The Big East is dead (or at least dying). Long live the Big East.
We've all been waiting for this to happen, and now it appears it finally has. The seven Big East schools that don't have I-A football are reportedly talking about forming their own conference.
The Big East is dead (or at least dying). Long live the Big East.
Jonathan Tannenwald
UPDATE: When I originally wrote this post Tuesday morning, I did not mean it to be entirely serious. It was just an idea to kick around.
But now ESPN.com's Andy Katz is reporting that the Atlantic 10 is in fact open to welcoming the Big East's Catholic contingent. As such, this idea becomes a lot more real, with the possibility of a 21-team league once Temple and Charlotte leave the A-10. I've added another potential division alignment to reflect the news.
We've all been waiting for this to happen, and now it appears it finally has. According to former Boston Globe scribe Mark Blaudschun, the seven Big East schools that don't have I-A football are seriously talking about forming their own conference.
Blaudschun reported Monday that representatives from Marquette, DePaul, Georgetown, Villanova, Seton Hall, St. John's and Providence met Sunday in New York to discuss their collective future. Big East commissioner Mike Aresco was in the room too.
The fundamental question is clear: can a league made entirely of schools without I-A football keep enough brand equity to secure a good television contract?
I'm sure that a lot of people who've followed Big East and Atlantic 10 basketball over the years would like to think so - and yes, I'm one of them.
So at least as an ideal, I've come up with a few concepts for a conference that could work. They all have either 18 or 20 teams, and 18 games in-conference.
If the conference has 20 teams, then each team plays its nine division opponents once and four of them twice, and five crossover games. If the conference has 18 teams, then each team plays its eight division opponents home and away and two crossover games.
In both cases, the top eight teams from each division go to Madison Square Garden for the conference tournament.
Having that many teams involved is unwieldy, to be sure. But let's just imagine for a while. And again, the goal is to do this without any I-A football schools. That means no Temple and no Massachusetts.
Option 1: The East Coast Conference Re-Born
Here's the starting point for a 20-team conference.
| West | East |
| Marquette | Georgetown |
| DePaul | Villanova |
| Butler | La Salle |
| Xavier | Saint Joseph's |
| Dayton | Fordham |
| Duquesne | Seton Hall |
| St. Bonaventure | St. John's |
| Richmond | Providence |
| Virginia Commonwealth | Rhode Island |
| George Washington | Holy Cross |
Option 2: A Smaller Concept
If 20 teams is too many, the easiest teams to get rid of are St. Bonaventure and Holy Cross. The result would look like this:
| West | East |
| Marquette | Georgetown |
| DePaul | Villanova |
| Butler | La Salle |
| Xavier | Saint Joseph's |
| Dayton | Fordham |
| Duquesne | Seton Hall |
| Richmond | St. John's |
| Virginia Commonwealth | Rhode Island |
| George Washington | Providence |
Option 3: The National League
Before the A-10/Big East merger potential news broke, Katz wondered aloud whether the Big East schools could go after Creighton and Saint Louis without joining the A-10. I can't help calling this concept the National League, given the baseball cities involved.
| West | East |
| Creighton | Georgetown |
| Saint Louis | George Washington |
| Marquette | Villanova |
| DePaul | La Salle |
| Butler | Saint Joseph's |
| Xavier | Seton Hall |
| Dayton | Fordham |
| Duquesne | St. John's |
| Richmond | Rhode Island |
| Virginia Commonwealth | Providence |
Option 4: Reality
Here's a potential layout of divisions if the aforementioned Atlantic 10-Big East merger happens, creating a conference with 21 teams. As Katz noted, you could have teams just play in divisions home-and-home, or play every team once.
| West | East |
| Saint Louis | Georgetown |
| Marquette | George Washington |
| DePaul | Villanova |
| Butler | La Salle |
| Xavier | Saint Joseph's |
| Dayton | Fordham |
| St. Bonaventure | Seton Hall |
| Duquesne | St. John's |
| Richmond | Providence |
| Virginia Commonwealth | Rhode Island |
| Massachusetts |
Option 5: Back To The Future
Now, let's say Temple (gets bored playing Tulane and Houston / realizes it misses games against teams its fans actually care about / comes to its senses) wants to get in on this deal.
At least, let's imagine that the Owls would join a different I-A conference for football only and (realize this is where they should be) play in this conference for all other sports.
(I can't imagine why they would, but anyway...)
Here's what we'd end up with:
| West | East |
| Marquette | Georgetown |
| DePaul | Temple |
| Butler | Villanova |
| Xavier | La Salle |
| Dayton | Saint Joseph's |
| Duquesne | Seton Hall |
| Richmond | Fordham |
| Virginia Commonwealth | St. John's |
| George Washington | Rhode Island |
| Massachusetts | Providence |
This puts one I-A football school in each division. If UMass complains about not being in the same division as Rhode Island and Providence, they could be guaranteed those matchups as part of their annual crossover slate.
It also knocks out Saint Louis and St. Bonaventure. I picked Saint Louis because it's a geographic outlier, and St. Bonaventure because, frankly, it's the lowest-profile program in the conference.
If you want to put Saint Louis back in this group, it would probably knock out Fordham. I picked the Rams over Duquesne, because the Dukes give the conference a presence in Pittsburgh. George Washington or UMass would move to the East to put the Billikens in the West.
Of course, the city that makes out best in this is Philadelphia. We'd have four of the Big 5 schools in the same conference, and in the same division to boot. That would put some real spice into the City Series.
(Hey, it's my idea. So I can do that.)
With all of this said, here's the truth: it seems clear that the Big East's non-football schools are trying to do something that really puts basketball first.
That would mean Temple is out of the picture, and UMass would be in something of a state of limbo. Were that to happen, the Minutemen would likely try to join the Temple-Memphis-Houston conference - especially if Connecticut leaves for the ACC.
And consider this: If somehow, Villanova ends up in a conference with La Salle and St. Joe's, all of a sudden the burden of completing the round-robin schedule shifts almost entirely off the Wildcats and on to Temple.
Given Villanova's reputation as the school that killed the Big 5, I'd be interested to see whether perceptions change if the Owls become the key to completing the City Series round-robin.
We now return you to your regularly-scheduled programming.
I'm looking all over the place, and I cannot find anything about the A-10 and the Big East forming a power conference. To avoid turning this website into something fantasy football-esque, you should stop writing these amateur blogs.— trungy
can't wait til the ACC implodes. they started this mess when they raided the big east for the U, BC and VT— hannibal barca- If it happens, it happens.......— Bigbirch
- I think this is highly realistic. The Regional schools are already left out in the cold not having the fan base to support FBS football in this new era. Basketball is where they can compete. Getting the short term dollars int he Big East's current TV contract is just that.. short term. Only a matter of time till it dies.— Freddy
- Wow. And under such a scenario, why wouldn't Temple want to keep the Big-5 slate going? All this shifting "blame" for ruining the Big-5 onto Temple is rediculous. Every school has plenty of non-conference games to play with - is Temple going to ruin the Big-5 next year when they're in BE basketball? NO! Bottom line for Temple is they're screwed again. After finally getting back in and for all sports, the whole thing blows up in their face. Stability is a thing of the past. All Temple can do now is be flexible, roll with the punches and make the best possible choices as things evolve.— joninohio
- Can there be any scenario that rids the conference of DePaul and Marquette? They never belonged in the first place, ans still don't.— SU_alum
- There is no more Big East. That is your first wrong assumption. Can't save something that no longer will exist after next year. Sounds like we are going back to the Eastern Eight!— petecabrey
- Not that I want to see this happen but if I'm the commissioner of the A-10 I would be contacting all Big East teams without a 1A football team to join forces?— wjmtemple
- Can Temple bail on the current plan they have? If they kept their bball/Olympic in the A-10 and re-applied as football only to the Big East (BE would take them as football only; assuming there still is a BE) they could potentially get in on this. It would make everything even at 22 teams. If this mass defection happens a school with a better resume like UConn or Cincy would be trying to same thing. TU doesn't officially leave the conference until July 1 - so if this is a reality I'd take my vote, side with the basketball schools and stay in the A-10 for bball. It would be the ultimate revenge for years of being pushed around by the Big East Schools.— RUlaw
- Te BE Schools that pushed Temple around are in the ACC now.
— ameadie - I like RUlaw's idea, partly cause I thought about TU splitting their sports between conferences too. Temple's deal in the MAC and A-10 was working pretty well for them. Even the new BE football thing is good, so go back to the A-10 for basketball especially if it joins with the BE basketball schools. What a conference that would be! Go Owls.— joninohio
- How about option five with UConn and Cinncinnati . That would be one hell of a basketball conference.Temple, UConn, Cinncinnatilay football in the Big East, all other sports in the A10. Villanova is determined not to compete against Temple in any conference senecio so this is unlikely.— Harvey Matloff
Reach Jonathan at jtannenwald@phillynews.com or 215-854-2330.
