New Big 12 a big challenge for Cyclones

AMES – The Big 12 Conference's new life with 10 members – and two less mouths to feed -- is a huge win financially for Iowa State.

Competitively, victories could be harder to come by.

The re-configured league will eventually go to a nine-game conference schedule for football and an 18-game, round-robin one for men's and women's basketball where the schools play one another twice.

That means the Cyclone football team will see superpowers Texas and Oklahoma – teams they have never beaten as members of the Big 12 – every season, and have one less non-conference game to schedule, which could jeopardize the future of its series with Iowa.

ISU Athletics Director Jamie Pollard believes the new scheduling setup will be a good one.

“The (Big 12) coaches view it as a positive,” he said. “That's what they wanted all along.”

With basketball, the league changes from a 16-game schedule where teams played their division rivals twice and the teams in other division once, either home or away.

“We went from the best league in the country to the bestest league,” ISU women's basketball coach Bill Fennelly said. “I know that's bad grammar but that's a fact. It makes it a lot harder, but I'd certainly have that than the alternative.”

ISU nearly was left without a league as South schools Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech looked to join other conferences like the Pac-10 or SEC.

The remaining 10 – minus Nebraska and Colorado – this week pledged their support to keep the league intact.

Nebraska is joining the Big Ten after next season. Reports say Colorado is hoping it can begin play in the Pac-10 just as soon.

From a basketball perspective, losing those teams only heightens the difficulty of the league, which arguably could be considered the nation's best for hoops.

During Greg McDermott's four seasons as men's basketball coach ISU was 10-6 against the Huskers and Buffaloes. He went 8-40 against the other nine teams.

“It's going to be a tougher road for us, but we are excited about that," said McDermott's successor, Fred Hoiberg. "We want to play the best and we are going to have an opportunity to do that.”

Hoiberg had more than a few anxious moments over the past week-and-a-half. On top of the massive roster changes during his short time in Ames, Hoiberg nearly saw the league he was hired into six weeks ago completely dissolve.

Current players and prospective recruits were constantly dialing his cell phone.

“There were a lot of questions,” Hoiberg said. “They were calling and asking what was going on. I'm glad it was resolved as quickly as it was. I just wanted this to get over so we knew what conference we were going to be playing in.

“I had faith everything was going to work out, and thankfully it did.”

Hoiberg is hoping the additional exposure in the state of Texas can benefit ISU's recruiting efforts.

He has one player for the Class of 2011 from the Houston area already committed, and wouldn't mind a few more.

“This opens up the door for us,” Hoiberg said. “We have a chance now to go down there a few more times a year. It'll help us in recruiting.”

Fennelly has been a coach in the Big 12 since the league was formed in 1996.

The dean of women's basketball coaches declined interview requests leading up to Tuesday, but expressed his thoughts and feelings about a possible Big 12 breakup via his Twitter account. It was a mix of sadness, anger and disbelief.

“This is as tough a time as I've been in at Iowa State,” Fennelly said. “I was scared to death. I didn't sleep very well for about a week… now, I'm lucky to be a part of it and excited for the future.”