Well it was one hell of an interesting week.

There have been all sorts of rumors and angles, but in the end it wasn't really that close, OU over played their hand and UT wasn't going to budge and they couldn't care less.

I said numerous times that I was ambivalent.

If Scott could pull it off then great! If not We still moved the needle with the TV deal he pulled together. That TV deal won't stay number one forever but it certainly set the bar high.

So lets look at it briefly and then move on.

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Well, a lot happened after I feel asleep last night...

After all the posturing, all the back room negotiations and all the public speculation Larry Scott and his his CEO's decided to pass.

The league, with a short news release Tuesday night, put to rest swirling speculation it would soon become a 16-team super conference.

"After careful review we have determined that it is in the best interests of our member institutions, student-athletes and fans to remain a 12-team conference," Commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement.

The Pac-12 made the announcement shortly after Scott convened with school presidents and chancellors. Scott did not have any further comment.

So much for a vote coming later this week.

I will admit, I thought this was going to happen. Larry Scott is being very progressive in identifying the landscape. He is pretty visionary.

This development falls right into line with what Jon Wilner said in his piece yesterday, that Scott wouldn't bring the proposal to a vote if he didn't have Texas FULLY on board. Of course, the speculation is that UT wouldn't play ball with regards to the Longhorn Network but I wonder if there is something more?

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There are a number of interesting stories out today about where things stand with realignment.

While many of us wonder who will arrive in the Pac-12 the bigger question should be is expansion even wanted?

Wilner offer's up an interesting perspective...

On the topic of voting (nine CEOs must sign off on new members), it’s important to consider Scott’s management style.

Before coming to the Pac-12, which was then the Pac-10, he ran the Women’s Tennis Association — an international organization of independent contractors with their own agendas.

Yes, he is bold and creative. But he’s also a pragmatist and a consensus builder.

He’s in regular communication with his CEOs, including ASU’s Michael Crow, chairman of the league’s executive group, and knows exactly what the presidents and chancellors want.

He’s not going to call for a vote on new members unless those new members agree in advance to work within the Pac-12′s framework.

For example: If Texas doesn’t agree to participate fully in the league’s revenue-sharing plan … if Texas doesn’t agree to fold the Longhorn Network into the Pac-12 regional network structure … if everyone isn’t on board with a 16-team division alignment … then Scott isn’t going to bother asking for a vote on the Longhorns.

Makes pretty good sense.

Wilner has it pretty solid. Scott won't embarrass himself with either party. He won't bring expansion to a vote if Texas doesn't give up some concessions,on the flip side he won't ask for a vote if he has division amongst his conference CEO's...at least not until he has the votes in his pocket.

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Mark Emmert thinks that things are moving too fast when it comes to conference realignment.

Emmert is urging caution in these moves, noting that real institutions, students, coaches, etc are affected by these moves and should not be taken lightly.

He is kidding right?

Once again, though, Emmert's vision is short sighted.

"This is not about playing Monopoly and moving pieces around on the board," the NCAA president said of the latest round of conference-hopping. "These are real institutions with real students and real coaches and real programs, and it's much, much more complex than playing a simple game.

"There's a chance to do some things that would be helpful, and there's a chance to some things that would be very wrong."

I can see where he is going here, logistics could and probably will be a real nightmare with some of these programs.

But it is too little too late.

For all of Emmert's posturing about change, nothing really has. The wheels of change at the NCAA move at a very slow pace.

Instead of making sweeping changes as soon as he came in, Emmert instead simply continued the charade by propping up a corrupt organization and making stupid comments.

Because the NCAA is arbitrary in its rulings, corrupt in its enforcement processes and pretty much disingenuous when it comes to looking out for the "student-athlete" they are becoming irrelevant. Again, I have no doubt that real people will be affected by these moves, but real people are also affected by the NCAA's corrupt processes.

Punishing kids who have nothing to do with previous infractions cases affects real students too.

Emmert sees the writing on the wall, the NCAA is becoming more and more irrelevant with each passing day.

College sports is big business, the NCAA knows that but they are getting shut out with these new alignments and it wouldn't surprise me if they get shut out when it comes time to renegotiate the NCAA hoops tournament when that comes up in 6 or 7 years.

Emmert is not a visionary, Larry Scott is a visionary, Jim Delaney is a visionary.

