This week the athletic directors and conference officials decided to keep the Double Bye for the third consecutive year. Top 4 seeds are 3-8 in the Quarterfinals over the past two years.

Villanova by the Numbers

The most memorable game in the Invitational series is probably the LSU-Villanova game from the Invitational’s first season (December 2007). Played in the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Villanova, down through most of the game, and trailing by 15 with 3:30 left in the second half, put on a closing blitz which stunned the Tigers and allowed the Wildcats to win it at the buzzer, 68-67.

VBTN also notes that the Invitational was flawed from the beginning, playing only four games, rather than a true top-to-bottom challenge format like the ACC/Big Ten and without the possibility of the Battle for the Bluegrass match-up between Louisville and Kentucky ever being a part of it.

With the recent conference shake-up between the Pac-10 and Big XII conferences, we may also see their challenge, the “Hardwood Series” come to an end. Could the Big East find a match with either of those conferences? The Big XII could potentially provide more compelling match-ups for television audiences.

Big East Roundtable July: Pt 1

The second installment discusses each school’s new freshman class of players, and how the bloggers think they will fit into the mix.

Big East Roundtable July: Pt 2

The third part is a discussion of 2011 recruiting around the Big East. Who has already committed, offers outstanding, and guys that coaches would love to have.

Big East Roundtable July: Pt 3

The fourth part poses the question: Will 2010-2011 be a “down year” for the Big East? Has it been “down” recently?

Big East Roundtable July: Pt 4

I’ll warn you that some of these get a little repetitive with three Villanova blogs participating: Villanova By the Numbers, The Nova Blog and, of course, VUhoops.com. However, the roundtable is a must-read if you want to know what to expect from our Big East rivals this season.

As usual, the Wildcats will face all 15 other Big East teams at least once. The three teams that the ‘Cats will home and away are: Rutgers, Syracuse, and Pittsburgh. Villanova will host the Georgetown game this year and will travel to Connecticut to play the Huskies.

The full breakdowns for each team are listed on NBE Basketball and BigEast.org. Villanova’s breakdown is (repeat opponents in italics):

Home Cincinnati, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, St. John’s, Syracuse, West Virginia

Away Connecticut, DePaul, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall, USF, Syracuse

The news this morning, however, was that Texas had a sudden change of heart. After pondering commissioner Beebe’s suggested plan to save the conference, the Longhorns administration began discussions toward that purpose today. The announcement that they would stay in the Big XII was made this evening.

Over the weekend it was reported that Texas A&M’s preference was to accept a bid to join the SEC. No official comments from the Aggies officials were available other than a statement that they were “aggressively pursuing” their options in light of the conference’s precarious situation. Oklahoma was also rumored to be interested in the SEC pitch, but most observers expected them to move in a package-deal with Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State.

Big XII conference officials believe that if the remaining ten schools stay together, their next television contract will be more valuable than what the 11-team Pac-10 would bring in. Furthermore, in the Big XII, schools like Texas would be allowed to sell local TV rights or even start their own school-specific television network that would not require them to share revenue with the rest of the conference.

Despite this, it appears that the Pac-10 had made it’s pitch to a number of schools. Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott was reportedly using a private jet belonging to Oregon booster P.J. Kilkenny this weekend. FAA data allowed sites like SportsByBrooks to track the plane’s flight plan. It appears that Scott made stops at Texas A&M, Texas, Oklahoma City (for both Oklahoma schools, presumably), and Texas Tech. There are mixed reports on whether or not the plane stopped in Kansas City, but it appears that a flight there from Austin was scheduled at one point, though it may have been cancelled. There are also reports that the plane had stopped in Salt Lake City.

Why was that interesting? Well, it would seem as if offers (conditional or otherwise) to join the Pac-10 were being issued to schools in those cities.

It was all for naught, however, as the Big XII will remain in existence and the Pac-10 will likely look to an MWC school like Utah to bring them up to 12 members and a conference championship. The ten-member Big XII is reportedly in talks with ESPN or another television network about a deal that would provide “significantly more” than $17 million per school for the remaining members. Any new television deal will likely be announced soon. In the mean time, the ten remaining members will split up the $20 million in departure fees that Colorado and Nebraska will owe the conference.

A scenario where BYU and Air Force would be invited to the Big XII was also reported by some sources today, but was later put into question.

