I prefer to try and weave the various stories I gather into some cohesive post that has some flow. I just don’t think this group is possible. And I think my computer would shut down if I tried to open more tabs and links to put various narratives. So it is time to bounce, mash and blend through the links.

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Before the Pac-10/16 stuff started, there was a theory among many writers and bloggers that Notre Dame was the key to expansion. Now, this has been ebbing and flowing for months. At times there were theories that the Big 11 expansion was as much an elaborate ploy to finally force the Irish into the Big Something.

In recent weeks, the theory went that if the Irish were sufficiently concerned about the changing landscape of college athletics, they would not want to be left behind and thus would join the Big 11/12/14/16. The Big Whatever would stop at 12 without any further expansion.

They would have no need because they got one of the big prizes and no other expansion candidate could deliver the return anywhere close to what ND offered. Then all would be settled down, and most of the conferences would remain unchanged. That theory is still out there. If anything, it seems to be picking up steam once more. Even if nothing is happening.

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Had to be done.

New linebacker commit for Pitt. Ben Kline out of Dallastown, PA. He’s a 3-star, but had a lot of suitors — Michigan, WVU, Rutgers, Maryland, BC and more.

Like Pitt’s other verbal from the weekend, Kline is better right now against the run than the pass (insider subs).

Has the ability to play downhill and stack the inside run; moves through traffic well, taking good angles to the ball. We like this guy’s pursuit habits and motor; can make big plays and create havoc in the backfield. Flashes pass rushing skills off the edge; comes from the flat to contain and pressure the QB off the edge; can apply pressure with a good closing burst. All areas of pass coverage will need refinement and although we like his athleticism he appears to have some lower body stiffness which may affect his coverage ability in man situations.

At 6-3, he has good size. His weight is around 215 at this point, but that obviously will be improved after he gets into a collegiate training program.

There’s lots. I mean lots going on. Not a lot of solid info, but everyone knows that things are in motion. This doesn’t mean, this week or even before July 4. It does, however, mean before the end of summer in my view. For something this chaotic and political this is moving fast. It involves various state politics, conference politics, individual schools and their politics. Then there are donors, boosters and lots of money. The more you try to look at this the bigger and messier this gets

The pace will likely pick-up for Big Something expansion. Especially with Pac-10/16 planning to move with some aggressiveness.

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I guess it should just be expected that I’m not going to do much (if any) posting on the weekends this summer. The weekend days are packed with house or yard projects. It’s all part of the plan for me to do absolutely nothing but drink and watch sports from the end of August to April. So, I have to do all the work now.

Over the weekend, there was a nice commit by Quinton Alston — a linebacker out of New Jersey. Oddly, Rutgers was not listed as offering, but a ton of others like WVU, Iowa, Virginia and NC State did. At 6-1 and between 215 and 220 pounds, he’s a bit undersized. Obviously adding the muscle mass won’t be too difficult once in the program.

He had been considered something of a sleeper (link also includes a video of Alston’s offseason workout) early in the year, but as indicated by the number of offers that has changed. His strength is in run coverage (big surprise with Coach Wannstedt), but still has the potential to handle passing downs in time (Insider subs).

We like his pass rush potential; flashes the ability to get inside push against offensive linemen forcing the QB out of the pocket while hurrying throws. This is a very active and instinctive player vs. the run; is a strong tackler; can punish and knock’em back. His great motor and pursuit habits make him a force to deal with from any spot on the field; should be a very productive special team’s player. Alston may not be an immediate starter and will need some time to polish his coverage skills however once this is accomplished he should have a long and productive career at the major level of competition.

Check out Pitt Script for a little more including video highlights from Alston’s junior year.

Still trying to digest everything from yesterday. And everyone else is too. Here are a couple other blog-boy round-ups and speculations.

If this goes down, the logical conclusion is that it accelerates the possibility and speed with which it happens of 4 16-team conferences. It would also produce the scenario where those 64 teams break away from the NCAA.

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It was supposed to be a relatively calm day for expansion speculation. A couple conference meetings. Some speculation that the Big 12 might make an effort to publicly speak of unity.

But, mainly nothing as the Big 11 wasn’t going to do anything right now so Mizzou and Nebraska would hedge for the time.

Well, no one really believed that the Pac-10 would upset things.

