Somewhere in the blogging bylaws it states that three June 2010 posts must be dedicated to conference expansion talk.  So to keep up my end, here’s some completely unsubstantiated guessing as to the endgame.

Oh, and I’m one of those “we’re headed for four 16-team Superconferences” guys, so this is my take on those 64 teams (and those teams on the outside looking in):

Big 10
Illinois
Indiana
Purdue
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Iowa
Minnesota
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
Nebraska
Kansas
Notre Dame
Syracuse
Rutgers

Pac 10
Washington
Washington State
Oregon
Oregon State
Cal
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Arizona
Arizona State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
Colorado

SEC
Florida
Alabama
Auburn
South Carolina
Vanderbilt
Kentucky
Tennessee
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Arkansas
LSU
Georgia
Clemson
Miami
Florida State
Georgia Tech

Bastardized ACC/Big East
Duke
UNC
NC State
Maryland
Wake Forest
Boston College
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
UConn
West Virginia
South Florida
Louisville
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Temple
Villanova (bumps football to FBS)

“We’re Still Relevant, Right?” Conference
Missouri
Kansas State
Iowa State
Baylor
BYU
Utah
UNLV
TCU
Memphis
Boise State

Thoughts:

~ The WSRRC could be anywhere from 8 to 16 teams.  I picked 10 because I think they’ll want to keep the Wyoming’s and the San Diego State’s out in an appeal for relevance.  I also think they’ll grab a Memphis for basketball cred and a Boise for football cred.  And I don’t think any of it will matter because the 4 Superconferences will crush them.

~ And by “crush them” I mean “eventually break off from the NCAA”.  Told you I’m one of those guys.  4 Superconferences = 64 teams.  Hello new NCAA tourney with those teams seeded 1-64.  Please also say hello to the new NCAA football tourney, with the 8 division champions from the 4 Superconferences and 8 wild cards joining up for a 16 team playoff.

~ Because of this, AD’s and College Presidents from Provo to Ames should be offering up their firstborns to be included as one of the 64.  Sure, Missouri/Utah/Boise/BYU could make a nice little football conference.  But will it even matter when their champion plays the Sun Belt winner in the Valdosta Bowl? (Live on The Learning Channel at 5:00 PM on Tuesday, December 19th!)

~ Finding a 15th and 16th team for the Big ACC East was difficult.  I added Temple (coaching crush Al Golden has revived their football program, and their basketball program is more than adequate), and Villanova (football team won the FCS championship last year and is probably ready to make a jump to FBS).

~ This leaves the basketball side of the Big East in a quandry.  Georgetown, Marquette, St. John’s – would all of these basketball schools be left on the outside looking in at The New March Madness? Yes.

~ And yes, my Missouri hatred is shining through.  But the way this all plays out, several teams from the plains are going to get shafted.  The Big ACC East isn’t going to have 14 teams in a nice little neat 700 mile radius footprint and then add Missouri and Iowa State.  And if the SEC does the natural thing and add the Florida schools plus Clemson and Georgia Tech, the Missouri’s and Iowa State’s of the world are left to either beg the Big Ten or start budgeting for road trips to Waco and Boise.

~ At first I felt like I needed to add a “yes, I think Notre Dame joins a football conference” disclaimer. But after re-reading everything, it’s beyond obvious in this scenario.  Join now, or start covering the endzone seats with a tarp so that the empties aren’t so glaringly obvious.

~ Speaking of glaringly obvious, the holes in this alignment are many.  Hey, I can fix those on the next two revisions.  Three posts about this, minimum, before Scheelhaase gets his Rantoul on.