It amazes me how we all put on our rose goggles and see the same picture so abjectly differently. In U land, they feel they have a decent shot with the B1G. I can't see it, given they would certainly fall behind Oregon, Wash, Stanford, and Cal... yes, Cal. Add to this the schools that will become available at some point from the ACC and they fall further.

Also, they have this truly puzzling belief about their "brand". They are a respected program for the most part, but c'mon, do they think anybody outside of the PAC gives them a second thought? Maybe the Big12 presidents would take Utah if available, but that is far from a forgone conclusion. They do provide Western inventory but they have no basketball to offer, which is clearly very important at the moment. They won't be additive from a revenue perspective. I think SDSU is a far more compelling addition on many levels. They better prepare for an option 5.

Here is the post....

AAU membership doesn’t matter in the Big 12. They’re not exactly a “research” oriented confederation of institutions.

What does matter to the Big 12 however, is our brand, numerous national rankings, and — despite cougar claims to the contrary — the SLC/Utah market.

Utah’s best case scenarios are — in order…

1. Join the BigTen

2. Remain in a Pac-12 conference that includes all remaining members. I couldn’t care less if we do-or-do-not add SDSU and SMU, just so long as all remaining 10 schools remain.

3. If the BigTen and/or SEC manage to break up the existing ACC GoR, align with the leftover ACC programs. Not in an “alliance” fashion, but rather in a “merger” of our two conferences, establishing an “East” and “West” division, and a CCG in the Home arena of the higher seeded team (Las Vegas for the West, and either Charlotte or Atlanta for the East).

4. Bite the bullet and join the Big 12.

There’s no need for a 5th option as our options won’t fall past #4.