As for the Big Ten, it appears that after adding Nebraska, they have went back into a holding pattern. Their top priority is Notre Dame, and they would like to add the Irish without having to take the blame for a Big East deconstruction that might be necessary to get them to the bargaining table. For the moment, it appears that they will sit tight at 12 members.

This is good news, since conference-realignment blogger, “Frank the Tank,” noted that the current membership agreement of the Big East (which was written following the ACC raid in 2003), states that in the event that two football members were to leave the conference, the football and non-football schools would have the option to split without penalty (and retain their respective revenues). He also reported a message-board rumor (and therefore one of dubious reliability), that it was the Catholic schools, not the football schools who would be the driving force behind any split. The Catholic schools, he says, are convinced that with the recent Final Four appearances of Villanova and Georgetown, and their presence in large markets, that they would do just fine financially after a split.

Other rumors had the Big East commissioner pursuing Kansas and perhaps other Big XII -North schools as possible pre-emptive additions, while the “Old Guard” of the Big East — meaning Villanova, Georgetown, Providence and perhaps St. Johns — vehemently opposed the addition of any football schools. The reported reasoning was a desire to retain an balance of power that would keep the basketball schools from being overruled by football. Those four schools have significant influence in the Big East for various reasons, and their objections could certainly put a stop to an expansion discussion.

Then again, perhaps that story isn’t so true after-all? Other rumors were reported (again by a fan-site, MemphisRoar.com) that the Big East had made two offers of membership, one of which was to the University of Memphis. Memphis football is not a premier program, but it is at the FBS level. Their basketball program could only make the conference even stronger in that sport. (As a side note, Memphis was the fourth member of the 1985 Final Four, the other three being Big East schools).

While this rumor is far-from-confirmed, CBSSports.com reported that the CEO of FedEx (based in Memphis) has offered a bounty of around $10million per year to any BCS-affiliated conference that would admit the Memphis Tigers. The company would be willing to pay for the greater exposure that might come with the FedExForum being mentioned regularly on national TV broadcasts. It is also notable that FedEx CEO Fred Smith’s son plays football for the Tigers.

Don’t forget that back in September, Memphis hired the former Big East commish, Mike Tranghese, as a consultant. Presumably with the intention of finding their way into a major conference. Their AD has also let slip that he believes their best fit would be the Big East. Those facts shove a dagger into any rumor that would claim that Memphis has an unconditional offer from the Big East — they would clearly jump on the opportunity and accept as soon as they could.

That said, MemphisRoar.com claims that it was a “informal” offer made to Memphis and UCF that is not contingent on the Big East losing any schools. The offer was reportedly not put in writing at this point.

So where does this put us?

The biggest winner of expansion so far was probably Nebraska. The biggest losers were the Pac-10 and Colorado, who will now be scrambling to add a Mountain West school (likely Utah) to get back to an even-number, but they missed out on the massive pay-day that the University of Texas could have brought.

The Big Ten got their 12th member and their conference championship and it seems like the Big East may be spared (for the moment). More expansion is not out of the question, but the current state of conference realignment seems to be working out against any immediate raid of the Big East — buying the conference time to work out a plan to stabilize their situation.

The Big East will continue to work quietly behind the scenes to develop a plan to institute a Big East television network. They will also be lobbying the Athletics Departments at both Villanova and Notre Dame to bring their football teams into the fold, even though neither has shown any interest in doing so.

For Notre Dame, it would probably take the loss of their NBC contract or perhaps their BCS status for them to even consider Big East football. For Villanova, it would likely take a significant amount of pressure, not just from the football side of the conference, but from the basketball schools as well. So long as the other seven non-football schools remain disinterested in Villanova football joining the conference, the Villanova administration will have no difficulty refusing to do so.

Of course, Alumni pressure and donations could also work to change the administration’s mind about football. It was just that that brought football back to Villanova Stadium just four years after the program was cancelled. At the moment, however, there does not appear to be any significant attempts on the part of the Alumni, students, or extended university family to bring about such a move.

The Big East is still in danger of falling prey to another raid. The loss of two or more football schools to any other conference could spell the end of the Big East. While Villanova may be prepared for life in a Catholic Conference, the fans are likely not so prepared for the low-revenue basketball that would likely result.

A further expansion of the Big East would create a potentially difficult to manage situation for conference members. Eighteen or Twenty schools would mean more travel, scheduling difficulties and other potential issues (the MWC and WAC were, in fact, a single conference, ultimately destroyed by conflicts resulting from it’s size).

