Remember conference realignment? It was one of the wildest times in all of sports that I can remember. There were all kinds of theories floating around as to what was going to happen last summer but one theory that had some legs (or so we thought) was Texas heading to the Pac-10. That would have set off a domino effect that would have basically ended the Big 12 as we know it.
During that time when it was possible that the Big 12 would have imploded all together, Kansas Jayhawks basketball coach Bill Self and other schools thought they were headed to the Big East. Indeed, Self tells listeners on his weekly radio show (transcribed by Adam Jacobi) that he thought at one time, if Texas bolted, the Big East would have come calling.
"To be honest with you, Kansas could have been making the same announcement today that TCU made. And Kansas State could have been in there too, because the feeling that we got -- or we had, when the conference realignment was going on, that if by chance, Texas would have gone to the Pac-10 and we would have stayed buddies with Kansas State and not separated and done all that stuff, then the Big East would have came and gotten us, and KSU, and Iowa State, and Missouri. Which, in theory, you say, 'Oh god, the Big East, bad travel.' They would have gone to divisions, so we would have had divisions with probably the teams that are close, and maybe Louisville and Cincinnati or whatever."
It doesn't mean anything now because the Big 12 will stick around but it's still interesting to think about. Imagine how annoying the travel schedule would be for teams like Kansas, Kansas State and Mizzou. There would have been a lot of problems with that situation but it would've been better than going without a conference.