Mizzou Links, 5-12-10

By Bill Connelly@SBN_BillC May 12, 2010, 5:33am CDT

Might as well start with expansion/realignment again...

ESPN.com: Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney denies latest expansion rumors
The Missourian: READ MORE: Will Missouri join Big Ten?
The Missourian: Move to the Big Ten does not mean step down for Missouri
KC Star: How would the Big 12 Conference play in Kansas City without Mizzou?
KC Star: No panic in KU's Perkins concerning possible shakeup in college sports

Perkins said he has sensed worry within the KU fan base when talking to alumni and donors recently.

"A lot of people are very confused right now," Perkins said. "If I wasn’t in the business myself, I’d be very confused by it. You hear so many different things coming out. There’s a panic mode going on right now. One thing I’ve tried to do as I’m out there talking to people is say ‘Slow down. Don’t panic.’

"Obviously, there’s a lot at stake. But I’m not going to put myself in a position where I’m panicked over it."

Perkins said he and his staff have been communicating with officials from other major conferences but said KU has not been contacted by the Big Ten office. Perkins has a theory on why it’s been all quiet on that front.

"Well, part of it is that we’ve said, I’ve said, we’re happy where we are," Perkins said. "We love the Big 12. This is where we need to be. We are in the right place. With our history, this is our tradition, our mantra. It’s everything."
BCS Evolution: Expansion and the Big East: Inside the BCS Numbers
Washington Post (Tracee Hamilton): Big Ten expansion: Big dollars, little sense
Pitt Blather: Big Ten Raiding Party Roundtable
The Daily Gopher: The Case for Rutgers
College Football Talk: Arkansas AD: 'Overwhelming reasons to remain in the' SEC
The Trib (Steve Walentik): The Big Ten and Basketball

• First, MU Coach Mike Anderson has not made any public comment about a potential move, but I am confident he believes he can find a way to win in any conference in the country. Other people believe it too, or we would not have seen the interest schools such as Georgia and Oregon have shown in him the past two offseasons. He has shown the ability to recruit nationally in his four years in Columbia, bringing in players from Baltimore (Kim English), Memphis (Laurence Bowers), Dallas (Phil Pressey & Tony Mitchell), New York (Zaire Taylor), Atlanta (J.T. Tiller) as well as several players from within Missouri's borders. His strongest ties, obviously, remain in the southeastern part of the country because that's where he's spent the majority of his coaching career. But if those kids were willing to come to Columbia to play their road games in places like Lubbock, Texas, Boulder, Colo., and Manhattan, Kan., I see no reason to believe they'll be turned off by playing in a league with Minnesota, Wisconsin, Purdue, et al. So I don't think a Big Ten move would affect his ability to attract talented players and field a winning team. It might even help him go after some more players from cities such as Chicago, Detroit and Indianapolis, though the recruiting competition in those places is already fierce.

• Actually, the biggest advantage a move to Big Ten would have from an athletic perspective is that it would give the Missouri Athletic Department roughly an extra $9 million annually, and some of that money could be used to pay Anderson the next time another school attempts to lure him away with a more lucrative contract. If he's really on the verge of fielding a Final Four-caliber team -- and by the way, FoxSports.com's Jeff Goodman just picked the Tigers ninth in a way-too-early preseason poll -- then there will be other schools and Mike Alden will surely want to keep him around. Joining the Big Ten would make that financially much more feasible.

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Mizzou Links, 5-12-10

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