Mark Emmert is simply a administrator who lacks the fortitude to exact change quickly.

Things are heating up.

I am not surprised by this. Scott wasn't in L.A. for the Texas vs. UCLA game just for kicks...

As soon a more complete story comes out I will link to it.

Getting interesting...

Updates after the jump.

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<Rant>

Pete Thamel has a great piece in today's NYT with some interesting observations.

The congress angle is close to being in play, if isn't already..

"Congress has the nexus to engage," he said. "These are tax exempt organizations now making billions of s off of unpaid athletes. When it’s a regional league it seems to make sense. When you’re taking schools practically from coast to coast and putting them in big profit revenue leagues, we may be at a point where the N.C.A.A. has lost its ability to create a fair system for all u to play in."

A lawyer who has higher education clients and has been involved in discussions with Congress about the legal ramifications of conference realignment said the threat of Congressional involvement is real.

"The sudden consolidation of the BCS conferences may raise any number of issues that Congress will want to explore, especially because these conference affiliation decisions have been made quickly and out of view of all concerned constituencies — student athletes, alumni, fans, and the governments who control the public universities that overwhelmingly populate the BCS," said the lawyer, who was not authorized by his clients to speak publically on the subject."

The extent of Congressional interest could come down to how many schools get squeezed monetarily from the shift in landscape.

"If my school is somehow left out, my constituents are going to demand I do everything in my power to stop that," the Congressman said.

Two things come to mind here...

Is the congressman quoted in this piece just as concerned with the NCAA's arbitrary and hypocritical rulings as much as he is about his constituents losing dollars? Those horrible rulings affect other schools bottom lines as well...not just "his" constituents.

Everyone eats at the same trough.

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Not to be out done by the SEC or the Pac-12, the ACC is jumping into the fray...

The person with knowledge of the talks declined to speculate on a timetable or the seriousness of the discussions. But in this delicate time for conferences and their futures, the discussions between the 12-team A.C.C. and two Big East members are significant.

The discussions show how the trend toward 16-team super conferences that has concerned many college athletics officials appears to be inching closer to reality. If Syracuse and Pittsburgh switch, the move would be difficult for the Big East to overcome. They are two of the conference’s most important programs. Syracuse is a founding member, and Pittsburgh joined the league in 1982, three years after it formed.

The Pittsburgh chancellor, Mark Nordenberg, who is widely credited with saving the Big East after Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech moved to the A.C.C. in the early 2000s, twice declined comment when reached at his home.

With Texas looking east and not west the ACC is poised to be the first super conference with 16 teams, Texas Tech will go where Texas goes.

It doesn't matter to me where everyone ends up...as long as the NCAA is crippled when it is all over then I am fine with it.

It is getting really interesting now...

While everything seems to be in hold mode for the time being, Kirk Bohls penned this great piece about UT and the option of going independent.

It's true they don't want to be an independent, even if every action they take seems as if they do. Certainly Texas acts like an independent. If it smells like an independent, talks like an independent, acts like an independent, I'm guessing deep down it's an independent.

I'm hoping I'm wrong on this, because I think going independent would be a colossal mistake as we rocket toward super conferences. Texas, though, may be painting itself into that corner without any other option, because the Big 12 appears too fractured to survive.

If so, the Pac-12 would be the Longhorns' best bet.

At this point, independence is looking like the end result. Why?

Ego and power.

Texas over played their hand but they still very valuable. Where ever they end up their parners will enjoy the statyre that is UT. But the indy route is not as easy as it sounds. USC had they fought tooth and nail during the negotiations of the Pac-10/12 media deals they would have been in the same boat as UT.

UT has some fence mending to do...the question is how humble are they willing to be? Texas A&M is gone no matter what, there isn't anything UT could do at this point could fix that. So, what can UT do to make things right with the rest of the Big 12?

I have no problem if with how the University of Texas runs their program. They should be able to call the shots because they are the big dog on the block just like USC is in the Pac-12.

So, if UT does all they can to keep the Big 12 together then that is great. If they go Indy that's fine too, regardless of the issues associated with independence...but no matter what, it is their call.

I am pretty ambivalent on expansion. Larry Scott has proven his mettle to cobble together deals so if we expand he can make it work, if not then I am pretty sure no one will complain.

At this point it is becoming anti-climatic...