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Big 12 tells WVU its expansion process is on hold

ESPN on the ones and the twos.

West Virginia has been notified by the Big 12 Conference that its expansion process is on hold, a school source told ESPN's Joe Schad on Wednesday.

The Big 12 is waiting on Missouri formally to withdraw from the conference and that there has been some late "hard lobbying" by Louisville for Big 12 inclusion, the source told Schad.

West Virginia had been told that the Big 12 was willing to announce it would be adding the Mountaineers regardless of the timing of the departure announcement of Missouri, but for now at least, that has changed, the source said.

Earlier Wednesday, the West Virginia Gazette reported that the Big 12 Board of Directors has what the newspaper called "put the brakes" on plans to expand. The report comes after West Virginia issued a Tuesday night statement saying no news conference had been scheduled to announce a move to the Big 12, and that a visit by Big 12 officials to the West Virginia campus, scheduled for Wednesday, also has been called off.

Uh-huh.