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Texas Tech and Texas appear all but certain to head to the Pac-12. Scott is doing his best to try and accommodate/fold in, the Longhorn Network. We are reasonably certain, that will work out.

The only question really is when?

In light of this weekends moves, we expect this all to go down this week. There has been speculation that the Big 12 will try and absorb some schools from another conference. (The Big East football schools?).

Initially, we thought it would be the Big East and ACC who would have to combine to make their own super-conference, we don't think that now. It will end up being the remnants of the Big 12 combined with the Big East. It has to be. There's no other choice for any of the remaining schools to survive in the new landscape.

There are still questions out there. There is no guarantee Missouri or Kansas will sit for a combined conference. Though they certainly could and be just fine.

The other wild card is West Virginia. There's been a lot of speculation they want in the SEC. In a bad way. They question is: "Does the SEC want them?". And really, nobody knows the answer to that.

A Sports-Talk radio host in Pittsburgh tweeted Sunday that the Mountaineers have already sent their paperwork to the SEC. And the interest is mutual.

We could go on forever discussing the repercussions of all this. There are a lot of teams and a lot of people who are anxiously awaiting the fallout. The seismic shift is coming and while Saturday's announcement was big and in some ways, very surprising, it won't be the biggest. That friends, is a rose that has yet to be delivered.

We don't watch this show, though the Lovely Bride does, and don't totally understand this, but it is the best analogy would could think of visually to go along with this story, because these schools and conferences are essentially doing the same thing.

Did ACC Schools Screw Up Leaving For Big East...?

((HT: Canespundit))

The question was posed considering that when the new Pac-10/11/12 deal was put on the table... with their $21-million to go with the Big 10/11/12's $18-million plus and the Ess-E-Cee's $17-million plus...

Currently, the ACC's deal is in the neighborhood of $13-million and the Big East's will be up for renewal in 2013.

So, then what...???

Remember, Miami, Boston College, and Virginia Tech all left the Big Least for the Atlantic shores and, allegedly, richer times and pastures.

Who's kicking who's own ass and asking if they could have had a V8, now...???


UConn head men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun has even hinted to an idea that was a long time in coming- splitting the 37-member conference into football-playing and non-football-playing members. And there was also the talk of those two groups being so split up that the non's would have their own conference and the footballers would splinter off on their own and create another one ((just to create another Bee-Cee-Ess headache down the line when it comes to AQ's and non-AQ's in other sports))...

2010 Football ((without the soon-to-be added TCU))

West Virginia 5 - 2 .714 9 - 4 .692
Connecticut 5 - 2 .714 8 - 5 .615
Pittsburgh 5 - 2 .714 8 - 5 .615
Syracuse 4 - 3 .571 8 - 5 .615
USF 3 - 4 .429 8 - 5 .615
Louisville 3 - 4 .429 7 - 6 .538
Cincinnati 2 - 5 .286 4 - 8 .333
Rutgers 1 - 6 .143 4 - 8 .333

The addition of TCU makes this group slightly more attractive to suitors with the addition of the Dallas DMA...

2010 Men's Hoops Final Standings

Pittsburgh 15 - 3 .833 28 - 6 .824
Notre Dame 14 - 4 .778 27 - 7 .794
Syracuse 12 - 6 .667 27 - 8 .788
Louisville 12 - 6 .667 25 - 10 .714
St. John's 12 - 6 .667 21 - 12 .636
Cincinnati 11 - 7 .611 26 - 9 .743
West Virginia 11 - 7 .611 21 - 12 .636
Georgetown 10 - 8 .556 21 - 11 .656
Connecticut 9 - 9 .500 32 - 9 .780
Villanova 9 - 9 .500 21 - 12 .636
Marquette 9 - 9 .500 22 - 14 .611
Seton Hall 7 - 11 .389 13 - 18 .420
Rutgers 5 - 13 .278 15 - 17 .468
Providence 4 - 14 .222 15 - 17 .468
USF 3 - 15 .167 10 - 23 .303
DePaul 1 - 17 .056 7 - 24 .225

And the 16-team conference here...??? St. John's, Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette, Seton Hall, Providence, and DePaul won't get football money...

How do you think they like that notion already...???
Food for thought around your lunchtime...

The Politics Of Dancing: Utah State, Bucknell, Kansas, UConn

((HT: ABC4 Salt Lake City))

The HQ will warn you, as you fill out your brackets, not to overlook Utah State for a win or two...

They won the WAC tourney, surprising no one...


Bucknell won the Patriot League automatic bid for the first time since 2006...
They were so excited, the conference gave its own report...
((HT: PatriotVideo))


A lot of Big 12/10 fans are wondering how things are going to shake out after Texas is now oh-for-six in their quest for the conference automatic...
It went to Kansas again...
((HT: NBCActionNews/KSHB-TV Kansas City))


And UConn pulled off the near impossible ((unless you count the NAIA tourney where you play for a title within a week's time)) by winning five games in five days to take the Big East crown for the seventh time.

Kemba Walker was a beast at the right time...
Here's the end of the 69-66 win over Louisville...
((HT: ESPN/youtube))

Kemba Walker breaks Pitts ankles and wins game at buzzer

If you ever want to look up the term "Ankle-Breaker" in the basketball dictionary, this will be the associated video.

