The Big 12's walls are crumblin', crumblin'

Some of you may be getting Big 12-disintegrating fatigue, but this is a big, big story.

I've been a believe-it-when-I-see-it guy, but it sure sounds real that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are going to seek membership in the Pac-12 Conference.  I guess if Des Moines can have a baseball team in the Pacific Coast League then Oklahoma can be in the Pacific-12 (Pac-14?).

Chip Brown of Orangebloods.com says Texas is looking toward the Atlantic Coast Conference as a home if and when the Oklahoma schools bail. Which would be perfect. Oklahoma in the Pacific, Texas in the Atlantic, Texas A&M in the Southeastern.

Oh, those great conference rivalries between Oklahoma and Washington State, between Texas and Boston College.

Here's what Stillwater has in common with Stanford: They're both located in the United States.

I've been saying this for a couple weeks now, and it's not necessarily in jest:  When Iowa State goes to Connecticut for their game Friday night, the Cyclones need to be sure to be nice to everyone out there. Compliment people on their school, their stadium, their airport, their Dunkin Donuts. Tell everyone connected to the Big East that this just feels like home.

If this Oklahoma-Oklahoma State thing with the Pac-12 goes down, the Big East is Iowa State's best-possible scenario. The Big 12 will be dead. It will be down to seven schools, and no right-thinking major-college in the nation would make a pitch to join it and solidify it. There's no solidifying.

This isn't something Iowa State just realized this morning. Hopefully, some good groundwork has been laid and the Big East is a possibility. Geographically, if ISU were in a football division with Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, Cincinnati, and TCU, the travel wouldn't be any worse than it is now. In basketball, you would go to a league with more Midwest schools, like DePaul, Marquette and Notre Dame.

If Iowa State plays well at UConn Friday night and has a lead and the ball in the final seconds? Take a knee instead of going for more points. Tell everyone how what a great opponent UConn was, and how fortunate you feel to have prevailed. Say it was an honor to experience the glories of the Big East. If you don't win, be as complimentary as you've ever been in defeat.

Then come home to prepare for a game against Texas in two weeks, and do everything possible to embarrass the Longhorns for a second-straight year.