Gästebereich » The road ahead for the batch of 2016 is a long one. H

Commissioner Bob Bowlsby has referred to what the Big 12 is about to step into as it moves toward expansion as a sellers market.The conference is selling salvation for two to four schools that are clamoring for a spot in the Power Five and all the amenities (mostly lots of money) that goes with moving up in the world.Through open records requests to Big 12 schools, the reporting of other news organizations and statements released Wednesday by several obvious suits, here are the candidates (alphabetical order):BYU -- The Cougars have a huge national following, a history of competing at a high level and an affiliation with the Church of Latter Day Saints that prohibits the Provo, Utah-schools teams from competing on Sundays. This is not a small inconvenience. Nor will it keep BYU from possibly getting strong consideration. And as a football independent with its other sports in the West Coast Conference, BYU doesnt need to be coy and maybe could cut a football-only deal.BYU is known for its academic excellence and I believe we have an exceptional athletic program, athletic director Tom Holmoe said in a statement. As I have stated before, I would like to see our student-athletes compete at the highest level.Boise State -- The Broncos bring a top-notch football program, and an improving athletic program in general.Central Florida -- It has enormous enrollment (60,767) and is located in a recruiting hot bed, with a growing population in Orlando. The football was awesome a few years ago (BCS win against Baylor) and terrible last year (0-12).Cincinnati -- The school has just expanded and upgraded old Nippert Stadium, which now seats about 40,000. The football team has become a steady winner and moving into Ohio would not only give the Big 12 an eastern bridge to West Virginia but maybe open up some solid recruiting territory. The Big 12 is very Texas dependent when it comes to recruiting.South Florida -- Kind of like American Athletic Conference rival UCF, but not as big (48,973 enrollment) and not as much recent football success. However, right now, USF football is trending up. Wednesday was probably not the best day to announce the NCAA was investigating the athletic program.Connecticut -- Perhaps no school suffered more from conference realignment than UConn, a longtime Big East member that was shoved from college sports main stage. Sure the football was always so-so, but UConn basketball was a power and a powerful brand. With the Big 12 no longer talking about a conference network, that foot in the New York and Boston television markets might not be as appealing.Colorado State -- The school has been doing what you do when you want to get noticed. Expanding stadiums, investing in facilities and coaches. Big 12 schools have lots of alumni in Colorado, especially the Denver area. Fort Collins is about 65 miles straight north, pretty and growing. Maybe the Rams can replace what the Big 12 lost in Colorado?Memphis -- The Tigers have a notable sponsor in FedEx CEO Fred Smith, an alum who has promised his companys sponsorship to the Big 12. The football has been mostly irrelevant but is coming off a couple of excellent seasons. Basketball is top-shelf and so is the FedEx Forum where the team plays. School officials are quick to note how the universitys academic profile is on the upswing.The University is prepared to take action when opportunities to increase the level of positive attention and exposure for our city, campus and Athletic Department are presented, athletic director Tom Bowen said in a statement. The University of Memphis continues to gain national recognition for its advancements in research, teaching and student accomplishments, and the Athletic Department is one part of that winning combination.Houston -- A new on-campus stadium is sweet, and the Cougars picked an excellent time to be coming off a 13-1 season and a Peach Bowl victory under everybodys dream coach, Tom Herman. But will Herman be here longterm? If Houston is in the Big 12, that helps the cause a lot. Being in Texas is either a deal-breaker for a conference that already thinks Houston is Big 12 country, or a good way to lock up a part of the state that has been infiltrated heavily by the SEC since Texas A&M joined.At the University of Houston we are certainly honored to be mentioned as a progressive institution that places a competitive emphasis on both academics and athletics, athletic director Hunter Yuracheck said. As a Tier One research institution and Phi Beta Kappa member, Houston has seen a reinvigorated spirit in Athletics. We have returned our proud University to the national spotlight and we aim to compete on the highest levels as we build Champions for Life. Our mission will not change.San Diego State -- Getting the Texas-centric conference into Southern California makes some sense from a recruiting standpoint.Tulane -- Sounds a little crazy considering recent athletic success. The American thought it was buying low in Tulane and it still hasnt turned around. 