I have a feeling that the Big Ten (and even the SEC) will end up splitting in half in the end. I think the big time football programs will end up cutting loser schools like IU, Purdue, Illinois, Rutgers, and Northwestern off of the tit at some point. A conference with say Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Wisconsin, USC, UCLA, Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan State, potentially Notre Dame, potentially Oregon, and potentially Washington would make those schools even more money than a 18-20 team super-conference, because they can keep all the money for themselves.
I'm hearing that Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado have applied for Big XII membership. Between Baylor, Kansas, Arizona, and Houston they are going to be stacked in basketball.
maybe so but all of these moves are football driven, MBB is an afterthought