It’s been a wild 24 hours.

The Southeastern Conference announced Missouri as its newest member late Thursday night — and then it retracted that press release from its website ten minutes later. The Big 12 then officially invited West Virginia on Friday, and a news release from the conference did not mention Missouri as a member for the 2012-13 athletic season. So, what’s the deal? The Big 12 won’t claim Missouri, nor will the SEC. Looks like the Tigers are in limbo for now. Of course, don’t expect that to last long. Soon, we’ll surely hear the announcement that the SEC has added the Tigers as its 14th program. Right?

In this crazy world of realignment apocalypse, though, everything is an unknown. For now, at least, we know that WVU is a member of the Big 12 Conference starting next summer. And that means Louisville (for now) has been shut out of the league after a dispute that pitted it against the Mountaineers — a fracas that involved Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a UL alum — who tried to block WVU from joining the league.

Bob Huggins Shouldn't Be Sad Anymore After the Big 12 Announcement

Sen. McConnell’s efforts apparently did not work as the Mountaineers have won the Big 12 sweepstakes. WVU’s president said the league is a “perfect fit” for his school, and it’s certainly a move that will help Big 12 hoops. With Missouri’s likely departure, as well as the addition of the lowly TCU program, the conference needed a team with the history and recent success to bolster its basketball profile.  WVU will make an immediate impact in this league thanks to passionate fan base and an established head coach in Bob Huggins. The transition from the Big East to the Big 12 won’t be difficult, although all the chartered flights from Morgantown several hours west may be.

The Big 12 offered the last rose to West Virginia. Sad tears are shed in Louisville’s limo while happy tears and embraces punctuate the official Big 12 press release.

Another feline in the SEC family! (Image via http://hewhowalkswithtigers.deviantart.com/)

Wait… In that press release, where’s Missouri in the list of ten Big 12 schools that’ll comprise the conference in 2012-13? Nothing official has been announced — well, nothing that wasn’t an error by a web vendor — but it appears that Mizzou has finalized its move to the Southeastern Conference. With Big 12 ex-pats Texas A&M also joining in the 2012-13 season, the pesky scheduling problem that comes with having thirteen basketball teams might have gotten easier.

We’ll update this post with any official news about Missouri to the SEC if it breaks later today. Otherwise, time for some Tiger hugs!

1. In news so shocking it’s hard to even comprehend, Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy announced Thursday night that he has Parkinson’s disease. He had taken a leave of absence earlier this month to deal with medical problems, and now we know why. Things are looking up for Kennedy and his family, though. He said he’s already started treatment and expects to continue coaching. In the meantime, associate coach Glynn Cyprien will continue to run the team. It’s impossible to know when Kennedy will come back, but that’s irrelevant at this point. Here’s to successful management and eventual recovery from the disease.
2. Somebody stop the madness: is Missouri joining the SEC or not? Not even the freakin’ league knows, for goodness sake. Last night, the SEC’s website posted a press release welcoming the Tigers — for about ten minutes. It may have been a hoax. Or, perhaps somebody accidentally clicked the wrong button. Either way, it’s a real fiasco for the SEC, and it’s not exactly the best way to interact with the public in this age of mass media.
3. Finally, some basketball news now… although it’s not good news. Kansas forward Thomas Robinson has hyperextended his knee,  which may sideline him temporarily. Coach Bill Self doesn’t sound too worried about the situation, but he can’t afford to lose Robinson for any period of time. He and Tyshawn Taylor are the two known commodities on this team for the most part. It also may be an issue if the injury nags at Robinson during the season. Again, though, this doesn’t sound like too serious of an injury, so that may not be the case at all.
4. We brought you this story yesterday, but it’s important enough to worth mentioning again: A lawsuit by Michael Beasley may implicate Kansas State in recruiting violations. All of this is speculation at this point, but the suit claims Beasley’s mother received improper benefits while in Manhattan. The case is enormous and reaches all sorts of areas besides just Kansas State basketball, but there could still be trouble for the Wildcats. Coach Frank Martin and former assistant Dalonte Hill said they know nothing about the allegations. This story may drag out for awhile, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
5. Fran Fraschilla‘s got an idea: put Bill Self in the Hall of Fame. Fraschilla said this week that Self, Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino should gain entry to the Hall as active members. He has a point. Self’s resume already stacks up with several of the all-time greats. He has close to 450 wins, he’s got his National Championship and he has countless conference championships to his name. Even if we don’t throw him in the Hall just yet, he’ll get there eventually.

