Jong, I agree with much of your analysis. My three picks for a 16 team SEC expansion would be TAM, Mizzu, OK, and OK State. Maryland would be an interesting choice in that they would bring the N. VA, DC, MD market into play. I also guess you could make a case that Maryland is partly below the Mason-Dixon line so geographically, it might work. MD would also add a team for the East. If Mizzu, OK, and OK State, we have a difficult time dividing East/West.
Jerry -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jong Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 2:09 PM To: GatorTalk Subject: [gatortalk] Re: FW: [gatornews] GatorNews From The Gainesville SUN For 8/15, Courtesy of Shane Ford Honestly, this has been a lot of fun to follow, and I was surprised that more people haven't talked about it. If we assume that the conference leaders want to maintain some sort of geographic sense, the next schools to join would come from the ACC or Big 12. The Big East seems a stretch to me, and I don't think any schools are looking to leave the Big Ten. In the ACC, I don't see any of the North Carolina schools (or UVA for that matter) leaving. There is too much basketball history among them. UVA and VT are joined at the hip; the Virginia legislature would never allow VT to leave seeing how much effort they expended getting them into the ACC in the first place. FSU, Miami, Georgia Tech, and Clemson are all in regions that are dominated by SEC schools already. However, FSU and Miami can bring national name recognition if that's important to the conference leaders (see Nebraska). That leaves Boston College and Maryland. BC is not any kind of fit that I can see. No one is talking about Maryland, but they're kind of intriguing. They can bring the DC market, have shown they can be good in football, have a long basketball history, and are members of the AAU. From the UF perspective, they bring a relatively rich recruiting region that we have taken advantage of since about Zook. >From the Big 12, I think it's just a matter of time before Texas goes independent and TAMU joins the SEC. I don't see Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, K State, or Texas Tech adding much for TV markets. That leaves Missouri, OU, and OSU. Missouri is a possibility. They bring the St. Louis market, good recent history in football, have previously done well in basketball, and is an AAU member. Oklahoma and OSU are joined at the hip like UVA and VT. If we're just talking expanding to 14, I don't see any way either or both of OU and OSU join. So then, for expansion to 14, TAMU and Maryland/Missouri. For expansion to 16, TAMU, Maryland/Missouri, OU, OSU. Take with massive grains of salt. One last note before I end this much-too-long missive. I don't see expansion into Texas really helping UF recruiting. Even when Spurrier spent a good amount of effort in Texas, we didn't end up with too much. I see it helping teams like LSU and Arkansas more. --Jong On Aug 15, 12:25 pm, Woody <[email protected]> wrote: > Oh and one more thing... many many ppl believe that the likely 14th team.. > .is Missouri due to that being a whole new market (read: TV $$$$$$$$$$$$) > for the SEC to get a hold of. I think it needs to be a north Carolina > team... some think NC State is a possibility too. Suppsedly VaTech would > have to pay $10 million to leave the ACC so they are probably out... North > Carolina.. under the NCAA hammer.. they are probably out. Wake would be a > good compliment to Vandy (in my opinion). > > Woody > > -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
