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MORGANTOWN -- This week, the story broke that the Big 12's new commissioner, Brett Yormark, was engaging in talks with national basketball power Gonzaga about the possibility of that school, located in Spokane, Washington, joining the Big 12.
The Big 12 is already considered the best basketball conference in the nation, but Yormark has a vision for his league as being far more of a national conference than it currently is in this era that seems to be heading toward a group of four or so "super-conferences."
On Thursday afternoon, Hall of Fame basketball coach Bob Huggins, at a press conference called to preview the season that would stray far, far off course from that topic, offered a bit of advice to Gonzaga and its coach, Mark Few, as he was asked to address the rapidly changing picture of college athletics, especially regarding the Big 12.
"I would think it would be a tremendous awakening for Gonzaga to get in this league and play who we play day after day," Huggins said. "You don't get to make your own schedule in the Big 12."
In other words, be careful, you might get what you ask for.
It was Huggins' way of saying Gonzaga would be taking a challenge class jump to come into the Big 12 after playing a schedule year after year that is far less challenging as a result of playing in a lesser conference.
True, the Zags clean up on their schedule and are a threat to put together an undefeated team in any season, but a slate that includes the likes of Kansas, Baylor, Texas, Texas Tech, TCU and the like is far more challenging than anything Gonzaga can put together.
Certainly, the addition of Gonzaga to the Big 12 would change the entire view of the league that has has the defending national champion from last year in Kansas and from the previous season in Baylor along with a Final Four participant from the season before that in Texas Tech.
Huggins sees the Big 12 losing its reputation as a football conference, having already lost both of its showcase football schools in Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC, while making steady gains as a basketball conference.
The scene is not what it was when Huggins got into coaching, not what it was when he was at Cincinnati, not what it was when he returned home to West Virginia.
"I look around at what's going on. Is the Big Ten the Big Ten anymore? I don't think the Big Ten is the Big Ten any more. All the conferences … the SEC isn't the SEC anymore. The ACC certainly isn't the ACC anymore."
And the structure of the sport is hardly settled, as things can happen almost within the blink of eye … or should that be of an "aye."
Huggins recalled a moment out recruiting at a prep school not very long ago when he was told the Mountaineers were on the verge of becoming a member of the ACC.
"I was watching a prep school team practice and one of the more famous coaches in the ACC came and sat down beside me and said, 'Well, partner, we're going to be playing twice a year now,'" Huggins said.
"What are you talking about?" he responded.
"You're coming in our league now," that coach said, according to Huggins.
"For a while, everybody thought we were [going to be a member of the ACC]. Then someone else tried to get in, bargained their way in and, at the end of the day, we didn't get in and somebody else did. He thought it was 100% done."
That told Huggins to just forget about the talk and the rumors.
"After going through that whole deal, I don't worry about it anymore. I don't think about it anymore," Huggins said.
But Huggins likes the direction things are taking.
"In a lot of ways, it's kind of exciting," he said. "It's kind of exciting to go and play like real people. Some of the games we play are not very exciting; not very exciting to get ready for. But we have to play them."
And he seems to believe Yormark is the right man to lift WVU and the Big 12 in the college athletic world.
"I know our current commissioner is full of energy. He's excited about the opportunity and thinks this league can do and be something very, very special. I hope he's right," Huggins said. "I know he has unbridled enthusiasm. I was with him in New York. He's a go-getter now and he knows a lot of people. He's been through it, not in a basketball sense, but in other ways to build a more competitive, more television-worthy deal, and I think that's good."
Huggins spent some time the other day thinking about how things are changing.
"I was watching Pitt play and I was thinking about the Big East. Back in the Big East days, it was different. Fans could jump in a car and go to a game. All that is changing. You can't drive here, you can't drive to Philadelphia.
"People drove to New York then to see us play. Think of the people we had at the Big East Tournament. You don't have that in this league. It's good and bad; good and bad. It was great for the fans to be able to drive, but I think it's great for the fans because this league is going to be an incredible league when the commissioner gets done with it.
"This going to be even more of a basketball league. There's no doubt about that. This football driving the train thing; that train is slowing down. The basketball thing is just starting to kick up. Somebody said Gonzaga coming into the league … with that he can go lure the best. It makes it exciting.
"It looks like the football thing is going away from the league. What I'm saying is you're seeing football schools are moving to different leagues; leagues that are going to get more money, to be quite frank. They're going to get more money. That's what it's about."