Big Ten Expansion Reaction: Natives Edition

SBN's Iowa coalition at Black Heart Gold Pants lists likely and unlikely comers to the Big Ten expansion bargaining table, and along the way ends up confirming what we already knew; namely, that Notre Dame is that girl who will never, ever leave her hand in the popcorn bucket for any longer than is necessary, and Texas is lovely this time of year:

Frankly, we'd like to have Notre Dame higher, but Jack Swarbrick's comments seem to indicate, at best, a reactive stance for that athletic department. If Notre Dame's ever going to join a conference, it's dependent on the Big Ten making that first move. That pretty much excludes them from this discussion unless the conference involves them closely in expansion proceedings.
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As for Texas and Texas A&M, they are absolute no-brainers, financially. Further, they're both already decent schools, though A&M isn't in the AAU (yet). As for Nebraska and Kansas, the deal is simple. KU is one of the five most popular programs in college basketball. Nebraska is (still) similarly elite in terms of prominence and media attention. There is nobody even close to that standing in either sport to the east.

Read the rest at Black Heart Gold Pants.