It may be a while before we ultimately know what the future holds for the Big East. Without support from the Villanova community for football, however, the Villanova hoops program is almost certainly at a fork in the road. One fork is a healthy and happy future in the Big East, while the other will have the ‘Cats leading the way with Georgetown to the formation of a basketball-only conference for the Big East Catholic schools.

As we have mentioned before, it is likely that such a conference would earn significantly less in television revenue than what our program is currently running on. As Pete Thamel of the New York Times pointed out this spring, success in college basketball is closely associated with the amount of money a program is able to spend. While occasional exceptions to that rule find temporary success (George Mason ’06 and Butler ’10), the big winners are usually the big spenders (even if they don’t turn a profit — Champions Duke also ran the biggest deficit last year).

At the moment, however, Villanova basketball’s future survives another day. With some luck, it will be quite a few more.

See Also:

• Pete Thamel wrote an excellent article about what went on between the Big XII, the Pac-10, and Texas for the New York Times.
• The UConn Blog notes the Big East’s stay of execution.
• ESPN’s Ivan Maisel ponders: What’s Next for the Big East?
• Utah has given the Mountain West Conference notice that they would accept an invitation to the Pac-10, if offered.
• A USF blogger says that the Big East has NOT been saved.

At the end of last week, there were rumblings that the Pac-10 was planning to throw the first stone at the Big XII’s glass house by inviting six schools to join up. This would include the three public schools from Texas, the Oklahoma schools and Colorado. This rumor was flatly rejected prior to the conference’s meetings.

What do we actually know? The Associated Press reported that Larry Scott, the Pac-10 commissioner, was given permission to “explore expansion options,” during the meetings.

Since then, more and more rumors have been tossed around. Almost all of them have been confirmed by some anonymous sources, and denied in less-than-believeable fashion by anyone commenting on-the-record.

If we are to believe the rumors, and it’s all rumors at this point, then the following is the current state of conference expansion:

The Big XII, fearing a breakup, has demanded that Nebraska and Missouri either declare their intent to seek a spot in the Big Ten or announce their loyalty to the XII. Mizzou’s would love to switch conferences since they are very dissatisfied with their place in the Big XII, but currently has no offer to go elsewhere. Nebraska would love to get a larger payout and has been exploring their options with the Big Ten.

Alternating reports have Nebraska just waiting to make the official announcement of their move or still waiting for an invite from the Big Ten. Their Board of Regents is set to meet on conference alignment issues on Friday, however, so if a Big Ten offer IS out there, we could see them become the 12th Big Ten school soon. It is not clear if they would be able to make the switch before the college football season begins or if they would have to wait a year or two to get out of the Big XII.

On thing that could have an affect on that notice period, is the intention of the other schools.

The Pac-10 is still rumored to be inviting 6 more schools. ESPN is reporting that Colorado has already been invited and Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech should also be invited soon. That doesn’t mean that they would all accept, however, but the rumors seem to think that Texas thinks that the Big XII isn’t worth their time without Nebraska around, and if Texas jumps ship the rest of the schools will all likely seek greener pastures as well.

Texas A&M is in an enviable position as well. While Texas might be the most coveted team in this round of conference expansion, A&M has options of it’s own. The SEC has been in discussions with Texas A&M for the past few months, since the winds of expansion started blowing. Rumors suggest that the Aggies prefer to go to the SEC, but it’s not clear if Texas would come with them. The Texas state legislature might prefer that the three state flagship schools stay in the same conference.

Regardless what happens, the rumors reported seem to lean toward the Big XII disbanding should Nebraska opt out. Representatives from Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor, are planning to meet today to discuss their options both in and out of the Big XII.*

As for the Big Ten, they are likely to add Nebraska if they can reach an agreement with the Huskers. The rumors make it sound as if the Big Ten is happy to stop at 12 for the moment. Instead of completing their expansion now by adding whomever might be available, they may return to their longer-timeline and discuss their next move.

Other rumors have mentioned that the Big Ten’s first priority was Notre Dame, who they may still be trying to recruit. Notre Dame was reportedly considering it’s options, and may have told the Big Ten commissioner, Jim Delany, that if they were to join, they would not want to be part of a conference that was bigger than 12 members. More recently, Ted Greenstein at the Chicago Tribune noted that a source at Notre Dame, “indicated that the school likely has ‘moved on,’ with another saying that a top Notre Dame official assured the Big East that it intends to keep teams such as men’s and women’s basketball in the league.”

