Division 1 College Conference Realignment

[Island_Style]

http://espn.go.com/c...ess-source-says

The Big East as we know it is dead.

This will give FSU a reason to leave without feeling like they destroyed the ACC. The ACC gets their UConn.

[thespleenenator]

http://espn.go.com/c...ess-source-says

The Big East as we know it is dead.

Thank god. Watching the Big East was like watching an old dog slowly and painfully die, until finally someone has the heart to put him out of his misery.

[4_tattoos]

Looks like Conference USA & the Mountain West will benefit from this. Wonder what happens to Cincinnati after the collapse becomes official?

[Saint Zephyr III]

So if I understand it right, the seven schools may simply take the Big East name with them and leave the new football-only members to their own devices, right? And the other alternative is simply dissolving it and joining another conference. Or is it the other way around?

[rams80]

Brett McMurphy Tweet:

Big East hoops schools can't dissolve league, sources told @espn. Can leave as group w/out paying exit fees, but must wait 27 months

LOL.

[Seadragon76]

Brett McMurphy Tweet:

Big East hoops schools can't dissolve league, sources told @espn. Can leave as group w/out paying exit fees, but must wait 27 months

How much you wanna bet the 'Group of Seven' is going to sue the Big East like what Rutgers is doing, hm?

[Philsphan]

For Butler to be invited into the new "Group of 7's" conference another prominent non-Catholic school will have to go with them. Agree/Disagree? Ideas?

Also, the only way Gonzaga and St. Mary's go is if it is truly an all Catholic conference IMO because the travel distances are just too hard for student athletes who don't play basketball.

[RyanMcD29]

Brett McMurphy Tweet:

Big East hoops schools can't dissolve league, sources told @espn. Can leave as group w/out paying exit fees, but must wait 27 months

LOL.

Just like West Virginia, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and eventually Rutgers, Louisville, and Notre Dame all did, right?

I think this Catholic + Butler League could be a really fun basketball conference to watch. It'll be like the old school Big East setup before football got the way it is, plus it's with a bunch of schools that don't have FBS football so they don't have to sacrifice anything to football in a sense. It won't be as strong as the Big East by any means, but it'll still be a really solid group

[RyanMcD29]

Also FWIW the MAAC has raided the NEC and took Monmouth, Quinnipiac, and Wagner with them

[rams80]

Brett McMurphy Tweet:

Big East hoops schools can't dissolve league, sources told @espn. Can leave as group w/out paying exit fees, but must wait 27 months

LOL.

Just like West Virginia, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and eventually Rutgers, Louisville, and Notre Dame all did, right?

I was laughing at the irony of their plight.

[bosrs1]

Brett McMurphy Tweet:

Big East hoops schools can't dissolve league, sources told @espn. Can leave as group w/out paying exit fees, but must wait 27 months

How much you wanna bet the 'Group of Seven' is going to sue the Big East like what Rutgers is doing, hm?

They won't have to. They only have to wait 27 months if they leave as a group. If they simply vote to disband the Big East in the coming weeks they can leave immediately as there will no longer be a Big East. And one thing that has been clear since this first broke, the 7 schools have the 3/4 voting power to kill the conference until June.

[Geoff]

Gene Williams, the head of Warchant.com, has said that FSU and SEC are talking. He says it is a "is there any way to fit us in?" type deal. And if the SEC says no, Big12 time. It could happen. Saban wants FSU bad.

Oh, Dot Com. Floating rumors to get subscribers as always. Warchant has gone way, way, way down hill. They hit the bottom of the valley and started digging.

I'm not saying that this won't happen just that I don't trust Gene one bit. He's got a few nice people under him, and at least one good writer, but he's killing the site and has been for years.

[DaytonBlue]

The New "Big East"

West: SLU, DePaul, Marquette, Butler, Dayton, Xavier

East: Villanova, Georgetown, St. John's, Providence, Seton Hall, VCU

As a Dayton alum, looks good to me, although I know only Xavier is a lock if the seven form their own league.

As a Memphian with civic pride, this sucks. Although if I'm the FB "Big East", I could add UMass and get:

UConn, UMass, Cincinnati, Memphis, Central Florida, South Florida, SMU, Houston, Temple for all sports plus a few football-only schools...still a joke but still better than the current C-USA.

