Four bold NCAA college conference realignment ideas: Shrink SEC, revive Big East

• Let's make Big East basketball great again, shall we?
• Former Nebraska athletic director is right: Huskers fit better in Big 12. So do Missouri and Oklahoma.
• Leave Oregon in Big Ten, but California and Washington schools should be a in a Pacific conference.

A man can fit a lot of reminiscing and hard-to-believe tales within a nearly 700-page memoir.

Consider this humdinger from former Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos: He says he once considered pulling the Huskers out of the Big Ten and reversing them into the Big 12.

Moos, in his new memoir “Crab Creek Chronicles,” writes of how he deployed a “stealth approach” to hatch “a scheme” centered on getting Nebraska back into a conference it willingly left in favor of the Big Ten’s riches and stability.

Moos wrote that then-Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby “was extremely positive about the possibility of Nebraska” making a Big 12 comeback.

Of course, Moos never achieved the reverse realignment maneuver.

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, write a memoir about what they thought about doing.

Or something like that.

Nebraska remains entrenched in Big Ten football mediocrity. As long as the check clears, right?

In terms of pure fit, though, Moos is right. It’s as he wrote. Nebraska “just fits better with the schools of the Big 8.”

That got me thinking: If we put aside dollars and cents and made decisions based on fit rather than TV deals, which realignment moves would we rewind?

Here are four no-brainers I have in mind:

Moving three schools back into the Big 12

Texas created havoc for the Big 12 for many years, and the Longhorns suit the SEC anyway. So leave them be. Same with Texas A&M. Those schools should be paired together, and they fit the SEC’s tapestry. This would leave the SEC with 14 members. That's plenty.

But, to Moos’ point, the old Big Eight schools belong together in a conference oriented around the heartland. So I’m moving Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma back into the Big 12. That’ll restore annual rivalries like Oklahoma-Nebraska, Colorada-Nebraska, Kansas-Missouri, and of course, Bedlam.

To help clear some room in the Big 12 for those three former members, I’m shifting out Central Florida, West Virginia and Cincinnati. Those aren’t heartland schools. Anyway, I’ve got a better fit in mind for WVU and Cincinnati.

[ This column first published in our SEC Unfiltered newsletter, emailed free to your inbox. Want more commentary like this? Sign up here. ]

Make Big East basketball great again

Most realignment moves are designed with football (and money) in mind, but there’s no conference I miss more than the Big East that made "Big Monday" college basketball appointment viewing.

While some old-timers most adoringly remember the Big East for its nine-member era of Patrick Ewing, Ed Pinckney and Chris Mullin in the 1980s, I have fondness for the bigger iteration of the Big East in the 2000s and early 2010s.

I’m shuttling West Virginia and Cincinnati back to the Big East.

I’m also moving Boston College, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Louisville out of the ACC and into their rightful home, the Big East. How’s it gone for those five schools in the ACC? The Big East looks better all the time.

As part of my Big East reassembly, it’s back to the Big East for Rutgers, too. What’s a school in Piscataway, New Jersey, doing in the Big Ten?

Those eight schools I’ve plucked from the Big 12, ACC and Big Ten will join Connecticut, Georgetown, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova, DePaul and Marquette in a 16-team Big East built on basketball.

Set your DVR for "Big Monday."

California schools belong in a Pacific conference

I don’t mind Oregon's fit in the Big Ten. Oregon football has proven itself ready for “Super Two” conference status. But, here’s the deal, Big Ten: You want the Ducks, you’ve got to take Oregon State, too.

As for the rest of the left-coast schools, return to where you belong into a Pacific-based conference. That means you, Southern California and UCLA. Say goodbye to those Big Ten road trips to Penn State.

Nobody but diehard fans remember that California and Stanford are in the ACC, anyway. It’s back to the Pac for them, too.

Washington is coming back to join Washington State and the four California schools. We could dust off the old “Big Six” nickname. Or go find two or four more schools — something called Sacramento State wants to play FBS — to beef it up.

Anyway, if you’ve got the Washington schools and the California quartet, you’ve got the start of a Pacific conference.

ACC, turtle up with Maryland

I’ve raided the ACC, shuttling five schools back to the Big East and two more to the Pac-Whatever.

Now, I come with a gift for the ACC.

Maryland, the Big Ten is not your friend. Make nice with the ACC — just as Moos once apparently tried to do for Nebraska with the Big 12.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.