And so it begins.

It took less than 24 hours for the Big 12 Conference to be exposed for not being completely truthful during Monday’s press conference that revealed the conference’s decision not to expand.

And, if we’re being honest here, almost no one who has been paying any sort of attention to the latest edition of drama in the Big 12 was in the least bit surprised.

In a 714-word league memo obtained by ESPN.com on Tuesday, the conference outlined a number of “dos” and “don’ts” for commissioner Bob Bowlsby and board of directors chairman David Boren to use during their briefing with the media following the nearly six-hour meeting in Dallas that ended with the Big 12 announcing plans to stick with its 10-member lineup instead of adding schools such as Houston, Cincinnati, BYU or others.

As Boren and Bowlsby sat at the table and discussed the reasons for passing on expansion, they uttered phrases that included language like “stronger than ever,” “unified group,” and other yea-team type comments. They also made sure to point out that choosing not to expand was a unanimous decision.

As it turns out, that was one of the directives issued in the memo.

Tuesday’s report from ESPN.com’s Brett McMurphy included all of the “dos” and “don’ts” outlined in the memo, which clearly was drafted in an attempt to make the Big 12 appear to be the strong and united conference it once was and not the weak, vulnerable and wandering collection of schools that many perceive it to be today.

The most damning part of McMurphy’s report is the line that says, “Despite a number of schools favoring expansion, Bowlsby and Boren said the decision not to expand was unanimous.”

Give the Big 12 credit for this: When dealing with such a touchy topic, it pays to be organized. And it never hurts to be on the same page.

However, as Twitter so eloquently illustrated, nearly everyone who watched or covered Monday’s event did so with one hand typing away and the other covering the laughter coming from their mouths. In short, nobody was buying what they were hearing.

The talking points that Boren and Bowlsby leaned on during the post-meeting press conference contradicted the past several months of behavior and soundbites that surfaced across the conference and likely left no one believing the Big 12 was, in fact, stronger than ever.

It’s possible that the Big 12 could get to that point again, but there appears to be a long road ahead and reports like McMurphy’s about Monday’s memo and Tuesday’s comments from Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard, who pointed the finger directly at Boren for putting the Big 12 in this mess in the first place, only figure to make things more difficult.

Many hoped that Tuesday would mark the beginning of the road to recovery for the Big 12 as it heads into this new era of college athletics.

Who knows if the recovery aspect of that will actually come to fruition? Sadly, it appears that we may be just getting started with something much less appealing for a conference that simply cannot afford to take any more hits.