If West Virginia to the Big 12 is fact, and pretty much everything Brett McMurphy from CBSSports.com says is, then this a big get for the conference. Rarely will a conference gain a school who excels at both football and basketball, so the Big 12 lucked out here. Essentially, West Virginia and Missouri are at the same competitive level in the two sports, so the conference won't have any dropoff with the Tigers departing.
On the other hand, it is difficult to see another original Big 8 school leave for greener pastures. If Mizzou is SEC East-bound, the basketball team will have to deal with Kentucky and Florida at the top with pesky Vanderbilt not far behind. What could be a plus is coach Frank Haith getting a chance to recruit the state of Florida again and delve into Kentucky's favorite spots as well. Just like any other school jumping into a new conference, it'll take some getting used to.
For the Mountaineers, they won't take a step down in terms of competition. It's a chance for Kansas State and West Virginia fans to see two of the loudest coaches in Frank Martin and former K-State coach Bob Huggins yell it out in conference play. Another bonus is that the addition of WVU opens up the ever-fertile recruiting grounds of New York and New Jersey to Big 12 coaches, since guys like Da'Sean Butler, Devin Ebanks, Darryl Bryant and Kevin Jones hailed from the areas. While I say that, travel will be a mess for every school now, but eh, what are you gonna do?
The only thing that sucks is the BIg East won't let anyone out of their conference for another 27 months. That's until 2014 at the latest and we know Huggy Bear ain't getting any younger. The winner today: the Big 12. They did lose a great athletics program, but they may have gotten better with the addition of WVU. How many times could you have said that about a conference during realignment?
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