ST. LOUIS -- The University of Missouri hopes to join the Southeastern Conference but would have preferred an offer from the Big Ten that never came, a school official told The Associated Press.

The person, who is familiar with the discussions involving conference affiliation, spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because the school has not commented publicly about its intentions.

Missouri hoped to join the Big Ten last year but the league instead chose Nebraska. The university official said the Big Ten remains Missouri's top choice but that conference "has no interest."

"That's what's left," the official said, referring to the SEC.

Missouri's seven voting curators agreed unanimously Tuesday night to give chancellor Brady Deaton authority to look elsewhere rather than immediately commit to the troubled Big 12 Conference.

Just one day earlier, Big 12 leaders -- including Deaton -- agreed to equally share the wealth from the conference's most lucrative television deals if members agree to lock those top-tier TV rights into the league for at least six years.

The agreement is subject to approval by university governing boards -- a step Missouri curators don't want to take until the school is able to "fully explore options for conference affiliation ... which best serve the interests of the University of Missouri," board chairman Warren Erdman told The Associated Press.

The Big 12 is down to 10 members and will lose Texas A&M to the SEC next year after the departures of Colorado to the Pac-12 and Nebraska to the Big Ten.

A source with direct knowledge of the Big 12's expansion plans told ESPN.com's Andy Katz that Missouri's indecision has put the expansion committee and the conference in a tough position as it waits to see how many teams it will seek to add to the conference.

The source said the five-person expansion committee expects to have a second conference call sometime within a week. The committee still doesn't know if Deaton will recuse himself, because he's one of the five members of the committee with Kansas State president Kirk Schulz, the chair, as well as Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis, Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione and Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds.

There were a number of top candidates, the source said, including BYU, Louisville, West Virginia, TCU and previously unmentioned Tulane, of Conference USA. The source said the Big 12 has been contacted by a number of other schools about possible inclusion, as well.

On Thursday, the Big 12 invited TCU, which was supposed to begin membership in the Big East in 2012-13. The TCU board of trustees was scheduled to meet later in the day to discuss the invitation.

The source said that Tulane would become a viable option for the Big 12 if it were to grab four schools to beef up the membership to 12, in a situation where BYU decides it doesn't want to leave its football independence or its new tie to the WCC in all other sports. Tulane is interesting to the Big 12 because of its location in New Orleans and in a state, Louisiana, where the Big 12 is absent, as well as the school's renewed commitment to sports and facilities after Hurricane Katrina.

A source with knowledge of Tulane's situation told ESPN.com that the Green Wave have privately been making overtures to the Big East and Big 12 about possible membership but didn't want to upset Conference USA as that league looks to form a partnership with the Mountain West.

Tulane is also a member of the Association of American Universities -- the only AAU member listed as a possible addition. The prestigious AAU tag is something that the SEC has looked at as an important criterion for expansion, as evidenced by the league promoting Texas A&M as one of three AAU members in the SEC in a news release announcing the Aggies' addition. Florida and Vanderbilt are the other two in the SEC.

The Big 12 would be down to four AAU schools after the departure of Texas A&M, and down to three -- Texas, Kansas, and Iowa State -- if Missouri leaves.

The source cited the improved academics at TCU and Louisville as important aspects to possible inclusion in the Big 12.

University of Oklahoma president David Boren told ESPN.com Wednesday he believes it's "50-50" Missouri leaves the Big 12 for the SEC.