Thanks to the combination of the latest rumor du jour about conference shakeups and Trips NCAA/USC/Black Helicopter scenario it has been a very entertaining week here at BC.
It is becoming increasingly clear that something is going to rip apart the Big 12, and while some programs dream of where they are going -- others wonder what in the hell is gonna become of them. Under just about any scenario that has been thrown out, there is one Big 12 power that is conspicuously absent. (Kansas, I'm looking at you.)
Out of all the programs in the Big 12 Kansas, graced with an elite basketball team, one of only a handful that is truly national in audience recognition, finds itself on the outside looking in on the realignment talk.
The Jayhawks are not listed on the Big 10 wish list, and the Kansas City Star writer who suggests they form a "Heartland" Conference based on basketball might not be that far off.
Kansas State, Baylor and Iowa State certainly would jump at the chance. Maybe you could add a Memphis, Xavier, Butler etc and at least be a viable player in NCAA basketball.
Kansas AD Lew Perkins understands the precarious position his program is in.
"If I said I wasn't worried, I'd be a fool," Perkins said Tuesday. "I'm worried every day about what's going to happen. Not just at Kansas or in the Big 12, but in the Pac 10, the Big Ten. This is serious, serious stuff."
Of course this hasn't been the best of weeks for Sweet Lew under any circumstances.