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World champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the gold medal with 237.71 points, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch followed at 208.45 and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third at 187. Poor Fabrice Von Bockrijcke. The Belgian had the last touch of the 2016 Junior Hockey World Cup. His drag flick was perhaps the most inconsequential of the tournament too. 2-0 the scorecard read on the two electronic screens on either end of the pitch at the Dhyan Chand Stadium in Lucknow.The 20,000 spectators who had crammed standing into the arena built to hold far less were already shieking. The members of the Indian team who didnt have to put on the plastic face guards were already linking arms. A large tricolour had already been procured. The team had probably brought their own, though they could have had their pick from the hundred being waved furiously in the stands.The tall Belgian shot high into the net. 2-1 the giant screen now read. Near the halfway line, Armaan Qureshi sank to his knees and pressed his sweaty forehead on to the plastic grass. Fifteen years after an Indian team had won the junior hockey World Cup, another set of youngsters had replicated the feat.Here are a few takeaways from Sunday nights performance:Moving upThe 2001 team included Arjun Halappa, Viren Rasquinha, Gagan Ajit Singh and Jugraj Singh, who would graduate to become fixtures in the senior team. Who is to say Armaan, Parvinder Singh, captain Harjeet Singh and Harmanpreet Singh wont go on to do the same as they held the big gold trophy - now a bit jaded with age -- and jumped ecstatically to exploding fireworks. Harjeet surely believes it. This isnt the end for this team. We are going to be winning a lot more in the future too, he said afterwards.Improved fitness, steady growthIn hindsight, it might be said that anything less than gold would have been an underperformance by this team. Roughly this same group had been together for the past two and a half years. I told them back then that they would win the world cup gold, coach Harendra Singh said. Progress was constant. They had returned with a silver at the 2015 Sultan of Johor tournament and won gold earlier this year at the Four Nations tournament by beating Germany (who would be bronze medalists at the Junior World Cup).They had ironed out the kinks that had bedeviled teams of the past. Under trainer, and now high performance director David John, the team was scarcely recognizable from the lot who would struggle to last the duration of the contest. You got a clue of the strictness of their regime from goalkeeper Krishan Pathaks answer to how they would celebrate the win.We are going to eat a lot. We havent eaten for two years! That improved fitness saw them running nine kilometers or more in Lucknow. Not sedate jogs mind you. These kilometers were hard sprints that saw them pressing hard in both the semifinals against Australia and the finals against Belgium, ready to counter. Opponents were worn down by the sheer relentlessness of it.Belgium crowded out Belgium, who had been so methodical in their structure throughout the tournament, were undone in a manner the scoreline does very little to represent. Perhaps a word for the crowd here too. If the Belgians seemingly hit a wall, it was one of sound.ddddddddddddThe chaos didnt help up but we pride ourselves on our ability to handle chaos. Our boys didnt handle the crowd too well at the start, said the Belgian coach Jeroen Baart.It was very difficult to communicate. We were indicating with our arms which press we were going to play, our strikers were whistling to be heard, exclaimed captain Victor Wegnez. The noise evoked a feeling of dread - think the theme music of Jaws. Everytime we heard the crowd cheering, we knew India were on the attack, Wegnez remarked.Perfect hockeyThe crowd was cheering almost throughout the first half. The usually grim-faced chief coach, Roelant Oltmans, would grin and say it was the closest he had seen to perfect hockey. The high press early on earned two penalty corners both unconverted - if there is one quibble from this tournament, that has to be it. The Belgians tried to flood the Indians in their half and the latter found paths through it. They found ways over it too.Varun Kumar, simply lofted the ball over the heads of a suddenly wobbly defence. Gurjant Singh collected, turned and reverse flicked off a near zero angle. Even Belgiums Loic van Doren - the goalkeeper of the tournament - was helpless. Two other near chances were obtained but Nilkanta Sharma shot wide from point blank and both Mandeep Singh and Parvinder failed to get a deflection into an open goalmouth.Even as Belgium tried to recover, Simranjeet Singh stole a ball, then received it back and reverse hit it low to van Dorens right. The attack was flowing-the ball being smoothly passed around from one stick to another at a high tempo with minimal dribbling. There was a period of play nearly two minutes long beginning at around the 27th minute of the match when the ball didnt make contact with a single stick in the hands of a red shirted player.Road for the futureIndia took their foot off the pedal in the second half, but it almost never seemed Belgium had a chance to get back in the game. The referee too seemed to get caught up in how one sided it was - twice failing in quick succession to see a rare Belgian run catch the foot of two Indian defenders. It probably wouldnt have made much difference.And as coach Harendra Singh said - the last time we won it was with six goals. This time it was with two. But the trophy we won is the same. Its hard to say what the victory will mean for Indian hockey. A junior World Cup doesnt necessarily carry over to senior success.While the junior team of 2001 transferred almost en masse to the seniors, they never enjoyed anywhere near the same success. The road ahead for the batch of 2016 is a long one. Harjeet says this team will be looking to make squads for the 2018 Commonwealth and Asian Games and perhaps even the 2020 Olympics. And at least the Junior World Cup is a good st