Getting to 20 that everyone feels 100% solid about would be tough without picking off a few Big 12 schools. Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina State, and Virginia Tech seem to be consensus pickups for most SEC folks. Assuming that UVA, UNC, and Duke go to the Big 10, the SEC is still not in terrible shape. In a 20 team conference, Louisville, Georgia Tech, or Pittsburgh would not be awful. Considering the athletic prowess we would be picking up from the 4 consensus schools, I would lean toward Georgia Tech because of their academic prowess and location (locking out other conferences from the Southeast). I would tend to lean toward Pittsburgh for similar academic reasons. Plus, it sure would be fun to see the Big 10 squirm by having an SEC school smack dab in the middle of their new conference footprint. If you are a midwestern kid that wants to stay close to home but wants to compete in sports where the SEC is top notch (namely football, baseball, gymnastics, track and field, and tennis), Pittsburgh would be a great situation.

Louisville would be right at home in the Big 12 with West Virginia, especially if Cincinnati was also picked up. So, if I were to go to 20 schools in the SEC with my previous assumptions intact (except the Big 10 picking off GT and Pitt, of course), it would be:

Florida State
Georgia Tech
Clemson
North Carolina State
Virginia Tech
Pittsburgh

I think that group does the following for the conference:

1) Big academic boost
2) Locks down the Southeast
3) Gives a big claim to the mid-Atlantic with a foothold in Big 10 and Big 12 territory
4) Adds football balance. Half will consistently push for excellence, and half are content just being solid. No full pushovers (like a Wake Forest).
5) Passes the "map" test. I think adding Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech would give the SECN the West Virginia market by default, as well.


However, if my 4 preferred ACC teams are the only ones available to the SEC (assumes the Big 12 and Big 10 picked up the rest except maybe Wake Forest), I prefer to bolster the league with partial members instead of committing slots #19 and #20 to the remaining available. I think scheduling for non-football sports could handle 22 schools, and 4 schools could play half conference football schedules, similar to Notre Dame in the ACC. I think Tulane, Rice, Wake Forest, and either SMU or Navy would be good adds in this situation. If Wake Forest found a home elsewhere, I would not even be opposed to Tulane, Rice, SMU, and Tulsa as partial members to give us more presence in the western part of the South.