The only AAU members up for grabs are:
-Duke
-Georgia Tech
-UNC
-Pittsburgh
-UVA
If they want to get up to 16 members to keep up with the other conferences while only including AAU schools, they're going to have a tough time of it. Duke, GT, and UNC would much rather be in the SEC, I'm sure. That leaves them with Pitt and UVA for 14 members, so eventually if this "super conference" thing does happen they're going to have to bite the bullet and consider schools with a "x-year AAU membership" plan.
Edit to say that the B1G also already has one non-AAU member in their conference: Nebraska.
Yes, but from what I understand Nebraska was booted out of the AAU after they joined the Big 10. It did make a difference in their entry.
Correct. Nebraska was a member when admitted and it was was said if they weren't they probably wouldn't have been admitted.
Slick, you keep saying this but I don't think thats accurate, Nebraska was facing challanges in the AAU for over a decade, everyone knew that they were at risk for over a decade and the BIG 10 officials still went ahead with the invite.
I think the Big Ten would have taken Nebraska either way. Nebraska losing AAU was not a surprise, it was a decade in the making.
“We have known we were at risk of this for 10 years, and successfully fought off a similar threat in 2000,†the university’s chancellor, Harvey Perlman, said
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/education/03aau.html?_r=0
Both the BIG 10 and Nebraska touted the AAU membership when they were invited in, but everyone knew the risk was there for them to lose membership.