Big East 2.0: My Dream League??? (college hoops diversion)

The AP and ESPN were burning the wires yesterday and this morning on developments with the Big East Conference.

AP here and here.  ESPN here and here.  The main ESPN article is here.

[AP] The Big East is headed for another break up. This time, the seven prominent basketball schools that don't play FBS football are planning to cut ties with the ever-changing conference.

The divorce is expected to be complicated, maybe even contentious, with millions of dollars and possibly the future of the league at stake.

The Big East's non-football members decided Thursday to separate from the conference, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because officials from those schools are still sorting through details and trying to figure how best to split from the conference

More:

[ESPN] According to the source, there is a lot of interpretation regarding exit fees, the waiting period, and on who gets the Big East name and Madison Square Garden for a conference basketball tournament.

The departing schools conducted a teleconference with Aresco on Thursday morning. They have scheduled a second conference call for Saturday, when they are expected to address these issues and possibly make an official declaration.

Because the seven schools are leaving as a group, they can use a league clause that eliminates the exit fee for a collective departure, a source told ESPN. However, the schools would have to honor the league's requirement to provide 27 months' notice.

The seven schools could negotiate an earlier exit, but the Big East would undoubtedly require some sort of financial compensation.

It's unknown who would keep the Big East name...

… Initially, both the FBS [football school] and non-FBS schools believed, sources said, that the seven Catholic schools could dissolve the league by a two-thirds majority vote, which they have. However, a source with knowledge of the situation told ESPN on Thursday that the league may not be dissolved without at least two FBS and two non-FBS members each voting to do so.

That won't happen as only 10 full members -- the seven departing, non-FBS schools plus UConn,Cincinnati and South Florida -- remain in the conference and the FBS schools don't want the league to dissolve. Temple is a football-only member. The Owls will be full members next year but would not get a vote on dissolution this year.

Without voting to dissolve, the seven schools are expected to move together to form a new league. They would keep their automatic berth in the NCAA basketball tournament because NCAA rules state that as long as a group of seven universities has been in the same league for five years, it keeps its bid after a move together to a new conference.

So, the seven remaining "smaller" Catholic basketball schools - Villanova, Georgetown, St. John's, Seton Hall, Providence, Marquette and DePaul - have decided to "leave" the Big East en masse, yet may be able to take the Big East name and the hoops contracts/revenues with them.  Strong rumor is that they are thinking of creating an everything-but-football conference (like the Big East used to be), with other highly successful, mid-to-large sized Catholic universities.  This 10- or 12-school conference may include the following:

Big East originals:
Villanova
Georgetown
St. John's
Seton Hall
Providence
Marquette
DePaul

Most likely possible new schools:
Xavier
Dayton
St. Louis
Creighton
Butler (non-Catholic)

Other possible schools could be:
Boston College (a former Big East school who now may be uncomfortable with a bloated ACC)
Notre Dame (a more recent Big East school to leave for the ACC except for football)
St. Bonaventure
St. Joseph's
LaSalle
Dusquesne
Richmond
Valparaiso

As a Villanova grad (Class of '85… yes, THAT class), I and a friend of mine (another Villanova grad from the 70s) have been dreaming about a men's basketball conference that would be a blend of various Catholic schools from the Big East and a few other conferences that were strong in college hoops in that general region.

Our dream conference may finally come to pass. :-)


12/18 UPDATE:

Upon further analysis of my suggestions, above, I think Xavier, Dayton and Butler from the A-10, plus Creighton from the Missouri Valley would be the best fit with the C-7 of the Big East.  Those four teams each have a two-decade success history in men's hoops and would fit in well.  That would bring the new league to 11 schools.

The 12th member should be from of the following list: UConn (for everything except football, are currently stuck still  in the Big East and are a founding member), or Notre Dame (for everything except football, another long-standing Big East school that was about to go to the ACC next year).  If neither of these schools wants to join, then start looking somewhere else.  Possibly St. Louis, VCU or Valparaiso.

Now THAT was an a** whoopin'...

Even though I've been living in the L.A. area for the past 14 years, that doesn't necessarily mean that I've automatically become an L.A. sports team fan. I may be able to root for certain L.A. teams. But, to root for Lakers (or the Raiders - L.A. or Oakland versions) has always gone against my grain. It's like rooting for the Cowboys or Georgetown. I - just - can't - do - it.

So, it brought me a certain amount of glee to watch last night as the Lakers got SPANKED by the Celtics. I'm not a Celtics fan, either (in general)... but when you have to choose between the two... it's an obvious decision for me. I'm not a Red Sox fan, either. But I've cheered for them ever since Schilling and Francona (two former Phillies - pitcher and manager) joined Boston.

What I enjoyed most about the Celtics win is the way the players (and coaches) approached the game all season long. Old school. Defense. Fundamentals. Team play. It's why I'm a fan of coach Larry Brown. And all season long, all the way through to the post-championship interviews last night, all the "star" players talked about was their sacrificing their own talents and egos to work as a team to accomplish their goals.

Now, I don't know much about Kevin Garnett - as a player, nor as a person. I just don't follow pro hoops that much to really notice. At the post-game conference table last night, he was asked by a reporter what it felt like to finally be able to win it all after so many years of struggle and criticism. I loved how he responded, completely from the heart:

"You ever go to school and you have that bully mess with you every day? You know when you get out of your mom or dad's car that you're going to have to see him as soon as you walk through the door and he's going to be sitting there with his feet up waiting to pat your pockets.

"Then one day you say to yourself, 'It's going to stop tonight.' You walk through there and as soon as he pats your pocket you lay his ass out. You see the expression on his face and you're sort of kind of shook because you know what, you just knocked the bully out and you don't know how he's going to come back.

"So the next morning you come in and he's not there, and it's like a sigh of relief... [and if you've never been bullied before in your life, you won't understand what I'm talking about.]"

Don't misunderstand him. He's not talking about the Lakers.

Congratulations, K.G.!!!


I understand.