Big 12 West and East Combine (8/28/2003)

The IHSA announced just before the start of the 2003 season, that both the East & West divisions of the Big 12 will combine to form an 11 team conference.

The West, which consisted of only 5 teams, Bloomington (HS) , Decatur (MacArthur), Normal (Community West) ,Normal (Community) & Decatur (Eisenhower), will combine with Danville (H.S.) , Champaign (Centennial) , Rantoul , Mattoon , Champaign (Central) & Urbana (H.S.).

All inter-divisional games, which would have been prior non-conference games between previous East & West teams will now count towards the Big 12 conference. Each team still has 1 non-conference game this season.

One reason why the two division may have joined is due to the IHSA rule that allows the Conference champ a automatic playoff bid regardless of the overall record, but only to conferences with 6 or more teams. The Big 12 West hasn't had 6 teams since Decatur (Stephen Decatur HS) dropped out 1999.

By Vincent Johnson