Chas, not to worry. What you post are usually pertinent articles and information … and any speculation you provide is pretty much based on facts and sources that you provide … as evidenced by how you are approaching this B10 expansion situation. You brought it to our attention but also noted that, at this point, it is to be taken with a grain of salt … responsible journalism.

FYI .. Chris Peak, Pantherlair, will be on Stan and Guy this morning (1250ESPN) to address these rumors.

BTW FWIW, EJ did not specificly address the B10 expansion. However, I still will not buy into it at this time.

Hmmm….I was in a training class a few years back that had a statistic that stuck with me: 80% of rumors turn out be true or at least partially true. On the flipside, I just can’t see the administration gathering all of the players from the various sports, dropping this bombshell on them, and then say “but don’t tell anyone”. That just does not ring true. Obviously, there are talks going on between the Big 10 and possible expansion schools. Some of those schools must be in the Big East because the BE as a conference, and it’s football playing members, have largely been silent on the issue. They could have easily killed the story by putting out a statement that no BE school would leave for the Big 10….Of course, that would have been worth the same thing as any number of coaches statements that they were not going anywhere….

Not going to happen, SU or Butgers will go!!

link to zagsblog.com

who were the people who wrote it on there twitter accounts?
im not sure if id be happy or not, if cuse or rutgers would go, then id rather see pitt leave, but if they were take mizz, id like to see pitt stay in the BE..

Interesting factoid. Average travel distance to BIG 10 schools from Pittsburgh is 398 miles. Average travel distance to proposed Big 10 East division (PSU, OSU, Il,Pur,Ind) is 295 miles. Current average travel distance to BE FB schools is 353 miles and to all BE schools, including BB only, is 388 miles. Travel to MSQ is 316 mi. To Indianapolis is 360 miles.
I can’t imaging having to go to Indianapolis instead of NYC for the BB conference tournament.

If the Zagsblog is correct why doesn’t the PPG have a comment form the same Pitt AD source about this?? I don’t believe the rumors, but I don’t understand why Pitt hasn’t officially ended the rumor.

and then there’s also this…lots of conflicting reports, its interesting following on twitter and the radio, seeing these rumors pick up steam..
link to pennstateclips.com

The article on newstalk 620 is gone.

I talked with one of my good friends today, a pitt athlete, and apparently that meeting was “a waste of everyones time”. While she didnt tell me the details of the meeting, she assured me there was no announcement of expansion and going to the big 10, and if any news leaks through she would let me know

FWIW, Chris Peak, Pantherlair, discounted them as not having any substance. He said the meetings with the athletes are annual meetings that Pederson has just to remind them of their priorities (studying, working out, representitng the Univ, etc) and that the feedback he is getting from the school is exactly what EJ has twittered.

Perhaps Pitt hasn’t beaten this back by putting out a statement because it likes having the rumor speculation out there as a way of judging reaction should an actual offer come its way.

While it would not surprise me if sometime in the future, possibly the near future, Pitt would join the Big N, I think this stuff is so far just rumors. The logistics are off at this point.

Where I would disagree with “Zeise The Great” is that these backroom discussions do happen all the time. In my experience, all the i’s are crossed and t’s dotted before an announcement is actually made, to avoid embarrassment to the conference or the school. And usually information on this stuff is hard to come by, even after the fact.

Witness Pitt’s original invitation to join the Big East. Witness the refusal of State Penn’s application to join the BE for basketball. Witness Notre Dame’s decision not to join the Big N a few years ago. Big N officials couldn’t get to the mic fast enough to say that “no offer was made, and no offer was accepted. Really. No,really.”