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The president of a Big 12 school who probably favored expansion the most has reversed his course. Or, maybe not.

Sports Illustrated's Campus Rush website reported on Tuesday, in an article written by former New York Times writer Pete Thamel, that Oklahoma president David Boren is no longer in favor of adding two, or four, schools to the league.

Boren became perhaps the biggest proponent of Big 12 expansion in June of 2015 when he said the league was "psychologically disadvantaged" because it was smaller than the other Power 5 conferences in the country.

Later Tuesday, Boren responded to the SI story with the following statement:

"I do not know where the speculation came from, but Oklahoma has not yet taken a position on expansion."

BYU is obviously hoping to be one of those additions, although the private, faith-based school's prospects — if the Big 12 ever gets around to expanding — seem to have been seriously damaged by opposition from LGBT groups across the country.

According to Thamel, who cited "interviews with multiple sources around the Big 12 in the past week," Boren was in BYU's corner until the recent protestations regarding its honor code.

"Adding the Cougars still appears to be untenable because of the potential furor over their 'honor code,' which deems 'homosexual behavior' as a violation," Thamel wrote.

Also Tuesday, before Boren's statement of denial, Chuck Carlton of the Dallas Morning News said he had confirmed Thamel's report.

"Boren now negative on Big 12 expansion, a potential game-changer," Carlton tweeted.

Certainly, that can't be good news for BYU, if reports that Boren really was a BYU proponent are accurate.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a media echo chamber at work here, just like that claim made years ago and repeated often without many examples or details that BYU is "difficult to work with" or "arrogant," or "unwilling to budge" on different issues.

I emailed a national writer who had referred to that characterization in an article a few months ago, asking for some specifics that I could perhaps follow up on, and he admitted he was just repeating what he had heard — from another writer.

What is more clear is that BYU's chances of getting an invite are zero if there are no invites to be given.

Two months ago, the Cougars seemed to be at the top of the list. Now they aren't even in the top four, on most lists.

Writes Thamel: "There is little momentum to add four schools. So for now, Houston and Cincinnati are still the perceived leaders behind the scenes. … For now, Houston and Cincinnati are still the favorites. But as we know, this can all change in a blink."