Nebraska to leave Big 12? No big deal

The Dallas Morning News is quoting Orangeblood.com as saying Nebraska definitely will leave the Big 12 to join the Big Mediocre 10, 11, 12. If Nebraska is the only team to depart, I say "Goodbye, farewell and good riddance and the Big 12 will find someone to replace you and remain in operation."

That's right. If it's only Nebraska making a move, I don't foresee a major Pac 10 defection or anything else that would spell the end of the Big 12. I think the conference would just add another team and Colorado State would be the perfect choice. It would replace Nebraska in the North Division of the Conference and it would provide an immediate in-conference rival to Colorado.

One other thing that's been on my mind with all this conference-shifting talk is that Kansas seems to be the real orphan of this entire discussion. I know that no one's been talking about either the future of Big 12 members Kansas State and Iowa State either, but Kansas has that storied basketball tradition -- arguably the finest basketball tradition of any school in the Big 12 -- and it would be a tragedy to leave that tradition without a decent conference to call home.