Last week we examined the sixty or so major programs that Vegas feels is worth offering as action to win the 2011-12 national championship. Unsurprisingly, the top several teams in the preseason Coaches Poll — North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio State, Duke, Syracuse — generally mimic the top several teams in terms of the odds Vegas is offering. The one stunning exception to that trend is Connecticut, whom the pollsters have listed among the few teams most likely to cut the nets down in New Orleans next April, but from whom the oddsmakers still aren’t seeing much value (+2000, or a 4.8% chance, as of now).

This week we’ll take a step further into the odds and consider the probabilities that Vegas has assigned to each power conference team to win its regular season championship. These odds are by no means foolproof. In reviewing last year’s preseason tables of the same six leagues, only Pittsburgh in the Big East and Arizona in the Pac-10 were favorites that came into the money by March. The other four league favorites this time last year? Try Duke in the ACC (UNC), Baylor/Kansas State in the Big 12 (Kansas), Michigan State in the Big Ten (Ohio State), and Kentucky in the SEC (Florida). So while all of these favorites looked reasonable one year ago today, keep in mind that college basketball seasons have a tendency to work themselves out differently despite what the oddsmakers and pundits think.

Ed. note: These odds are published on The Greek as of October 27, 2011. If you’re unfamiliar with how futures odds work, +150 represents the amount of money a potential gambler would receive back if he placed a $100 wager on that team and it won.  He would, in other words, win back 1.5 times his original wager.  Those few teams sporting a negative odds notation (e.g., -175) represents a situation where someone would have to wager $175 to win back $100. Since the aggregate of futures odds are designed to add up to a figure much larger than 100% (removing the incentive to wager on every team), we’ve added a far right column normalizing the odds to a true 100% value for each conference.    

ACC

Quick Thoughts on the ACC:

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1. Still nothing official on the realignment front… but the rumors are heating up with respect to West Virginia. The New York Times reported Tuesday that a WVU official said the school has gained acceptance to the Big 12. The Mountaineers, of course, would replace Missouri, who according to numerous sources were expected to withdraw from the league earlier this week. That never happened — not officially, at least — but the next few weeks could be a real firestorm. In fact, it’s arguable that these are some of the most important times in college sports history, as the entire landscape could change by Thanksgiving. That’s why we’ll make sure to bring you the latest analysis when this information moves from secret sources and rumors to official statements and press releases.
2. Sticking with realignment, we’ve already told you of Notre Dame’s interest in the Big 12. It hasn’t exactly been a secret — a document mentioned ND as a candidate last month. But the talk of the Irish is getting louder and louder, and it’s worth mentioning that Orangebloods.com has reported that the two sides are “actively” discussing an inclusion of Notre Dame’s non-revenue sports in the conference. According to the site, the school won’t make a final decision until after football season ends.
3. One interesting aspect of a possible Missouri departure is what to do with the Big 12 Tournament. It’s slated for Kansas City through 2014, but can you really hold a basketball tournament in a state where no school participates? According to the Kansas City Star, the answer may be “yes” to that question. A Sprint Center official said there is no reason to believe the league would pull the tournament from KC if the Tiger program were to leave for the SEC. With Kansas State and Kansas so close to Kansas City, it would still be a prime target as a central Big 12 location. Still, it might be a bit odd for the city to host a major tournament without a single conference member located in that state.
4. Also, if West Virginia were to join the Big 12, it would obviously play Kansas State each year. And that means a regular trip back to Manhattan for WVU coach Bob Huggins, who you’ll recall left KSU after just one season as head coach there. In the end, everything worked out for KSU: Michael Beasley and Bill Walker stayed despite Huggins’ departure, Martin continued the school’s success after they bolted for the NBA, and the program appears to be in fine shape right now. Still, it seemed like the end of the world at the time, and needless to say, Wildcat fans were devastated by his departure. Looks like they may get a chance to air their grievances soon, though.
5. Although we missed this piece of info on Monday, it’s still worth reporting: Braeden Anderson will now attend Fresno State after failing to qualify at Kansas. The 6’9″ forward who was rated as a top-50 recruit could have gone to junior college and joined the Jayhawks as a junior. Anderson told ESPN.com, though, that he did not want to take that route. That means Bill Self will need to find another power forward on the recruiting trail, and with his track record finding talented big men, that probably won’t be much of an issue.

