Comments on: What’s The Matter With Kansas?

By: Neil Paine

Neil Paine — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:56:20 +0000

Well, it looks like Kansas will stay in the Big 12, thanks to Texas. But now the Big 12 has 10 teams, the Big 10 has 12 teams, and the Pac-10 has 11 teams... So do we call the Big 12 the "Big 10" now, and the Big 10 the "Big 12"? And is the Pac-10 the "Pac-11" now?

By: steve norris

steve norris — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:47:42 +0000

they are going to destroy college sports. growing up in the 80's and 90's i liked college sports best. as i got older i learned that the college game is no different from the pro game . the only small difference is the players dont get paid just the schools. who turn around and use these kids to make money. atleast you can respect the pro game for being honest about being greedy and for giving us a better product. all those rivalries dont mean as much. kansas not in the big 12 is like the cowboys not playing in the nfc east. leave well enough alone. this dont even make sense except it does make dollars and cents. college has stooped down to the pro level except for that the college product is weak. i say all players should ask for cars and money to play on these teams. why not be paid like the pros.....the schools are

By: Hank

Hank — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 18:11:45 +0000

Who says the Pac 10 won't take Kansas? If they add Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma, that would leave them at 15. The rumor is they will grab Utah to end up at 16, but why not go for total domination in the two biggest college sports? Better yet, drop Oklahoma State and get BYU. The other rumor was that A&M may be going to the SEC (yeah, that makes sense....), so maybe they could get Kansas and Utah.

By: JLK1

JLK1 — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:33:32 +0000

Nebraska is an AAU member. I'm not sure how large their research revenue is, but I'm sure it's significant. Either way, I'm sure that the Big 10 went FAR beyond US News rankings in evaluating Nebraska as an academic fit. Kansas is sort of like Nebraska without a marquee football program. Kansas just has too many downsides for its basketball program to overcome: relative geographic isolation, crappy football, and small television markets. The Big 10 would rather have Missouri or Nebraska, they're too far away for the SEC, Big East, and ACC, and the Pac 10 appears to prefer the Big 12 south schools. If the Pac 10 could cherry pick, they might take Kansas, but they seem to be stuck taking Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma State as a package deal.

By: dbm

dbm — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 11:56:04 +0000

Not to mention that Kansas just recently had a season where they were unbeaten most of the year in football...their program has had some decent years. And Nebraska is a ways from their national title run.
Kansas could end up in the Mountain West...it is a geographic stretch, but that conference is quickly gaining football prestige.

By: Steve Flanders

Steve Flanders — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 07:58:23 +0000

What kills me about the realignment issue is the hypocrisy of the University presidents. Nebraska is a better academic fit in the Big 10 than it is in the Big 12? "Academic quality" is a bs measure, but assuming it is measurable and using the US News 2010 rankings as an imperfect stand-in for it, Nebraska is 3 standard deviations worse than the average Big 10 school, while it falls smack dab in the middle of the Big 12's rankings. In fact, Nebraska is almost 2 standard deviations away from the "worst" Big 10 school's academic ranking. The Big 12's academic reputations are far closer to the Pac 10's than they are to the Big 10's (I'm a Cal guy, so that's painful for me to admit.) Nebraska is a "fit" for the Big 10 only in the football and money sense; the presidents of the Big 10 have shown what they value.