Big 12 Insider: TCU’s Boschini had important role in football being played this fall
In just about every news conference this season, TCU coach Gary Patterson has made it a point to credit the school’s chancellor, Victor Boschini, for pushing the Big 12 to play football this fall.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby echoed those thoughts during a conference call on Thursday.
As the chairman of the Big 12 board of directors, Boschini was the point person when the school’s presidents and chancellors were trying to decide whether to go forward with a season this summer. Most viewed the Big 12 as the “swing vote” at the time among Power Five conferences with the SEC and ACC going forward and the Big Ten and Pac-12 pulling back.
“In a moment of gallows humor, we counted up the number of board calls we had between the first of March and the end of November and I think the number was 22,” Bowlsby said. “On most of those calls, Chancellor Boschini was the chair of the board and managed the meetings. He certainly had a very, very large contribution to where we’ve gotten to today.
“I think our presidents and chancellors have been devoted to it. I can’t think of a single meeting where we had anybody miss until very recently. To get that level of commitment out of our presidents and chancellors is really, not only extraordinary, but very helpful. Chancellor Boschini has provided the leadership throughout that time, so I’m very grateful to him for his hard work and dedication.”
By most measures, the Big 12 football season has been viewed as a success. The league is going to get 53 games in with only two conference games being canceled — Oklahoma-West Virginia and Kansas-Texas.
The conference will be in position to fulfill its bowl obligations, too, if only one team advances to a New Year’s Six game. If Oklahoma and Iowa State are both given New Year’s Six bids, the league may not be able to send a team to the First Responder Bowl in Dallas.
“It hasn’t been an easy path,” Bowlsby said. “We always knew there was going to be some disruptions and indeed we had some of those. I think we’re going to get 53 football games in. Had we been offered that back in July, I think we would’ve said, ‘Where do we sign?’”
Bowlsby credited the players and coaches for wanting to get through a season. Several players had questions before it started, ranging from eligibility to financial aid to safety and security, and the league provided satisfactory answers for the majority of players to go through the year.
“Our players largely wanted to play. Our coaches wanted to coach,” Bowlsby said. “I’m glad we were able to get to this point of the season.”
Hoops talk
The Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments remain on schedule to be held and played in Kansas City. The men’s tournament would run March 10-13, while the women’s would run March 11-14.
Bowlsby said the conference is expecting limited capacity crowds, at best, at the T-Mobile Center and Municipal Auditorium.
“We’re planning on playing the tournament. Standard operating procedure right now is that we’re going to have some measure of reduced fans,” Bowlsby said. “We don’t for a minute expect that we’re going to have a full house. We could end up with no fans. We could end up with 25% but there isn’t any way for us to make those decisions now.”
Bowlsby went on to say that the league intends to keep the tournament in KC, too.
“We haven’t spent any time thinking about moving it to another city,” he said. “I think that if we can’t play for it for some reason in Kansas City, chances are we aren’t going to be able to play it any place else. As of today, that’s the best assumption we can make.
“We’re going to have disruptions between now and then. It would be great if we didn’t have any disruptions during the tournament, but we may very well.”
As far as regular-season disruptions such as the Texas-Baylor men’s game scheduled for last Sunday being postponed, Bowlsby is hopeful to be able to make those games up. The league has left an open week at the end of the regular season until the conference tournament to play postponed games.
Making up games during the season is also an option, if the schedules and open dates work out for the schools.
Looming mistake?
Speaking of the Big 12 basketball tournament, Bowlsby said Oklahoma State would likely be left out if it is not eligible for the NCAA Tournament. The Cowboys are currently appealing a one-year postseason ban the NCAA handed down in June for a Level I violation involving former associate head coach Lamont Evans.
Essentially, the Big 12 wouldn’t want a team that’s not eligible for March Madness winning the tournament and the conference’s automatic bid.
Yours truly feels this would be a mistake. Hello, Oklahoma State has Cade Cunningham on its roster, the favorite to be the top overall pick in next year’s NBA Draft. Wouldn’t the Big 12 want to showcase its best player on its biggest stage?
It would be understandable if a conference that only sends one team to the tournament enforces that policy. But the Big 12 is arguably the best basketball conference in the country right now and is going to have multiple teams in the Big Dance, regardless of who wins the conference tournament.
If Oklahoma State doesn’t get the NCAA to reverse its decision in banning the program from March Madness this season, who cares? That shouldn’t prevent it from competing for a Big 12 title with the best player in the country on its roster.
