Big Ten to pick up 12th member for conference?

[tornado]

It's been rumored, but now some reports are supposedly confirming it will happen.....

http://www.620wtmj.com/sports/gregmatzek/83245842.html

news leaking out that there will be an announcement soon, and Pitt will leave the Big East and become a Big Ten member..
this will be good for their football program, and I think they will be a very fine addition in basketball and most other sports as well.

Rumors further suggest the Big Ten will split into east and west divisions and have a football championship game as well.

[TheAsianSensation]

It also raises the question surrounding the lack of a title game for Big ten football. This move would certainly make a conference championship game plausible. Currently, the Big Ten is the only power conference without a conference title game in football.

Heh.

I'm tepid in all of this, because it seems too fast for something of this nature to happen.

[Future Walk-On]

i wanted Missouri

[BradleyBrave]

There is no conference title game in the Pac-10 either.

[Fetz86]

The link doesnt work already.

[tornado]

can't say why - maybe they are waiting for more solid confirmation before going with the story..
but something's going on...

http://www.hoopsworld.com/FeedItem.asp?FEED_ITEM_ID=1179523

[Nacho]

I am really surprised it is Pitt. Big10 already has a good chunk of the PA market with Penn St. Many felt Rutgers was the best fit, athletically and academically and would give the Big10 a market they have never really been able to get- the New York/New Jersey market...

Either way this will help them in the long run. The aspect of the championship game will bring the conference to a higher level IMO

[Fyrebyrd]

ESPN Insider Rumor Mill is posting the same thing. Since it is premium content, here is the story:

Pittsburgh may be the new Big Ten school. Some Pitt athletes were apparently told of his impending move this weekend, a source told FoxSports' talk show host Ben Maller.

No other source has confirmed this, but Maller writes that an announcement is coming by Thursday and that the addition of Pitt will bring about a Big Ten title game. That's interesting, given some Big Ten ADs having reservations about a championship game.

This is also interesting because, previously, Illinois AD Ron Guenther said the expansion team would be in the Midwest; Pittsburgh isn't exactly 'Midwest.'

[squirrelgotdead]

I think this has largely been debunked already. The only thing that is interesting is that neither side has issued a public denial since the story picked up steam over the weekend.

However, it is important to know where this story is coming from.

A poster claiming to be a Pittsburgh alum/donor posted on Michigan State's Spartan Tailgate board that the players were told in closed door meetings this was happening and the players started posting this on Twitter, but the posts were deleted.

However, deleted Twitter messages are still searchable, and these supposed messages can not be found, so they in all likelihood do not exist.

There was a barrage of Twitter posts about this news, but all refer back to the Spartan Tailgate thread.

There really hasn't been any new revelations as to the source of this story, so I'm taking a "wait and see" approach. There are a couple college news sites that tend to have a better inside scoop (information provided by staffers/admins) than some mainstream news sites but neither have anything on this yet, but one was unavailable over the weekend and still appears to be this AM.

[tornado]

Pitt is officially denying this report

http://www.zagsblog.com/2010/02/01/pitt-to-big-10-rumors-false/

[Bravesfan]

If, and again, IF this is true, this is very interesting! Surprising it wasn't Notre Dame, but I guess you can't have them in two different conferences and they are probably happy as a football independent anyway.

I propose this though. How about the Valley takes in Pittsburgh while we give up Evansville to the Big Ten?

[JMM28]

If, and again, IF this is true, this is very interesting! Surprising it wasn't Notre Dame, but I guess you can't have them in two different conferences and they are probably happy as a football independent anyway.

I propose this though. How about the Valley takes in Pittsburgh while we give up Evansville to the Big Ten?

If this is true, this could be the start of a shakeup, or it could be a dud. If the Big East decides to take Memphis, probably not much happens. If the Big East takes a school like Temple, then you might see more dominos fall.

Or maybe they decide to go to an all football school conference and dump the basketball schools leading to a huge shakeup.

[TheAsianSensation]

If this is true, this could be the start of a shakeup, or it could be a dud. If the Big East decides to take Memphis, probably not much happens. If the Big East takes a school like Temple, then you might see more dominos fall.

Or maybe they decide to go to an all football school conference and dump the basketball schools leading to a huge shakeup.

The real shakeup would be this:

The Pac-10 goes to 12 to keep up with the Big 10 since the two are BFFs.

The Big East, as the last BCS conference without a title game, expands to 12 too.

The basketball only schools have no choice but to split, and poach the A-10.

Chaos ensues, and a chain reaction involving no less than 50 or 60 schools changing conferences and talk of a split within D-1 to separate the power 6 conferences from everyone else begins.

[SFP]

There is no doubt going to be a major reshuffle and I only hope we are on top of it with contingencies for any change which will best position our basketball program. Anything less will be a blemish for the current Admin. and I'd have to believe she will be on top of it.

[DeltaBrave03]

I think the Big East has to boot the basketball only conferences. Football is the main driving force separating power conferences from "mid-major" conferences. Then I see a huge shake up through the Horizon, Valley, A10, and Big East, and hopefully the development of a basketball only "mid-major" power conference including BU.