I have mixed feeling about expansion. I used to be all for it, the last couple of years I have been against it.
I think the leagues teams would see more wins overall each season if we had 12 teams and an 8 game conference schedule. It is what the SEC does, and it hasn’t hurt them.
Hindsight is irrelevant but the B12 probably had its best opportunity to expand back when they were looking at WVU and Louisville. They had already taken TCU. Probably should have taken WVU and Louisville for all sports and BYU for football only.
UConn or Cincinnati would have probably ended up in the ACC instead of Louisville.
I think for WVU, round robin has been beneficial because we have become psychologically closer to the rest of the league that we had no real history with. Imagine trying to relate to Texas or Kansas State if we only played them every third or fourth year. It really would feel like we were a complete outlier in more ways than just geographically. Playing everyone every year has helped foster some familiarity that did not exist previously.
And being in the B12 has helped in the national branding of WVU. The eastern media was familiar with WVU, and we have a long history with several members of the ACC and at least two members of the B10. Being in the B12 has given WVU routine coverage in other markets that 10 years ago never gave us a second thought.