Because it appears the Pac-10, which has its meetings in San Francisco starting this weekend, is prepared to make a bold move and invite Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado to join its league, according to multiple sources close to the situation.

And things went really freaky in Dallas at the Big 12 meetings.

[Iowa State President Gregory] Geoffroy declined to address specific rumors. He deferred comments about the Pac-10 report to University of Texas President William Powers. Colorado Athletics Director Mike Bohn told the Boulder Daily Camera his school and the others could receive Pac-10 invitations this weekend.

“Until something firms up it’s all speculation,” Geoffroy said.

Speculation boiled over when Big 12 Conference Commissioner Dan Beebe first delayed then canceled a scheduled news conference to discuss the league’s future. Beebe declined to comment as he walked past a large media contingent and into an elevator.

Yes, Bohn did.

Bohn said CU has not had any contact with the Pac-10 or its representatives and he was not clear on how he came to believe invitations could be forthcoming. But he said Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech could receive invitations possibly as soon as this weekend when Pac-10 officials meet in San Francisco.

“The longer that we were together in Kansas City it appeared that that rumor or speculation did have some validity to it,” Bohn said in an interview with the Camera as he left the Big 12 spring meetings here today.

And then sanity and some sense of what he had said overtook his brain.

Bohn said at this point Colorado remains a committed and proud member of the Big 12 and he believes the conference has a bright future if its members remain together.

“There is great equity in the Big 12 Conference and currently the financial model and the competitive equity we have as a league is currently serving us well,” he said. “The future television partnership opportunities bodes well for long term financial viability.”

Meanwhile Pac-10 Commish Larry Scott, stifled a laugh and had a statement released of non-denial.

“We have not developed any definitive plans,” Scott said. “We have not extended any invitations for expansion and we do not anticipate any such decisions in the near term.”

Yet everyone seems to think something is up. Even if it is merely the Pac-10 examining such scenarios.

Even if the academic fit of Oklahoma, OK St. and Texas Tech doesn’t seem to match well with the Pac-10.

This is all about money (big surprise).

The thought is the Big 16 (or whatever they decide for the name) would start its own television network that could command premium subscriber dollars from cable providers on par with the Big Ten Network and pay out upwards of $20 million to each of the 16 schools in TV revenue.

Such a merger between the six Big 12 schools and the Pac-10 would build a conference with seven of the country’s top 20 TV markets (Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, Houston, Phoenix, Seattle and Sacramento). And such a league would likely command attention from every cable system in the country and command a premium rate from every cable system west of the Mississippi.

Those projected TV revenues would double the current payouts of roughly $9 million to Big 12 and Pac-10 members. If the Big 16 reached its projections, the league would also surpass the SEC’s projected payout of $17 million per school reached in a 15-year TV deal with ABC/ESPN and CBS signed in 2008.

What is amazing is that the politics of Texas  may not come into play. It was believed that state politics would force any conference that wanted Texas to also take Texas A&M. Instead Texas A&M seems more interested in going east rather than west.

In Thursday’s editions of the Houston Chronicle, A&M athletic director Bill Byrne was asked if the SEC is an option for the Aggies should the Big 12 break up, and he said, “It might be. You know what? It might be.”

Byrne, the athletic director at Oregon from 1984-92 before going to Nebraska, has been openly critical of having student-athletes travel west, only to return home at odd hours.

Byrne has used the example of when the Aggies had their men’s and women’s basketball teams in Spokane and Seattle for the NCAA Tournament in March and couldn’t get back to College Station until 6:30 a.m. with students having to attend 8 a.m. classes.

It’s no coincidence Byrne’s example included cities in the Pac-10’s dominant time zone.

There is also reason to believe Oklahoma could be enamored with joining the SEC. But that does not appear to be an option Texas officials would be willing to consider. There is a sense among UT officials the academics in the SEC are not on par with Texas.

If A&M and Oklahoma were to splinter off and join the SEC, the Pac-10 would obviously have to revise its invite list.

Yes, they would do back-flips and delete Texas Tech and Oklahoma St. as well from the invites. The Pac-10 would only go to 14 and would still have a huge media presence and impact with the same major markets.

The one thing about all of this that throws me off was how last month it seemed that the Big 12 and Pac-10 were more in the discussions of an alliance for TV deals. Maybe jointly going to form a cable channel. Now the Pac-10 might just pluck them apart.

