The league will first seek other Pac-12 members to join, and if none do so, the Big 12 would add a Group of Five school to reach an even number of members in 2024, sources said.

The Group of Five candidates being considered, if needed, by the Big 12 are UConn, Memphis, San Diego State and UNLV, sources said. SMU also is a possibility, but the Mustangs are considered a longshot because the Big 12 already has four schools in Texas.

“The odds of remaining at 13 schools in 2024 is slim,” a source said. “We need to get to an even number for 2024, and our long-term vision is 16.”

That, re-posted here earlier, is from Brett McMurphy, who knows his shit. Given all that I have written about Brett Yormark, especially today, if I were a Big XII prez and Yormark told me to run head first into a brick wall, I'd say, "How many times would you like, SIR?!" But McMurphy's law here seems to me ripe for reversing. They just got Colorado for crissakes, a PAC 12-year resident. From other reporting Yormark has his laser trained on UConn. "Yessir!", would be my response. But of the other candidates, I know at least one is wrong. B.Y. has no interest anymore in SDSU. He wants to be wanted and he's not courting, other than Connecticut. Adela sniffed him away and now she is golden handcuffed to the Mountain. I think he's going to get Hairy Boner and I think Hairy Boner's prez, the voluble Bobby Robbins, is a straight shooter from the South who would relish bus trips to Lubbock rather than plane trips to Starbucks, but UA is it out of the remaining PAC schools. And Tucson is not in the Pacific time zone. 

I want for B.Y. the first nationwide conference and I don't see him getting there from here. He is not enamored with Oregon or Washington because they too looked down their noses at him. B.Y. wants to be wanted, not needed, and I think that is a great posture. But. But Memphis and UNLV, if they are indeed on B.Y.'s target list, are, to my mind, shooting too low, and, of course, they're not on the Left Coast. What about Oregon State and Washington State? They fit the B.Y.'s culture and would be thrilled to join a going concern rather than sit on deck of the Titanic Conference. Add UConn now to get to 14 teams and then let the remaining PAC schools twist and writhe a little longer. UConn, OSU and Wazoo would give him the Great Nationwide Conference that is his ambition and manifestly his destiny.