The Big 12 has narrowed its list of expansion candidates to at least 12 schools, sources told ESPN's Brett McMurphy and Jake Trotter.
The 12 schools: Air Force, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, Colorado State, UConn, Houston, Rice, South Florida, SMU, Temple and Tulane.
Eight of the candidates still alive in the Big 12's expansion sweepstakes are members of the American Athletic Conference: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, Houston, South Florida, SMU, Temple and Tulane. Air Force and Colorado State are Mountain West members, Rice is in Conference USA and BYU is an independent.
While at least a dozen schools made the cut, several others did not, including Arkansas State, Boise State, East Carolina, New Mexico, Northern Illinois, San Diego State and UNLV, sources said.