Here's to hoping college hoops can split away from college footballl

After taking a 15 month break, Texas A&M's decision to head to the SEC -- which will apparently (read: as of 8:30 am) become official today so long as Baylor doesn't sue the SEC and/or Mike Slive -- has thrown Expansionocalypse back into full-swing.

Theories abound about what the next step will be. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to the Pac-12? Virginia Tech, Missouri, and/or West Virginia to the SEC? Texas goes independent or perhaps kicks off a Texas-only league? The only thing I'm sure of is that the current NCAA landscape is sitting in a puddle of gasoline, just waiting for that spark to burn down some of the greatest rivalries in the history of college sports.

Let's assume, however, that after the Big 12 disintegrates, the Big East swoops in and brings Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri into the fold as the New York Post reported here. If no one in the Big East leaves and the conference doesn't split up between football and non-football schools, that gives the Big East a 20 team basketball conference, 14 of whom were in the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

Think about that. The Big East would have more NCAA Tournament teams than most conferences have teams, period. Throw in the fact that Providence and Rutgers -- and potentially Seton Hall -- are recruiting well enough under their new coaching regimes to have a shot at making an NCAA Tournament in the near future, and what you're left with is an unbelievably strong basketball league.

It also makes you wonder -- how long will it be before college basketball teams split from the conference affiliations of their football team?

College basketball can be a valuable television commodity. While games will never draw the ratings of a college football Saturday, four nights a week, there are quality college hoops game on TV. Saturdays and post-NFL Sundays are jam-packed with hoops action as well.

The key is making as many of those games as "must-see" as possible, and that would require saving as many of the nation's best rivalries as possible. For example, West Virginia has to play Pitt at least once a season, if not twice. If the Mountaineers headed to the SEC, there's no guarantee that the Backyard Brawl would continue. Georgetown-Syracuse and Kansas-Missouri should be played twice every season. Kentucky-Louisville should always be a primetime game moved out of bowl season.

Eventually, the hoops conferences should be able to work themselves out. Put Gonzaga and St. Mary's in amongst the Big Boys out west. Allow Butler to share a conference affiliation with fellow Hoosier State programs Purdue and Indiana. Get Marquette in the same league as Wisconsin, and put all of the Appalachia-state schools -- Tennessee, Memphis, Kentucky, Louisville, West Virginia, etc. -- together.

This kind of setup is not without precedence. In college hockey, Minnesota and Wisconsin are in the WCHA while Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State are all members of the CCHA.

College basketball doesn't have to be decimated by the greed of the football programs, and it can also remain a profitable venture for the schools.

Let's hope someone in charge can figure that out.