Ye olde notebook:
By now it's common knowledge the Big 12 isn't expanding. The barbs over the process have subsided, at least to a large degree.
Which leads us to this question: Now what?
The answer is the result of conference negotiations with television partners ESPN and Fox.
If you were fortunate enough to miss the mind-numbing press conference held by Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby and Oklahoma president Dave Boren, the bottom line is this: ESPN and Fox offered to buy out the pro rata clause in their Big 12 deal if no teams were added and the league took it. The partners were on the hook to pay an additional $25 million annually per new team, according to the contract. Had the Big 12 added four teams, the cost would have been an extra $100 million per year.
Obviously, that had ESPN and Fox ticked.
"We don't think expansion in the Big 12 is a good idea for the conference," Fox Sports president Eric Shanks said at a sports media conference. "We think it will be dilutive to the product in the short term. In the long term, it's probably harmful to the future of the conference."
Read: Good luck finding TV partners after your contract expires in 2025 if you do this. So here we are. No schools were added. TV negotiations are ongoing. And one insider who spoke to Bowlsby on Saturday in Morgantown was told the "negotiations are going well."
So how much more will each of the 10 Big 12 schools make?
One number out there is $12 million. That, however, was disputed on Monday by two sources close to the negotiations that wished to speak on the condition of anonymity.
"Counting the [upcoming conference football] championship," said one, "I'd expect each school to make an additional $3 million to $4 million a year. If you go with $3.5 million you'd be pretty close. Each school will make a couple million for the championship with another $1.5 to $2 million [for the pro rata buyout]."
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Somewhat lost in Morgantown amid all the football excitement have been a couple commitments for Bob Huggins in men's basketball.
One first appeared to be a head-scratcher. Huggins has taken 6-foot-7 swingman D'Angelo Hunter from Navarro College in Texas. Hunter averaged 8 points and 4 rebounds as a freshman at the junior college. Yet if you look at the end of that season you'll see what Huggins apparently liked: scoring games of 17, 19, 17, 11 and 17 points. The Louisville, Kentucky, native can score and is a stretch 4 that can play small forward.
The other recent commitment is from shooting guard Teddy Allen of Boys Town in Nebraska. He reportedly turned down offers from Cincinnati, Iowa State, TCU and Virginia Tech. He's a stretch 3 that can play shooting guard.
Also, WVU has been entertaining Lawson State Community College forward Wesley Harris the last couple of days. Last season at Northeast Mississippi Community College he averaged 18.4 points and 8.2 rebounds before transferring. Those in the know compare him to a left-handed Jon Holton.
Of course, Huggins also has 2017 commitments from four-star power forward Derek Culver of Warren, Ohio, and ex-South Charleston and current Hargrave Academy guard Brandon Knapper. For 2018, he has the word of point guard Jordan McCabe of Kaukana, Wisconsin.
Looks like coach is expanding his recruiting base, eh?
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And finally...
While on the subject of hoops recruiting, former St. Albans standout Adam Williams, who played at Kentucky and Marshall, reached out to me from his new job as head coach at Salem International.
The Tigers are trying to regain their hoops reputation of old and Williams hopes it was kick-started with the signing of Godspower Ogide from Bishop Kearney in Rochester, New York.
A huge signing? Well, Ogide is 6-10 and 265 pounds. He reportedly had offers from schools like Delaware State, Buffalo and Temple, but chose Williams and Salem. Upper-level schools were also checking out Ogide, but the coach said he's scheduled to be a partial qualifier this season.
"We're filing a waiver with the NCAA to hopefully enable him to be eligible immediately," Williams said. "He has the raw tools to be one of the top players in the country."
Intriguing, right?
We'll be watching, Adam.