I think WVU fans like the quality of the Big 12 from top-to-bottom in football and other major sports and greatly appreciate the way the Mountaineers have been accepted by other Big 12 schools. In turn, WVU fans have treated Big 12 visitors to Morgantown very well, to my observation. The Big 12 is an underrated conference, and its future is tied to whatever Texas and OU choose for their future. But the novelty of seeing Texas, OU and others come to Morgantown in the fall is wearing off a little. And beating KU in hoops is fantastic but doesn't really compare to the best years of the Big East. WVU fans like to travel, and travel to Big 12 towns is a beast.

At one point, I think WVU fans would have loved to be a part of the ACC. I think WVU fans would still prefer the ACC to the Big 12 based on the longstanding rivalries with Pitt, Syracuse and Virginia Tech, lesser rivalries with BC, Miami and Louisville, and the prospect of playing FSU, Clemson and NC State in football and the Tobacco Road schools in hoops. But I think there is a part of every WVU fan that has come to conclude that the Mountaineers will never be welcome in the ACC, that many ACC fans will always look down their nose at them, etc. -- much like Tech fans felt for a long time before 2003-04. WVU would never turn down the chance to join the ACC, but I'm not sure folks here in West Virginia are dying to mingle with the elitists of Durham, Charlottesville and Chapel Hill or folks from any other place who have a persistently negative attitude toward all things blue and gold.

Culturally, WVU is a better fit for the SEC, even though it has little or no relationship with any of the SEC schools. WVU fans (like the fans of Tech, Clemson and FSU) are more like SEC fans than the wine and cheese and "I may not show up" crowd that "supports" many ACC schools. There's a long-dormant basketball rivalry between WVU and UK that goes back to the days of Jerry West. West Virginians would enjoy competing against South Carolina, Tennessee, Vandy and Georgia because road trips to those venues is far more realistic than trekking to Fort Worth or Stillwater or (little) Manhattan. I think WVU would make a great fit for the SEC, and there was a time 20-25 years ago when it might have been a possibility (after all, the SEC took Arkansas and South Carolina, which aren't exactly among the athletic or academic elite). But the odds of WVU getting a slot in that conference now or in the future are not great unless a unique set of circumstances should arise.