One of the sickest crossovers you'll ever see, followed by a stop and pop buzzer beater to win the game 76-74 over 3rd ranked and Big East Tourney favorite Pittsburgh.

All in a day's work for UConn guard Kemba Walker.



And for Walker's reaction...CBSSports caught up with him:

Rutgers gets Jobbed in Big East Tourney

Browlee play in question/Courtesy: Sabo-NYDailyNews.com

And there isn't anything they can do about it.

Rutgers faced off with St.Johns in their opening game at the Big East tournament Wednesday afternoon and gave the Johnnies a hell of a game.

The back and forth game ended with St. Johns getting the win, 65-63, but not without a pretty big controversy.

As the game wound down, St. Johns's Justin Browlee clearly steps out of bounds with 1.6 seconds left on the clock, but it wasn't called, time runs out and game over. It was one of a series of bizarre plays that happened at the end and could arguably call the officiating into question as at there were a series of no-calls that had an impact on things.

But as the rule states, none of these plays were reviewable, because the refs essentially swallowed their whistles.

Here's the video, judge for your ownselves:

Incredible Finish.... Four Point Play Lifts Rutgers Over Villanova

Rutgers senior forward Jonathan Mitchell is a hero in Piscataway, New Jersey. His four-piont play at the end of the game was one of the most memorable finishes in college basketball the last few years. Mitchell's heroics doomed Villanova as the Scarlet Knights won 77-76.

Check you the last few minutes of the game. (Thanks Big East Network/Youtube.com)



“We’ve been here before." Mitchell said after the game. "I always want to take the last shot. I want the game on my shoulders. JB (James Beatty) did a great job of separating off the screen, kicked it out to me and I just let it fly. I got the whistle and the shot went in.”

“He said before the huddle, ‘we’ve been here before.’" Rutgers head coach Mike Rice said in a press conference after the game. "I think it was when we stole the ball twice and scored six points in 20 seconds. He said, ‘we’ve been here. We’ve been in one or two possession games.’ It was a simple pick and pop. He did it in Notre Dame. He has been hitting with people on him.”

“We wanted to switch and deny everything." Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. "We switched and Cory Fisher(#10) was going out to deny. They caught him right in the middle, he was going to deny and they threw the pass right at that split second. He was there denying and just went through his hand and committed the foul. It was perfect execution and perfect timing on their part. This is not Cory’s faults, he was putting his hand out to deny just as the ball gets there and Jonathan Mitchell(#24) goes up through and stuff like that happens.”

OSG Buzzer Beater: Peyton Siva's Shot Boosts Louisville Over West Virginia

Louisville point guard Peyton Siva is 5'11" but with the game on the line that didn't stop him in challenging West Virginia bigs 6 foot 8 Kevin Jones and John Flowers whose 6-7. Siva just flipped the ball up, hit the top of the backboard and went through the net and Louisville was a winner 55-54.

Here's the highlights including Siva's shot. (Thanks WHAS-TV Louisville, KY)



"Peyton made a great play." Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said in a press conference after the game.

"I was hoping," Siva said. "I looked up and I fell down and I just saw it fall through."

Tyler Hansbrough's Little Brother Goes Off. Ben Hansbrough Has A Career High vs Marquette

Maybe Tyler Hansbrough is Ben's big brother. Ben Hansbrough scored a career high 28 points shooting 10-15 from the field and led the Irish charge in the second half as Notre Dame defeated Marquette 80-75 Saturday.

"Ben makes us believe," Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey said in a press conference after the game. "He drives us. At crunch time, he is the guy who made us think we could win."

"I think he's one of the best players in the country." Marquette head coach Buzz Williams said after the game.

Well Tyler won a national player of the year award. It would be a longshot for Ben.

Here's a few highlights from the game. (Thanks UNC.com/Youtube.com)



And full highlights from WNDU-TV. (Thanks WNDU-TV)

Mascot Proves More Exciting Than UC Game, Gets Benched

Cincinnati's Bearcat mascot was cited for disorderly conduct after a snowball-throwing incident in the stands during a game against Pittsburgh.

It's probably this one...
((HT: Youtube))


In what Brother Phil regarded as "Snowmageddon 2010," and Pitt's Dion Lewis scored the second of his three touchdowns in the first half, students threw snowballs at his person and were told to stop.

A UC spokesman says the mascot was told to stop throwing snowballs in the stands ((above)) and pushed a security guard ((not shown)), knocking both of them, apparently, to the ground.

The mascot was detained and cited ((below)). He was not identified. A backup mascot took his place at halftime.

What the folks at UC don't tell you was that had to have been the most offense shown by a Bearcat all day in the Pitt blowout...

Here's the arrest, the police actually took the guys head clean off...

Nightside: TCU Joins Big East

Your postgame presser update...

"Having BCS automatic-qualifying status was a priority for our football program and a great reward for the success we've had the last decade," TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte said through a prepared statement.

The Big East will be the fourth conference for TCU since the Southwest Conference broke apart after the 1995 season and the Frogs weren't among the Texas schools that became part of the Big 12.

TCU was in the WAC from 1996-2000 before going to Conference USA for four seasons and then joining the Mountain West in 2005.

Here's team coverage from our friends at Fox4 in the Metroplex- which includes an interview with Del Conte himself...
((HT: MyFoxDFW.com))


And from our friends at WFAA-TV...
Jim Douglas is outdoors...