The Big 12 has narrowed the field of candidates for possible expansion to 11 schools, with Memphis and Temple among the latest to be cut from consideration, a person with direct knowledge of the situation tells The Associated Press.
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Representatives from each school will make a presentation to Big 12 officials in Dallas sometime next week.
From here, the universities moving into Round Two of the expansion process will be invited to off-site meetings with Big 12 conference officials and representatives of member institutions.
Throughout the summer, there has been much speculation on exactly what schools were on the Big 12’s expansion list.
East Carolina, which was one of the schools hoping for a Big 12 invitation, was the first school to publicly acknowledge it had been eliminated. With the list reportedly being trimmed to just under 10 schools recently, it would be surprising to see that list cut again to two or four over the next 48 hours.
Boise State, New Mexico, UNLV and San Diego State are some of the universities that will not be considered moving forward.
The Tigers, along with Houston, Cincinnati, BYU and other American Athletic Conference teams are on the Big 12’s “preferred list” of candidates if and when the conference decides to expand.
While the teams joining the Big 12 remain a mystery, we do know the Big 12 Championship Game will return.
Bowlsby has put no timetable on the Big 12’s decision. In 2012 when Missouri and Texas A&M left for the SEC, the conference responded by adding TCU and West Virginia.
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In this week’s #DearAndy, Andy Staples takes a look at expansion and if the Big Twelve could potentially add another member in the near future. Brigham Young is the other contender, the story said.
