Perhaps you’ve heard of the Association of American Universities — which is the more successful, less scandalous step-brother of the Amateur Athletic Union. In short, 62 of the best research institutions in America and Canada make up the AAU. Think of it as a fraternity of blue bloods in academia.

Perhaps you, like so many others, don’t believe conference expansion is done and trust the Big Ten + 2 is going to fulfill the promise made a year ago and spend another six or so months looking into the possibilities and maybe finding some additional members who improve the conference as it’s currently constituted. Remember, there was talk of between 12 and 18 Big “Ten” teams before everyone tapped their breaks last summer.

Well, the prerequisites for Big #? membership may have changed. Nebraska was added from a list that generally included Pitt, Rutgers and Missouri. All of those schools were in the AAU. Big Twhatever leadership said the AAU was “important” and made it sound like a necessity to join the elite.

Late in April, the AAU pitched Nebraska. Never before had a team been voted out of the group. It is, at the very least, a stunner for the parties involved and associated, though the Big Leaders and Legends has said the AAU isn’t really a mandate. As proof, the conference points past attempts to get Notre Dame to join, attempts that never worked. Notre Dame is not an AAU member.

I suppose you’d expect such a reaction, but suddenly it seems the label isn’t a big deal and it isn’t a deal-breaker. That begs a critical question: What if that’s true?

Adding more schools that aren’t AAU members is more convenient now and makes the Nebraska ouster seems less significant. Or, going in the other direction, maybe the Big Ten then wants to reinforce its reputation.

Maryland or Georgia Tech from the ACC, Kansas, Iowa State or even Missouri once again from the still wobbly Big XII are attractive. They have AAU membership.

That doesn’t matter as much now and some of those options aren’t realistic. So now, if the Big Ten wants more teams and more exposure and more money, who is more attractive than Notre Dame and its fine academic reputation and undisputed fanfare?

If not Notre Dame, Connecticut and Syracuse, both estimable for education, or, yes, West Virginia, which does plenty in the realm of research and has the biggest fan footprint in the Big East, are eligible.