Since we’re on the subject of Big 12 expansion and Pitt:
Back in the late 2000s when the ACC was last expanding, the basketball schools wanted Syracuse (who was supposed to have joined in the 2003 raid) and UConn, while the football schools wanted Louisville and West Virginia. In the event Pitt didn’t receive an invite to the ACC, we were going to receive an invite to the Big 12. In the end, everyone compromised and Pitt and Syracuse were the ‘winners.’
Had Pitt joined the Big 12 alongside WVU, Louisville would’ve also joined to get the conference back to 12 members. The long-term ramifications of that would’ve been interesting. OU and UT still leave, and there would’ve been two possible outcomes from there:
1) The Big 12 stays at ten members until Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah become available
2) The Big 12 only expands to BYU and UCF before the Pac-12 raid went down; you and the Cougs bring the most value among the four initial additions, IMO