West Virginia joins Big 12, news release omits Missouri from conference member list
The Big 12 announced West Virginia will become the conference's newest member, but interestingly did not include Missouri as one of the ten members in its news release on Friday.
West Virginia will accept the Big 12's formal invitation after sixteen years in the Big East conference. The Big 12 announced the move in a news release this morning. The conference curiously left Missouri off its expected members for 2012-13 in the final paragraph:
"Beginning with the 2012-13 season it is expected that the Big 12 Conference will be comprised of 10 Universities - Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia."
The omission comes just a day after the SEC accidentally posted a story welcoming Missouri as its newest member on its website, blaming the incident on a "web vendor mistake." Missouri hasn't received a formal invitation from the SEC but is expected to accept if and when such an offer occurs. The events of the last 48 hours seem to indicate Missouri's departure from the Big 12 is all but imminent.