1. Here’s a story we’ll be sure to update throughout the day: sources have told the Rivals.com site for Missouri that the school will withdraw from the Big 12 sometime today. Wait, what? Unless these sources have bad information, it looks like MU will become the 14th member of the SEC. It’d be unfair to state the impact of that move in only a few sentences, so for now, we’ll leave you to deal with this shocking and breaking news. The second this information becomes official, you can bet we’ll have full coverage of everything.
2. At Big 12 media day last week, the league’s basketball coaches got a chance to answer these realignment questions. Texas coach Rick Barnes said he doesn’t “care in terms if [the Tigers] stay or go… If they think they can go elsewhere because it’s better for them, let them go, and we’re going to be fine because there are people out there that want to be here.” That quote from Barnes seems a bit intense, but other league coaches didn’t seem too worried. Scott Drew and Frank Martin both had nothing but terrific words for the state of the Big 12, and it appears neither cares too much about the impact of a possible Missouri departure.
3. Barnes also made a few interesting comments at media day regarding J’Covan Brown, saying he’s “emerged as the leader of this team.” It’s sometimes easy to forget that Brown did not even start for Texas last season, but that hardly matters. He’s a pre-season All-Big 12 player for a reason, and it’s his job to lead the young Longhorns to the promised land. With six freshmen to mold into men, his job isn’t easy, but Brown is more than capable. Although we often mention Thomas Robinson from Kansas as the obvious breakout candidate this year, Brown’s totals from 2010-11 off the bench were nearly as impressive.
4. One of the toughest teams in the league to peg is Kansas State. Without Jacob Pullen, what do we make of this team? The Kansas City Star has the answer. Coach Frank Martin and his players admit the dynamics of the team will be radically different without Pullen taking the majority of the shots. Perhaps that will even benefit Martin, who has proven in his time at Manhattan that he can mesh a collection of individual talent into a successful basketball team. Even without his star, pick against KSU at your own risk.
5. ESPN is in the midst of its league previews, and it just published a series of Big 12 articles with thoughtful analysis and breakdowns of each team. Most of the storylines have been covered extensively already, but it’s nice to read about every aspect of the league all in one place. The preview touches on every topic, from Billy Gillispie to Iowa State’s transfers to Kansas‘s chances of earning an eighth-straight Big 12 title.

