Even with BYU football holding its annual media day Wednesday, the most interesting quote of the day, at least for Cougar fans, may have come from Oklahoma.
University of Oklahoma President David Boren said he felt the Big 12 should expand to once again be a 12-member league.
“How many years can this go on?” Boren said. “It just gets to be really debilitating. I worry about that. That’s something I just worry about long term about the conference, not short term.
“I’m an advocate of a 12-member Big 12. I’m an advocate of us living up to our name. That doesn’t mean go out and find anybody. You’ve got to be very careful about it. … I think we should scientifically — not emotionally, but scientifically look at that.”
ESPN’s Jake Trotter tried to do just that, and he determined the most likely path to Big 12 expansion would be for the conference to just settle on the best available teams, and in his mind, one of those is BYU.
“Financially, BYU makes the most sense,” he wrote. “The Cougars have the biggest TV allure and fan base of any non-Power 5 conference school out there.
“Proximity, however, would be a major problem. The distance from Morgantown, West Virginia, to Provo, Utah, is almost 2,000 miles. Scheduling in nonrevenue sports between the two sides would also be an issue, as BYU does not compete on Sundays.
“Still, the addition of BYU from a football standpoint makes the most sense.”
Sports Illustrated also came to the conclusion that “of all the remaining expansion candidates, the Cougars probably are the most viable from a brand-name standpoint.”
But before BYU fans go out and grab some Big 12 bumper stickers, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby did say that Boren's opinion on expansion was in the minority.
“I have not got the indication that the majority of our presidents feel that way," Bowlsby told The Dallas Morning News in response to Boren’s comments. "I get the feeling that nothing has changed since we last discussed it. ... At some point, the majority may represent the position that we should get bigger. I have not heard at this point that they feel that way.”
ESPN: Jazz looking to trade; going after Millsap?
NBA draft day has arrived and to start the day off right, ESPN’s Chad Ford dropped a mock draft that includes some new intel.
Ford has Utah taking Kentucky forward Trey Lyles at No. 12 pick, but that wasn’t the most interesting thing he said about the Jazz.
“The Jazz are eyeing a return of Paul Millsap in free agency and may want to go a different direction. Myles Turner has much more upside,” Ford wrote. “The Jazz are speaking with several teams in the mid-first round about trading down and picking up another asset. Down a little further in the draft they may still be able to land a guy like Lyles, Bobby Portis or another player they like: R.J. Hunter.”
While many fans pour over mock drafts in the days and hours leading up to the draft, NBA.com’s David Aldridge opted to point out how ridiculous they are — even when releasing his own.
“There are a dozen reasons not to do one of these lame mock drafts, the biggest of which is: you're never — ever — right," Aldridge wrote. "Or, at least not near right enough. Last year, for example, someone writing in my name went 0-for-30. That's zero correct selections in 30 tries. You could throw darts at a board with a blindfold on and get at least one pick right. Or ask Miss Cleo. Or have a dozen monkeys sit in a room and try to type ... you get the idea. This is pointless.”
This was Aldridge’s lede to his mock draft, that for what it’s worth (and apparently that’s not a lot) has the Jazz taking Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein.
“I really wanted to give them point guard Delon Wright, the local from the University of Utah, who is a solid prospect,” Aldridge wrote. “But Dante Exum is still a teenager with his best basketball in front of him. And Trey Burke is still in the fold. With no obvious hole and no obvious player to fill it, we'll go best player available with Cauley-Stein, a defensive dynamo (first in Defensive Win Shares nationally last season, second in defensive rating) who'll fit right in with coach Quin Snyder's shutdown philosophy. If Utah went this route, there would be nights when the Jazz would be ridiculously long up front.”
Other links:
— Sources: Kings talking to Lakers about DeMarcus Cousins trade, fielding offers from other teams (Yahoo! Sports)
— Sources: LaMarcus Aldridge expected to leave Blazers in free agency (ESPN)