What astounds me at the moment is how the Big 12 has become the conference most endangered of extinction. Not the Big East.

At least for now.

It’s all very superficial. It has nothing to do with the present coaches or players. It’s just the vibe. It’s the expectations are all there for Pitt to win this year. Maybe it is just a contrarian nature in me. Maybe I just don’t like to keep reading all these expectations as it can make the fall hurt that much more. It is giving me a very 2003 feel.

Remember 2003? I do. Coming off a big bowl win. ACC expansion dominating all spring and summer. Pitt looking like it had the talent to win. Everyone picking and talking up Pitt. Then came Toledo. And then ND. Building, building and a debacle at WVU. No showing against Miami. I still feel scarred from that season.

Well, if the national publications like Athlon, Lindy’s and Sporting News all picking Pitt wasn’t enough…

The UConn beat writer for the Hartford Courant, Desmond Connor, has almost all the Big East beat writers weighing in with their picks for the Big East. Top three picks

Brian Bennett, ESPN.com: Pitt, Cinci, WVU

Paul Zeise, P-G: Pitt, WVU, UConn

Dave Rahme, Syracuse Post-Standard: Pitt, WVU, UConn

Nolan Weidner, Syracuse P-S: Pitt, WVU, Cinci

Greg Auman, St. Petersburg Times: Pitt, Cinci, Rutgers

Bill Koch, Cinci Enquirer: Cinci, Pitt, USF

C.L. Brown, Louisville Courier-Journal: Pitt, Cinci, WVU

Dave Hickman, Charleston Gazette: Pitt, WVU, Cinci

Connor also picks Pitt (followed by Cinci and UConn).

A few other UConn beat writers.

Neil Ostrout, Connecticut Post: Pitt, UConn, Cinci

Chip Malafronte, New Haven Register, Pitt, Cinci, UConn

Ed Daigneault, Waterbury Republican-American: UConn, Pitt, Rutgers

So, yeah, expectations.

The Big East meetings came and went without anything happening. Not that anything was actually expected, but before every conference meeting there seems to be this silly expectation that something might happen.

Speaking of which.

Big 12 officials, including the board of directors, will be discussing issues related to “conference membership,” according to the agenda. With Missouri and Nebraska at the center of Big Ten expansion scenarios, some fret that the Big 12 will be cannibalized for parts.

Expect Beebe to push conference loyalty. One possibility, he acknowledged, would be legislation that would stiffen the penalties for schools to exit.

The odds of such legislation passing would be slim and none. Colorado, Mizzou, Nebraska and even Texas and Texas A&M would never support that.

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The first batch of preview mags are out. Athlon and Lindy’s came out just before the Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to pick them up until today. So, this is just a cursory bit on them.

No, they aren’t the “bible” that is Phil Steele — next week — but they are a light snack.

Lindy’s — which disturbingly enough still uses the circa 2003 logo for Pitt — has Pitt at #14 nationally. Their Big East preview was done by Tom Luicci, who writes for the New Jersey Star-Ledger (NJ.com). Pitt is picked to win the Big East.

Athlon, puts Pitt at #18 nationally. They also have Pitt winning the Big East.

Sporting News’ preview should be out today or sometime this week. At least I have reading material to start distracting me for a little while.

I’ll have some more on these mags and content later in the week.

Hope everyone had a good long weekend. Family visited and most of the time was spent doing various yard projects for the wife. Now if we can just find someone who wants to take away the pool in the backyard…

The Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) released its list of the top-75 best-selling universities during basketball season and the end of bowl season (Jan 1 – Mar 31 2010). Pitt came in at 46. That puts them behind WVU (14), Louisville (30), Syracuse (39) and Cinci (44) in the Big East.

Chris Dokish has his latest Q&A. He is enthusiastic about the hiring of Pat Skerry.

… Letaio was the coach I mentioned, but as my boss at NBE can attest to, Skerry was who I thought Pitt should hire. He has all it takes to be an absolute dynamo at Pitt and he will be an excellent head coach in the near future. It was another major statement by Pitt that they are in the big time. Not just anybody can hire a superstar assistant from a rival school. Bottom line, Skerry will make a big splash at Pitt.

He’s also very high on 2011 Pitt commit John Johnson. There’s also some caution as to whether J.J. Moore is actually qualified at this point.

As always, go read all of it and pick apart your favorite nugget of interest.