Two Big 12 university officials said Texas officials flew to Oklahoma on Sunday to attempt to dissuade the Sooners from their stated intent to explore joining the Pacific-12 Conference. It did not go well; the Texas officials returned to Austin and reported little progress.
“It was not a productive meeting,” said an administrator at a Big 12 university with knowledge of the meeting. “Texas went there with the thought of beginning the process of putting back together the Big 12, and Oklahoma wasn’t as receptive as Texas had hoped. That doesn’t mean it’s the end of it.”
For more than a week, the universities and conferences involved in the realignment process have been waiting for Texas A&M’s move to the Southeastern Conference, which has long been considered the first domino. SEC commissioner Mike Slive released a statement Monday night that made the Texas A&M move sound inevitable, saying the league had begun exploring a 13-team schedule model.
“When Texas A&M joins our conference, we don’t have immediate plans for a 14th member,” Slive said.
Oklahoma president David Boren has made it clear OU would explore joining the Pac-12 with Oklahoma State. But there is growing sentiment in Pac-12 circles that it would be difficult to accept the Oklahoma universities, and accepting them without Texas would be a longshot.
• Garrett Gilbert is out as the starting quarterback at Texas, which will go with Case McCoy and David Ash on Saturday against UCLA.
• Minnesota coach Jerry Kill could be back on the sideline as early as this week after collapsing during his team’s loss Saturday.
Pat Smith, the university’s physician, said Kill was “doing very well” and that his gut feeling was Kill would “absolutely” be able to coach the team Saturday against Miami of Ohio.
• Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson said he “absolutely” expects to practice this week and play against Troy. Wilson was held out during the second half of a 52-3 win over New Mexico with what coach Bobby Petrino called concussionlike symptoms.
• Wisconsin senior cornerback Devin Smith is out indefinitely with a left foot injury.
• The average fair market value of top-tier college football and men’s basketball players is more than $100,000 each, and the athletes are entitled to at least a portion of that, the National College Players Association contends in a report.
Footnotes.
Retired NBA all-star and former Denver East High standout Joe Barry Carroll and a friend claim in a federal lawsuit they were ousted from the bar of a ritzy Atlanta restaurant because they were black. The restaurant said they weren’t the victims of a discriminatory policy, but a long-standing practice rooted in Southern hospitality that allows women a seat at the bar when the place is packed.
• Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Sharp underwent an emergency appendectomy and will need three to four weeks to recover.
• Forward Ryan Callahan was named to succeed Chris Drury as captain of the New York Rangers.
• Four-time WNBA scoring champion Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor signed multiyear contract extensions with the Phoenix Mercury.
Denver Post wire services