1. Looks like Missouri‘s “inevitable” move to the SEC may not materialize after all. Just two days after an MU official told the New York Times the school would certainly apply for membership, chancellor Brady Deaton denied the report, saying the topic might not even be on the table during this week’s Board of Curators meetings in Kansas City. If there’s one thing we can take away from this, it’s that our brain hurts. One day, an official says MU’s gone; the next day, the top dog in charge says they’re not making a decision anytime soon. Within 48 hours, the tone has entirely changed, which begs the question: who is this anonymous official that spoke to the Times?
2. Realignment will probably be the heavy topic at Big 12 Media Days, which begins today and runs through Thursday. It’ll be interesting to hear how the coaches and players respond to all the talk, and perhaps we’ll even hear a few passionate sound bites about just how sick everybody is of the discussion. As far as basketball goes, though, expect a lot of questions fired at Kansas coach Bill Self about how to defend his Big 12 title after losing the bulk of his team. Scott Drew of Baylor could also hear the tough questions about how to avoid a collapse like last season. With four new coaches in the league, that angle should also get hit hard by the writers over the next few days.
3. A little news from a former Big 12 guy: shockingly, Bob Knight appears to have committed a recruiting violation by making illegal calls on behalf of his son Pat Knight at Lamar. This is independent of the Big 12 conference right now, of course, but the Knight family never had one ounce of accusations against them during their era at Texas Tech. Apparently, non-university officials cannot make contacts with recruits unless they’re listed as a special exemption, but Knight spoke to a few players “illegally.” If the Knight name weren’t attached to this story, it would have never hit print. But Pat and Bob Knight have star power, so they’ll have to deal with the minor but embarrassing consequences of this violation.
4. Oklahoma better have gotten its money’s worth. The Associated Press reported that an internal investigation cost $50,000, which marked the second investigation at the school during the last five years. The school was looking into the allegations about illegal payments surrounding former coach Jeff Capel‘s program, and the situation is murky because Kelvin Sampson had already put the school on probation. This investigation isn’t as pricey as Ohio State‘s once was — that one cost a bit shy of a million dollars — bit it could result in major NCAA violations. Oklahoma has offered to take away a scholarship, vacate wins and add probation, but that might not be enough for the NCAA. After all, it wants to vacate a 13-win season in 2009-10. The humanity!
5. Let’s give some well wishes to Oklahoma State freshman Cezar Guerrero. He suffered an injury in practice Monday, which landed him in the hospital. He’s out though, now, having been released Tuesday after a spinal cord scare. The Oklahoman says team officials would not disclose the injury at first, but it now looks like Guerrero suffered a pretty serious-looking injury. A helicopter was needed to transport him to the hospital, which is always a scary sign. The team expects him to make a full recovery, although nobody’s got any idea when he’ll see the basketball court again.

Brian Joyce is an SEC microsite writer and a regular contributor.  He can be reached @bjoyce_hoops on Twitter.

Question: Will Renardo Sidney Get In Shape and Behave This Year?

Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury is cautiously optimistic that troubled big man, Renardo Sidney, is on the road to redemption. Sidney has had numerous difficulties ranging from weight and conditioning issues, well documented fights with teammates, and even questions over his amateur status due to receiving improper benefits before stepping foot on the Starkville campus. Mo’ money has meant a lot mo’ problems for Renardo Sidney.

Renardo Sidney Behaving Himself

ISSUE 1: CONDITIONING – Now there is reason for Bulldog fans to be hopeful. Sidney lost 23 pounds over the summer while working out with former NBA star John Lucas. The weight loss has helped the 6’10” power forward improve his conditioning so far this year. He is actually finishing conditioning drills, according to Stansbury. “That doesn’t mean he was winning every race,” his coach says, “but he made it through it. For him, that’s a step in the right direction. We’ve just got to keep stepping the right way and not step back.”

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After two weeks of rolling out our first two microsites for the ACC and the Big 12, we’re back today to proudly announce our third in the series, the SEC.  Even though most fans of the Southeastern Conference are focused exclusively on the initial BCS rankings that were released Sunday, they play a little roundball in this league too, as having three schools ranked in many preseason Top 10s will attest.

As we stated when we launched the ACC and Big 12 microsites, the premise behind these things is rather simple. By focusing separately but comprehensively on these six individual conferences, we hope to provide a more targeted user experience without marginalizing the quality of commentary and analysis that our readers have come to expect from the national site. As always, we expect that you’ll tell us if we’re not realizing that goal.

How to find it? Just like the others, you can locate the SEC microsite by simply adding sec to the end of rushthecourt.net/. Or you can click on the SEC microsite button above at the top right (in the bottom right corner). Our two SEC staffers, Gerald Smith and Brian Joyce, are chomping at the bit and ready to go. If you’d like to reach them with questions and ideas of your own, their contact information is available over there.

As mentioned last week, we’ll be rolling out all six of these gradually, but we’re still taking applications for writers for both the Big East and Big Ten conferences, so please contact us at rushthecourt@yahoo.com with a writing sample if you’re interested in either one.