The Big East as we once knew, is history. What will be left when the smoke clears will be a new Big East. The 7 DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova will form their new league starting this fall and will keep the Big East Conference name, according to an ESPN.com report. Atlantic 10 powers Xavier and Butler are expected to join the new Big East next school year, but there are conflicting reports about whether Creighton, Saint Louis and Dayton will also receive invitations.
The Big East tournment that will happen this year will be the last hurrah as the Big East that it is now. Syracuse and Pittsburgh are definitely ACC-bound for the 2013-14 season, with Notre Dame hoping to move up its timetable and join them next season as well, according to the ESPN.com report. Rutgers and Louisville will also be gone by fall 2014, which means only UConn, Cincinnati and South Florida will be left from the current Big East by the 2014-15 basketball season.
All of these changes are happening for one reason: Mone. Lots of money if the Catholic 7 couldn’t keep the name it would hurt in terms of television exposure for the new league. But instead they’ll have the more lucrative TV contract, the more established brand name and maybe the superior basketball league as well.
At this point you can be sure there will be more talks about having other schools join the Big East but as it stands right now …this is the new frontier called the Big East.
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