Notre Dame will remain a target for the Big Ten, who will continue to pursue them, at least over the next few weeks. Dennis Dodd at CBSSports.com believes that the Big Ten may use Syracuse as a step in their plan to woo Notre Dame. Other sources suggest that the Delany would rather try to out-wait Notre Dame than to load up on Big East schools to force their hand.

ESPN.com has reported that Nebraska was the Big Ten’s second highest priority, with Rutgers and/or Maryland third on their list. Any offers for other Big East schools would presumably be further down on the Big Ten’s to-do list.

While many have reported that Pittsburgh would also be a target, the Big Ten does not seem interested in expanding it’s presence in Pennsylvania.

On the other hand, at least one blog is reporting that offers may have been made by the Big Ten already to Notre Dame, Rutgers, Maryland and maybe Syracuse. The loss of just one or two football schools in that scenario would not necessarily cause the imminent end of the Big East, but if the ACC were to replace Maryland with a Big East program like Pitt or UConn, it could be a problem to re-stock the conference.

Whether Missouri finds a new home in the Big Ten seems more questionable now than it did before, but assuming all of the rumored offers currently extended to Big XII schools are accepted, there would be four or five programs looking for a new home. Among those could be strong basketball schools like Baylor, Kansas State, and even the blue blooded Kansas Jayhawks.

While the distance may cause high travel costs for the Kansas teams, the Big East might be a landing spot for the Jayhawks and those other Wildcats. Kansas has not been mentioned in any rumors as a target for the Pac-1o or Big Ten. Their undesirable nature for the other conferences is based on the weak revenue of their football programs, but just as Notre Dame has a national audience for football, Kansas brings a national audience for basketball.

For the Big East, adding one of the oldest and best programs in the history of the sport would be a coup. A rumor from an Iowa Hawkeye messageboard has suggested that not only is the Big East interested, but that an invitation has already been extended. If Kansas is looking to protect it’s golden goose of basketball (and perhaps to bring along their rival, K-State), the Big East is a better option than accepting a bid to the Mountain West.

If the Big East were the target of a notable raid, the remaining 5 or so football schools would have to seek new homes to remain BCS programs. They might go their separate ways, but they might also join with the remnants of the Big XII to form a merged conference of nine or ten schools.

The Big East might also look to reload by conducting another raid on Conference USA. The likely candidates there are Memphis and South Florida.

Update (11:20am): The San Jose Mercury is now reporting that Colorado will accept it’s invitation to the Pac-10 today. This could cause the Texas and Oklahoma schools to announce their intentions this week as well.

If Kansas really DOES have a Big East invitation, now would be the best time to start taking it seriously.

* Update (12:12pm): The purpose of the meeting between the Texas schools might be to discuss the option of moving to the SEC (reportedly A&M’s preference) rather than the Pac-10. Such a move would drastically change the Pac-10′s expansion plans.

Update (12:33pm): Colorado’s move to the Pac-10 is now official. The conference announced the move around noon.

Update (3:33pm): Rumors suggest that Texas A&M has an unconditional invitation to join the SEC (with or without Texas), and Virginia Tech may have been invited as well.

Update (4:07pm): A Kansas City TV station is reporting that Texas and Texas A&M are negotiating with the Big Ten for membership and that Oklahoma may move to the SEC if they can bring a partner. Oklahoma State would go to the Pac-10 in that scenario. [Chip Brown from Rivals.com disputes this rumor]

Update (8:39pm): A football reporter from Columbia, MO reports that once Nebraska is announced as the 12th Big Ten member, Rutgers might be next in line to become 13th. He also tweeted that while Mizzou is not a high priority for the Big Ten, it is still in the picture. If Rutgers goes to the Big Ten, the Big East will need to line up a replacement almost immediately.

Update (1:20am): 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City reported that University of Kansas officials met with Big East representatives in Lawrence, KS today.

Update (Fri 12:42pm): According to a reporter fromKXnO Des Moines, the “old standing Big East members” (meaning “Villanova, Providence, Georgetown, etc.”) want “no part of a league with Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Mizzou.” They would rather break up than add more football schools.

If this is true, then it is almost entirely certain that the Big East will break up if it is raided again for more than one (possibly two) schools.

More to come…?

We have discussed this topic endlessly in this and other forums. Conference expansion was years away, then it was imminent, and now it is a while off again. In any case, most people still believe that the Big Ten will eventually expand by somewhere between one and five schools.

The intent here is to provide a primer on expansion for VUhoops readers. So you know what is going on and how it might effect Villanova.

Best Case Scenarios

Any scenario where the Big East loses only one or fewer teams would be a clear winner. It would be an even bigger win if that one team were Notre Dame.

It would be relatively easy to pick up a single football program. In Notre Dame’s case, the need to replace the school within the conference would hardly be imminent, and while the replacement would likely be a football member, it wouldn’t have to be.

There is no shortage of mid-major schools that would love a taste of the Big East pie. Memphis and UCF from Conference USA have notably made their interest in joining another conference known recently. Adding one might allow the conference to expand or recover from a raid, adding both, or more could cause the Big East to lose it’s status as a major football conference. Adding schools like East Carolina to replenish the football conference might injure basketball.

Honestly though, East Carolina is not a major conference candidate. To be a viable major conference program in a world where money is the endgame, you need to be able to bring in a large fan base or a lot of TV viewers. Schools in larger TV markets and those flagship state schools with a lot of fans are the real targets of conference expansion. East Carolina is neither.

Worst case

Other than Notre Dame, the likely Big East schools to be lost to a raid would be Rutgers, Syracuse, Pittsburgh or perhaps Connecticut. In any scenario where multiple schools from that list were to leave, the Big East would be forced to scramble to replace them. Some of the remaining football schools may not want to risk the fall-out.

If other major conferences start offering membership to Big East football schools in the wake of a Big Ten raid, you can expect those remaining football schools to jump on the offers. Why wait around and see if a neutered conference can compete? Why stay on-board when the Big East may lose it’s BCS status and perhaps its earning power.

People have already speculated on the landing spots for various teams. A simple Google search will turn up numerous proposed realignment scenarios. It’s not that hard to imagine, however, that a 16-team Big Ten could encourage other conferences to reach similar membership levels. The ACC, for example, may take the opportunity to bridge the geographic gap between Boston College and Maryland.

If a raid were to implicate more than one Big East school, and especially if it implicated three or more, it would probably signal the end of the conference as we know it.

Which Teams are Implicated?

As mentioned, the major Big East candidates for the Big Ten are Rutgers, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and UConn.

Most people speculate that the Big Ten will not accept members that are not also members of the Association of American Universities. Both UConn and Notre Dame would fail that test, however, the Big Ten’s public courting of Notre Dame a few years back would suggest that they may be interested in bending that rule.

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh seemingly has it all. An AAU member with quality programs in both football and basketball. Pitt would be a great in-state rival for Penn State and would improve the Big Ten in two sports.

However, if expansion is really about money, it’s hard to believe that Pittsburgh adds a lot of it. The Pennsylvania market is already covered by Penn State, who have a ratings foothold from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. Pittsburgh adds nothing for the Big Ten Network that Penn State doesn’t already provide, except for a small ratings bump in Pittsburgh when the Panthers are playing.

Syracuse

The Orange were a target for the ACC during the last round of realignment. They bring a big alumni base and a top notch basketball program to the table. Football struggles to be competitive at the highest levels these days, but clearly competitiveness isn’t the biggest concern.

If Syracuse can (or is perceived to be able to) deliver the New York market, it could be a financial bonanza for the Big Ten Network. That, however, remains entirely unclear.

Rutgers

Rutgers is the closest Big East football school to the New York City market. Their football team is a growing power while basketball has lately been in decline. As a flagship state school, however, it would fit the Big Ten mold better than some of the other options in the Big East. Of course, Rutgers never really inspired the loyalties of New Jersey (or New York) residents like Penn State, Michigan, Indiana and others.

UConn

Connecticut has only been playing FBS football for a few years, but has been reasonably successful in that time. Add to that a basketball program that has been among the nation’s elite since Jim Calhoun was hired.

Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut is a television market with over 1 million TV households (the 30th market by size). The proximity to New York City may also help deliver TV viewers in that market as well.

If the Big Ten is not interested, the ACC might be. Connecticut would help bridge their geographic gap between North and South and would bolster their strong basketball credentials.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame is the ultimate wildcard. They’re clearly desirable for the Big Ten, but they publicly claim to prefer independence in football. Hardly a superpower or a major draw in basketball, losing Notre Dame would hurt a little bit for the Big East, but would hardly be a death-blow.

In football, Notre Dame is a big enough draw that they would easily hold their own financially in the Big Ten.

If Notre Dame does not join the Big Ten, they would likely be forced to remain with the Big East. There is no other obvious fit for them. In the Big East they can stay a football independent for the moment at least, and maintain many of their traditional rivalries.

The case for football

For Villanova, football is the key to conference realignment. A basketball powerhouse from a major conference that is mentally and physically associated with the fifth-largest city in the United States. As it stands, the Big East is the only major conference that has members that don’t field a team in football.

In order to land in a major conference in the event that realignment lands a mortal blow against the Big East, football probably needs to be part of the deal. Supposing that a proper venue could be located, the football team in its current form is no less competitive than a middle-of-the-road team in the Big East or ACC.

If money and football are the basis for conference expansions, adding a competitive basketball and football program in a major metropolitan area would be a desireable move for all of the major conferences, who would see a spike in their television revenue by adding a large TV market.

It is entirely unlikely that a major conference would add Villanova over Temple or another school with an FBS football team if the ‘Cats were unable to field a team at that level.

Catholic East

If Villanova is not able to land in a major conference such as the ACC, the other likelihood is that an expansion apocalypse could lead to the Big East transforming into a Catholic Conference.

Assuming all of the football schools were to go their separate ways and leave the Big East, the eight basketball schools would be left to decide their future independently. Eight schools alone is enough to field a conference in basketball and the olympic sports, so there is no necessary rush to expand back to 16 teams.

If the Big East were to turn into Catholic East, a raid on the Atlantic 10 may be the next logical step to improve the earning possibilities of the conference. Xavier, Dayton and St. Louis are perennially competitive basketball programs in reasonably large markets.  It may be possible to maintain a borderline major status in basketball.

If Villanova were to decide to remain an FCS football school, they would have to be a part of this Catholic Conference.

Currently, the Big East (the only conference that negotiates TV rights for basketball separately) pays each member somewhere around $2 million per year for basketball. One one the better basketball-only conferences is the Atlantic 10. The A10′s television deal for men’s basketball is worth around $1million per year for the entire conference. As it stands, right now, the entire Atlantic 10 television deal is less than what Villanova alone receives from the Big East on an annual basis.

Defensive Moves

The options to save the Big East are very limited. Most likely the conference has to sit back and brace itself for an raid that might happen.

In hoping to head off a raid, the Big East has a few options:

• Increase the buyout amount to withdraw from the conference: A highly unlikely option. It already costs a significant amount to get out of the Big East, but any school would be foolish to pay more than the value of the Big East revenue they recieve, which is vastly lower than that received by Big Ten schools
• Give the ultimatum to Notre Dame: Tell Notre Dame that it’s all-or-nothing, football or no sports. This move would either bring Notre Dame football (and a huge pay day) to the Big East, or force them toward the Big Ten. Some observers believe that Notre Dame would be all it would take to satisfy the Big Ten’s hunger, but if the plan to go to 16 teams regardless, it may remain too little.
• Form a Big East cable network: The conference already has a “Big East Network” that airs games and some content in markets where there are Big East teams but no national interest, but it isn’t a true cable network in the nature of the Big Ten Network. A Big East Network would immediately appear (at a rate of about $0.70 per cable subscriber) in somewhere between 25 and 30 million homes (since the Big East covers 3 of the 4 biggest cities in the country and almost every major metro area in the northeast).

A TV network seems like th biggest winner from this selection. The conference has a strong presence in major TV markets and basketball will provide a significant amount of TV content during the season to keep the conference flush with cash. It’s a risky venture, but at a minimum of 25 million households, the network would presumably cover more ground than the Big Ten Network as currently constituted (even if Rutgers were lost to realignment).

What of the Pac-10?

The latest rumor is that the Pac-10 conference plans to raid six teas from the Big XII. Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado would be targeted in this expansion. The finances seem appealing for these schools to jump ship.

If the rumor is true, and those teams all left to join the Pac-10, it would leave the six remaining schools looking for a new home. The Big Ten would be interested (and reportedly IS interested) in Missouri and Nebraska. The remaining schools, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas an Kansas State ma or may not find a new affiliation.

