Morning Power Bar: The Alliance; Hoosier Hysteria; Conference Expansion

This is a weekly column for BTPowerhouse that will cover a variety of Big Ten topics that might not deserve a detailed breakdown, but deserve mention. It will be similar to a news roundup with more thoughts and analysis.

So, let’s jump into our Morning Power Bar.

1. The Alliance gets off the ground . . . somewhat.

Earlier this month, Big Ten fans finally got to see the league’s response to the SEC’s monster offseason move adding Oklahoma and Texas to its ranks. Unfortunately for fans, the announcement was largely a dud.

The ACC, Big Ten, and Pac 12 announced the formation of an “Alliance” to combat the SEC, but could offer few specifics about why the union mattered. In fact, when pushed, the commissioners admitted there were no formal agreement between the leagues and no concrete plans for the future.

In a world filled with over hyped announcements, this one certainly stood up.

Moving forward, expect little from this announcement. It was clearly nothing but a public relations stunt to try and steal attention from the SEC. And frankly, the Big Ten diminished itself by joining this grouping. Unlike the ACC and the Pac 12, the Big Ten has a viable path forward, even with an expanded SEC, but it’s hard to tell when it groups itself with lesser conferences. Consider it another mark to Kevin Warren’s diminishing posture.

2. Hoosier Hysteria is back.

There are a lot of things that make the start of college basketball season special and Hoosier Hysteria is one of them. And fortunately, Hoosier fans are going to get to enjoy it again this year after a brief hiatus. Indiana officially announced the event will be taking place on October 2nd at Assembly Hall.

So, get your gear ready. It should be a fun night and the first for Mike Woodson as head coach.

3. The Pac 12 stands pat.

We’ve all been wondering what will happen in the aftermath of the Oklahoma and Texas additions to the SEC. Naturally, many wondered whether other leagues would respond with additions of their own. Well, as of last week, it looks like at least one league will be standing pat.

We’ll have to wait and see if that stays the same moving forward, but at least this is one piece of stability for the NCAA right now.

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