I was wondering what our conference will look like in September after the departure of Colorado and Nebraska as far as participation in the 7 major collegiate sports (3 men’s and 4 women’s) that the Big 12 sponsors, and I thought that I would share it here on BON.

Football- All 10 members will participate

Men's Basketball- All 10 members will participate

Baseball- 9 members will participate (only Iowa St does not)

Women's Basketball- All 10 members will participate

Volleyball- 9 members will participate (only Oklahoma St does not)

Softball- 9 members will participate (only Kansas St does not)

Women's Soccer- 9 members will participate (only Kansas St does not)

So....

Iowa St dropped baseball in 2001 for budget reasons but the new TV increase should help offset that so I feel that they should attempt to sponsor that sport again, I believe they still have the field on campus so it shouldn't be that hard.  Plus the Big 12 is one of the nation's best baseball conferences so why not participate?

While Oklahoma St has never sponsored volleyball as far as I can tell, it is relatively easy to start up and they should look into sponsoring it, not only will it help the conference but also help them if conference realignment comes around again.

Kansas St is the hardest of the above to criticize since both Soccer and Softball require fields (which I have no idea if they have them available or not) and asking them to build them is a little far fetched; but still they should make an effort and even just look into the possibility of starting up these sports.