Kansas and K-State may find a new home in the Big East, if that conference were willing to expand to 18 schools (10 for football). That would provide the football schools a two-school buffer, should the conference be raided by the Big Ten at a later date. Kanas (as an AAU member) may also campaign for a Big Ten membership. In football the draw of Kansas and K-State is perhaps limited, but in basketball, both currently possess programs that are nationally relevant (and in the case of KU, it is historically relevant as well).

For the Big East, adding Kansas and Kansas State would stretch the geographic boundaries of the conference. Nonetheless, with the Big Ten looking to raid the East for either two or three schools, it may make sense to head them off at the pass by adding two major conference programs in anticipation of a raid.

At 18 schools (10 for football) it would be very difficult for a Big Ten raid to inflict a mortal injury upon the conference. Even if three schools were lost to the bigger conference, the selection of midmajor football schools to bring aboard would hardly be too poor to maintain the status of the conference.

The Big XII raid may be the best thing that ever happened to the Big East. Giving the conference options it would never have otherwise, and allowing the Big East commissioner options that he would otherwise not have (i.e. picking up major-conference football/basketball programs, rather than raiding a weakened Conference USA again).

————————–

Update (1:00pm): Somewhat predictably, the Pac-10 has issued a statement denying the above-noted rumor that they have offered six schools membership. The Pac-10 commish said the following: “We have not extended any invitations for expansion and we do not anticipate any such decisions in the near term.”

Does this mean that it won’t happen? No, but we should anticipate that a move is (again) not as imminent as we previously anticipated.

Rumors have also been flying about a potential Big Ten invite for Texas. It’s safe to say that Texas is the biggest fish in this round of conference expansion (bigger than Notre Dame). The Longhorns will have their pick of landing spots should the Big XII cease to exist, but while they can keep the Big XII together, they will choose to do so, because the uneven revenue sharing in that conference leaves them with a massive pay-day and annual match-ups with their traditional rivals. Recent emails have suggested that Texas does have some interest in the Big Ten, however.

There have also been rumblings that the SEC could make an offer to Texas and Texas A&M. While there is no indication that Texas is particularly motivated to go in that direction, there is definite interest on the part of A&M.

See also: Rush The Court on the Pac-10/Big XII rumor

Corey Stokes had a hot hand for Villanova (24-7, 13-5) going 6-7 from 3 to lead the Wildcats with 22, but that was not enough.

‘Nova will now sit back until Sunday as they wait to see where they will be place in the NCAA Bracket.

More to come…

The day has arrived: At 2pm, Nova Nation will cease to be productive as our attention will drift to the Wildcat’s rematch with the Marquette Golden Eagles. The Winner of that match-up will take on either Georgetown or Syracuse at 7pm on Friday.

Yesterday, Marquette had another nail-biter victory over a hard-fighting St. Johns team. Georgetown crushed South Florida to move ahead to a third-round meeting with Syracuse. Notre Dame will match up with Pittsburgh at 7pm after a late surge to beat Seton Hall by 12. The final game of Day 3 will see West Virginia take on Cincinnati, who knocked off Louisville in a tight contest last night.

Today’s complete Big East schedule follows:

12:00 p.m.: #8 Georgetown vs. #1 Syracuse

2:00 p.m.: #5 Marquette vs. #4 Villanova

7:00 p.m.: #7 Notre Dame vs. #2 Pittsburgh

9:00 p.m.: #11 Cincinnati vs. #3 West Virginia

All of today’s games will be televised on ESPN.

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See Also:

• 2010 Big East Tournament Bracket
• Meeting Marquette
• Marquette Survives the Red Storm
• Despite Big East tournament win, Georgetown remains a mystery

Last year the two same schools met on the Thursday of the Conference’s Tournament (as #4 & #5 seeds)- a game that Villanova won on a last second Dwayne Anderson bucket.

‘Nova has won this year’s two previous matchups, and is led by Scottie Reynolds who is averaging 21.5 points against the Warriors Golden Eagles in his last 4 games.

Lazar Hayward is leading Marquette in points 18ppg and rebounds, 7.8 per game.

After starting 2-5 in the conference, Marquette went 10-12 to end the Big East schedule.

Villanova & Marquette will meet in the second game of Thursday’s first session. Tipoff is scheduled for 2p, but is more likely to be 230ish.

Villanova is 10-6 all-time against Marquette, including winning the last 4. Coach Jay Wright is 5-4 against the Milwaukee school.

Don’t forget to participate in Ed’s Closest to the Pin fun.