It was 2:05 when Captain Smith entered the shack for the last time: “Men, you have done your full duty. You can do no more. Abandon your cabin. Now it’s every man for himself.”
— Walter Lord, A Night to Remember
An official announcement of Texas A&M’s move to the Southeastern Conference is expected today [Wednesday] in College Station.
School officials spent Tuesday preparing for a news conference at Kyle Field to celebrate the move, pending a favorable vote from SEC presidents to extend an invitation. The SEC presidents met Tuesday night and approved an invitation to A&M, said sources with knowledge of the situation, but the SEC made no formal announcement.
The Columbia Missourian has put together a helpful Q&A with a map of the landscape (although the University of Iowa has been moved to Muscatine).
One scenario has Missouri, Kansas and Kansas State joining the Big East, bringing the conference to 12 football schools, split into divisions with a championship game, and 20 basketball schools separated into scheduling pods.
But speculation also finds Missouri joining Texas A&M in the SEC, and if that happens, a Big East spot could open for Iowa State.
That’s especially the case for Kansas State, which finds itself being mentioned in the same breath with Iowa State and Baylor. If there are schools you don’t want your name associated with during this potentially-seismic shift in college sports, it’s Iowa State and Baylor. …
The same article, comparing the Big 12 to teenagers at a high school dance:
Iowa State is … Iowa State should probably just drop out and find a job somewhere.
Kansas is a little prettier than Kansas State, but not by much. Kansas might live in a slightly better neighborhood, but K-State has really spruced up its place over the years. They both want to be sure that when they’re asked to boogie, they’re ready. They don’t want to be pretentious, like Missouri. They don’t want to be too eager, like Baylor. They don’t want to be ignored, like Iowa State.
A visual representation of what’s likely going to happen in the next month or so:
