West Virginia Big 12: Greedy Politicians May Keep Mountaineers from Realigning

West Virginia University had imminent plans to join the Big 12.

Now it looks like they may be postponed as Missouri has yet to officially withdraw from the conference.

This has opened the door for Louisville to make an aggressive eleventh-hour push to get in the conference over WVU, according to Joe Schad of ESPN.

WVU had grand plans to announce their move to the Big 12 as early as yesterday, when officials from the conference were expected to be visiting and ironing out the last details.

Now that Missouri has yet to formally tell the Big 12 that they are moving to the SEC, it has opened the door for some last-minute maneuvering and changes.

Some high-profile names in the Big 12 such are T. Boone Pickens, billionaire Oklahoma State booster, are highly opposed to letting the Mountaineers join the conference.

Pickens said the travel to get to Morgantown is rather ridiculous, as schools would have to fly to Pittsburgh and then drive a few hours.

Louisville is a bit closer regionally to the other schools already in the conference, and it is over a six-hour drive southwest from Morgantown.

Other big names lobbying for Louisville over WVU include U.S. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, a republican congressman from Kentucky.

This move has turned the battle political.

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"If these outrageous reports have any merit -- and especially if a United States Senator has done anything inappropriate or unethical to interfere with a decision that the Big 12 had already made -- then I believe that there should be an investigation in the U.S. Senate, and I will fight to get the truth," Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said in a statement. "West Virginians and the American people deserve to know exactly what is going on and whether politics is interfering with our college sports."

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If the Big 12 chooses Louisville over WVU, I can see this battle turning very ugly and political, very quickly. 

This could become an absolutely ugly campaign and the Big 12 needs to figure out what they want to do now before more political figures get involved and muddy this up anymore.