Big Ten expansion hasn't been accelerated, but it is inevitable, and college basketball won't matter

During the college hoops season, there was a little bit of talk about the expansion of the Big Ten and the Pac 10, and the resulting trickle down effect to some of the smaller conferences.

This week, that talk has exploded, as the Chicago Tribune reported that the expansion could happen as early as June. Around the country, writers and fan bases waited patiently to hear from Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany to speak at today's BCS meetings, hoping for some hint as too what schools could be added and when it could happen.

And what did Delany say?

A whole lotta nothin'.

"There are no announcements here and there are no notifications here," he said.
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Delany said the expansion process remains in an early phase. He said it's too early to tell whether the 11-team conference would add one or as many as five teams. He said his thinking wasn't being heavily influenced by a desire to hold a conference championship game in December. He also said he doesn't know how quickly an expanded league could be put together.

He would not deny, however, that programs are being evaluated for their potential fit in the Big Ten.

"I didn't say we weren't at that phase," Delany said. "I said we are not at the phase of any need to provide notice to an institution, that we were in formal discussions with an institution."

USA Today was able to land an interview with Delany:

"We have not accelerated anything," Delany said, refuting a Chicago Tribune report late last week that the league had alteredstepped up its timetable. In revealing it would ponder adding topanding beyond its current 11 members, the Big Ten said in December that Delany would take 12-18 months to draw up recommendations to its council of school presidents and chancellors.

He met with those officers in conjunction with semiannual meetings of the Association of American Universities in Washington, D.C., earlier this week, but described the discussions as routine. While "I'm not saying it didn't come up," Delany said of expansion, he insisted it merely was one of several league issues addressed.
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"We'll work with our athletic directors and our presidents. If there's a need to have formal discussions about expansion with another institution, we'll reach out," Delany said. "But we're still in the process of analyzing and gathering information, and we're not anywhere near what I would describe as formal expansion discussions with any member. We haven't changed anything, neither the timetable nor the process that was described."

The good news is that it seems as if the original timetable -- 12 to 18 months -- is still in effect. The bad news is that it seems as if expansion is a virtual certainty.

The frustrating part of this for hoopheads is that the effect this conference realignment will have on college basketball has all but been ignored. Instead, the Big Ten, which has its own TV network and thus much higher payouts to its member universities, is more concerned about adding valuable television markets and ratings-drawing football programs.

If Syracuse goes to the Big Ten, what does that mean for the rivalry between the Cuse and Georgetown? If Missouri switches leagues, will the Border War still exist?

It is a frustrating thing to think about, and not just because it is likely that this will happen.

It is frustrating because the effects that realignment will have on college basketball are about as relevant to the decision making process as the accessibility of a Starbucks should the commissioner decide to attend a game at one of the newly added schools.