Big East Bye Bye?

[drdiederich]

The Big East basketball only schools might have the clout for the next six months to dissolve the Big East, retain the name and connections to the tourney and reform... This would be great for them. They are getting screwed over right now. Their RPI is being decimated with the loss of quality opponents like Pitt and Cuse and the addition of crap teams like Tulane. Will they be able to succeed with the plan? I think if they could pull it off and rebuild the Big East into what it once was, a basketball powerhouse conference by adding to those 7 schools ones like those suggested in the article (Creighton for instance), it would be best for everyone. I hope they succeed. The Big East is a joke of a conference right now and I'd hate to see these great programs like Georgetown be battered down... not to mention Marquette Anyone have any takes on this situation? What do you think will happen... do you think they will all end up part of the A-10 as has also been speculated?

[48]

DR: Thank you for making my point in the other thread that FOOTBALL supports all the other programs. I think it is pretty hilarious that the No. 1 Catholic college in the country...ND...is independent in FB just so they don't have to share ND TV network FB revenue with the other...predominately Catholic...Big East colleges. The ultimate example of greed from an institution that professes altruism and Christian charity. lol. BTW...if you look at the No. 1 women's college basketball program in the country...UCONN...if you check their roster...the overwhelming majority of these girls come from CATHOLIC high schools/academies. More irony. In summary, if you drop the hypocrisy of AMATEUR and align these college basketball power houses with an NBA sponsor, it solves all the problems. Just saying...

[48]

DR: One more thing...if the Big East is dissolved and these schools wind up in the A10 and/or ACC, what has really happened??? You have transferred them to a conference where they will be parasites off of other schools'...wait for it...drum roll...FOOTBALL programs. lol.

[drdiederich]

48, I don't want to see them in a football conference. I loved the old Big East, when it was a basketball haven. These schools (G-town, Marquette etc) probably don't have athletic budget problems at all if they have a basketball only conference. Sure they won't get the huge paychecks of football conferences but they have much smaller ADs and much less expenses. I loved watching the Big East before because I could turn on the TV and watch, didn't care who played, and knew it would be a great game because every team was good and every team was competitive. I would like to see these 7 schools poach some other basketball only schools from other conferences and go it alone. I bet they would get a good TV deal out of it. The only thing wrong with the A-10 is there are some inconsequential teams in it. If these 7 schools took the best from the A-10 it would be like heaven. The A-10 doesn't do football so it would be the best fit if these schools just jumped ship... the problem is the A-10 just redid their TV deal... and the prospective new additions weren't part of it so it isn't as good as it otherwise would be

[Grainbelt2]

The NE catholic hoops only schools + Depaul and Marquette aren't going anywhere. They need the football schools too much. Just a little pi$$y about the Tulane addition. I agree it was dumb.

[drdiederich]

24-48 hours and we should know the outcome... It looks like right now they are leaning HARD toward leaving/dissolving the Big East.

"If the seven schools decide to move to a new league, they would keep their automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. NCAA rules state that as long as a group of seven universities have been in the same league for five years, they would keep their bid after a move together."

"A source told ESPN on Wednesday that Temple, as a football-only member, has voting rights but can't vote on dissolution of the league. With Temple unable to vote, that gives the seven basketball schools enough votes to dissolve the league." This had been the big question mark, and it looks like Temple doesn't have any power in a dissolution matter. So now the question becomes... which is better- join another league or dissolve and reform a "new" Big East.

I can understand the 7 school's worry... UConn and Cinci tried to leave the Big East and now are pleading to get the 7 schools to stay. If they left in the near future and those 7 schools were left with the incoming garbage in the Big East it would kill their RPI and the competitiveness of the conference and those 7 schools would not have any power for change. Right now it appears they hold all the cards.

[drdiederich]

Sources have it that the 7 schools have already decided to leave and the question that remains is when they are gone and whether or not they own the Big East name. They will leave the conference and form a new one, will still have a conference automatic berth (bringing the number of auto bids to 32 from the current 31) since they have all been in the same conference for 5+ years (per NCAA rules). They are thought to be planning on inviting Xavier, Saint Louis, Dayton, Creighton, Gonzaga and possibly Saint Mary's to joining their newly formed conference, whatever the name ends up being (either a new Big East or something else).

From the outside looking in this could be the nail in the coffin for the current Big East and we might see it completely implode. The schools that are slated to join might back out in favor of their current conferences as they wouldn't get any more money. The current media package stands to lose 20% of its revenue if these 7 schools leave. This would drop the average per school to the level of the Mountain West. The sad part is that there are a couple of schools that are basketball first schools and who have football programs for some reason... no one cares about them or watches them... yeah, I'm talking to you UConn.... that will be left in the dust here. It will be quite interesting to see how this all shakes down.

Word is official announcements may come as soon as tomorrow (Saturday)