ESPN’s Big East Blogger Brian Bennett says Rutgers would waste no time accepting the invitation to join the Big Ten. So when they leave what should the Big East do?
While they certainly don’t want to fade into football obscurity, I believe they would be much better served by turning this into an opportunity to further solidify the league as the best basketball conference in the country. They could do this with one invite that will also open the league to a new pipeline of athletes from a city that has a lot of them – Memphis.
While Memphis is not the slam dunk it would be if Calipari was still there, based on the reputation Josh Pastner has earned as a tireless worker and excellent recruiter I believe the program will still be quite successful. And they will certainly fit in nicely with the other 15 teams playing hoops in the Big East.
The Tigers’ success in football has certainly not reached that of their basketball program. But to survive, the Big East is going to have to realize that they have to build on their strength, basketball, and just try to hold on to their representation in the BCS in football. Diluting their basketball product to only maintain their current football standing will only leave the league more susceptible to poaching when the inevitable “massive” expansion occurs. Their only hope to hold on to their legacy members when that expansion occurs is to build the best basketball conference they can.
Having said all that…of course the first call would have to be placed to Notre Dame to see if they have any interest in becoming a full member. I can’t imagine they would.
As for the “massive” expansion – I’ll tackle that in a future post.
No ECU? Seriously, this would be a battle for the soul of the Big East. Is it a hulking basketball conference with mostly private, Northeastern schools? Or is it a football version if the old Metro Conference with public schools like Memphis, Cincy, Louisville, etc.?
Sorry Ed…I understand why it makes ECU fans mad…but they simply do not bring enough to the table. As for the heart of the Big East – they will have to face the fact that they will never be a top tier football conference…better to cement their status as the best basketball conference than to water down basketball to still be the 5th best league in the BCS.
[…] already written that I expect Rutgers to go to the Big Ten. Recently there were false rumors about Pittsburgh making the leap from the Big East to the Big […]
[…] Big Ten and Mega Conference Expansion – Where Would I Like Syracuse to Land? April 28, 2010 mbmorganjr Leave a comment Go to comments It is now inevitable that there will be a major football-based expansion of the current power broker conferences in the NCAA, likely leading to four mega conferences. I’ve been saying this was a natural progression since the recent ACC expansion and referenced a “massive” expansion in my post about Rutgers leaving the Big East for the Big Ten. […]