Surely Boise St. and San Diego St. have to be thinking about staying Mountain West now.

Cincy, UConn, and USF really lost this round, but may still have hope if the Big 12 decides 10 teams is not enough or the Big 10 decides its empire isn't big enough.

And I also assume that after this new "Big East 7+some others" is formed, then the A10 goes and raids some other schools and we just keep going round and round.

I wonder what low level basketball only conference will suffer the same fate as WAC football.

[Island_Style]

Gene Williams, the head of Warchant.com, has said that FSU and SEC are talking. He says it is a "is there any way to fit us in?" type deal. And if the SEC says no, Big12 time. It could happen. Saban wants FSU bad.

Oh, Dot Com. Floating rumors to get subscribers as always. Warchant has gone way, way, way down hill. They hit the bottom of the valley and started digging.

I'm not saying that this won't happen just that I don't trust Gene one bit. He's got a few nice people under him, and at least one good writer, but he's killing the site and has been for years.

He is actually pretty quick to shoot down expansion rumors. You could be right. At least other people have been agreeing with him. We will see. Personally I think it is a "We are about to move. You sure you can't find room?" type deal.

[McCall]

The New "Big East"

West: SLU, DePaul, Marquette, Butler, Dayton, Xavier

East: Villanova, Georgetown, St. John's, Providence, Seton Hall, VCU

As a Dayton alum, looks good to me, although I know only Xavier is a lock if the seven form their own league.

As a Memphian with civic pride, this sucks. Although if I'm the FB "Big East", I could add UMass and get:

UConn, UMass, Cincinnati, Memphis, Central Florida, South Florida, SMU, Houston, Temple for all sports plus a few football-only schools...still a joke but still better than the current C-USA.

Surely Boise St. and San Diego St. have to be thinking about staying Mountain West now.

Cincy, UConn, and USF really lost this round, but may still have hope if the Big 12 decides 10 teams is not enough or the Big 10 decides its empire isn't big enough.

And I also assume that after this new "Big East 7+some others" is formed, then the A10 goes and raids some other schools and we just keep going round and round.

I wonder what low level basketball only conference will suffer the same fate as WAC football.

Doubt VCU. Seems this will be, if not strictly Catholic, then at least an all private school league.

And more than likely UConn, Cincinnati and South Florida will all end up somewhere else. My guess is the ACC since they were being considered at the time Louisville was added and also since they themselves will probably be losing more schools. Boise State and SDSU will probably back out and stay in the MWC.

[ESTONES6]

Cinci and UCONN wouldn't be bad additions to the ACC... but adding another Florida school seems pointless.

[McCall]

Cinci and UCONN wouldn't be bad additions to the ACC... but adding another Florida school seems pointless.

Not if they lose FSU. Plus they may just need numbers by that point and could be losing up to 6 more schools if some speculation comes to fruition . And especially if all the other conferences are trying for 16.

[DaytonBlue]

I don't see how the Pac gets to 16 without taking a Boise St. or SDSU. The Big 12 schools would leave a lot of cash (all their TV money) on the table if they left the Big XII.

I also don't see the ACC going after South Florida too much. If FSU/Clemson go Big XII or (I mean when) the BIG goes expanding (they would likely add two more to get to 16), adding Cincy and UConn gives the ACC a nice 14 for football and 15 for everything else.

And the ACC at the last expansion said they were waiting to add more than Louisville because they knew Cincy and UConn will come running at the drop of a hat.

So it looks like the losers are possibly South Florida and almost certainly the CUSA teams thinking they were heading to a greener pasture.

Would St. Jospeh's be considered for the Catholic League? Them, Butler, XU, SLU, UD, plus the seven is a nice 12 team league.

[McCall]

ACC may not only lose FSU/Clemson to the Big 12, but also Georgia Tech/Virginia to the Big 10 and possibly Virginia Tech/NC State to the SEC. Some of those combos may be interchangeable with UNC and/or Duke, but the number remains the same, possibly 6. They're gonna need more than 2 schools to make up that. Army/Navy has been mentioned. Those 2 combined with UConn/Cincy would bring them to 12. If they are able to convince ND to go all in, then USF becomes a player for #14.

[jgiff17]

Until there are only conference champions in the national championship game/ playoff notre dame will not be persuaded by anyone to join a conference for football.