independent. Then maybe all the "crawl back to the MWC" crowd would shut their pie-holes.

Frankly, I'm having a hard time understanding why the most valuable properties don't embrace that route and control their own destinies. They'll have no problem scheduling all the normal rivalry games they want to keep, say 3-4 of them, then just fill in around that. The only things I can think of is the leadership just doesn't have the infrastructure in place (ath dept, broadcasting, etc) nor the guts to do it. Maybe a little afraid of the fallout and criticism. Plus the finances too, just in terms of getting their house in order first before changing everything. Lots of programs running barely above water. I suspect they'd have to do some deep analysis to make sure they can commit to not having the conference safety net, just relying on themselves, and looking critically at their highly wasteful practices. It's daunting.