Big East may go to 16 teams no matter what

[NavyCrimson]

interesting article.....

<A HREF="http://espn.go.com/ncaa/news/2003/0617/1569545.html" TARGET=_blank>http://espn.go.com/ncaa/news/2003/0617/1569545.html</A>

Big East may go to 16 teams no matter what

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By Andy Katz
ESPN.com


The ACC announced Tuesday that a vote for expansion might not occur until later this month, but regardless of the outcome the Big East is going to be proactive about its future and pursue a 16-team league, a source told ESPN.com.

At least one source close to the Big East said the conference wouldn't stand idle waiting to get raided again by the ACC or another league.

The source said the Big East cannot remain a fractured 14-team league in basketball and eight teams in football. The financial issues would still be divisive if the league remained as is even if Miami, Boston College and Syracuse return to the league. That's why the Big East has to protect itself. The basketball members of the league don't want to get left out by another wave of expansion.

If all three schools remained in the league, then the Big East could still add two schools that don't play football, such as Marquette out of Conference USA and Xavier out of the Atlantic 10. If only Miami leaves for the ACC, then the Big East would go after Louisville (Conference USA) for football and basketball to keep the Big East at eight football-playing members and then add schools such as Marquette and Xavier to get up to eight non-football schools.

The 16-team federation in the Big East would have cross-over games in basketball but probably would have a different revenue-sharing plan with the eight-school football group keeping its share of money.

The ACC is trying to gather support among its members to add Miami, Boston College and Syracuse to become a 12-team conference and have a football championship game.

The ACC needs seven "yes" votes from its membership of nine to add a school, and a vote in favor of Miami is expected to pass. Taking the Hurricanes would not crush the Big East, a charge that concerns ACC presidents in light of a lawsuit filed last week by Big East football schools Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, West Virginia and Virginia Tech.

The ACC failed to reach a consensus on expansion in five hours of talks over two days last week.

The three Big East schools would have to pay a $1 million exit fee if they left for the ACC. The figure would double if they don't notify the Big East by June 30 and want to leave for the 2004-05 season. If they want to leave for the 2005-06 season, they have until June 30, 2004, to notify the conference and pay the $1 million fee.

Recent reports claiming the ACC would add only Miami in a first wave of expansion are not unfounded. The conference could easily expand to 10 without an uproar from its members. From a basketball standpoint, adding Miami and maintaining a true round-robin schedule of 18 conference games would be acceptable, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski told ESPN.com last month. And the addition of Miami in football would only enhance the ACC's product by giving it two national powers in the Hurricanes and rival Florida State.

The Big East likely would retain its spot in the Bowl Championship Series with eight football members, which would include Louisville as a replacement for Miami. In this scenario, Virginia Tech is the most prominent of the league's eight football teams. For basketball, a Miami-for-Louisville swap would actually make the Big East a better conference and even more attractive to television networks in the next negotiating period.

The ACC might petition the NCAA to hold a championship football game with 10 teams instead of the required 12, but this would be done not for competitive reasons but if a potential financial windfall presents itself. Splitting the league into two five-team divisions for football might not make as much sense. The ACC definitely would stay a 10-team conference in men's basketball in one linear division. Even if the ACC expanded to 12, basketball coaches would like to see a 12-team whole -- like the Big 12 -- and not two six-team divisions. Scheduling might mirror a football divisional schedule like the Big 12, but the standings would not show divisions.

If the ACC added only Miami for the 2004-05 season, then it could revisit expansion next year if it wanted to grow to 12. Sources told ESPN.com it would be more difficult for Miami to return to the Big East because of the lawsuit and criticism leveled by Big East presidents toward Miami president Donna Shalala. Boston College would be in a precarious position if it remained in the league that sued it, but the Eagles might not have a choice. Syracuse wasn't named in the lawsuit but was ready to accept an invitation to join the ACC out of what was termed a necessity to follow Miami.

Seven of the nine ACC schools must vote in favor of expansion for the plan to pass, but The Charlotte Observer reported Thursday that Duke, North Carolina and Virginia were opposed as late as last week's conference call. It was the hope of ACC commissioner John Swofford that formal invitations to Miami, BC and Syracuse would go out last Wednesday.

Sources have told ESPN.com the ACC is working extremely hard at swinging the vote of North Carolina. Swofford, the former athletic director at UNC, faces a much more difficult task in trying to persuade Duke to change its anti-expansion vote. The Blue Devils perennially are one of the worst football teams in Division I-A, and adding the likes of Miami, BC, and Syracuse would make competing in the ACC even more daunting for Duke.

The Tar Heels have been nationally ranked in the past and might be more receptive to expansion. However, North Carolina's faculty came out against expansion, in large part because it wasn't consulted. That's why university president James Moeser and athletic director [deleted] Baddour met with the faculty last week to discuss the expansion plan. If the university can persuade the faculty to go along with expansion, there could be hope for a "yes" vote.

Trying to sway Virginia to vote "yes" could be much more challenging. The Cavaliers are under extreme in-state political pressure because of the damage that could come to Virginia Tech from being left out. But a number of sources have said the Cavaliers would rather not have Virginia Tech in the same conference because of recruiting advantages (mainly in basketball) Virginia has over Tech as an ACC school.

The five remaining Big East football schools -- UConn, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, West Virginia and Virginia Tech -- filed a lawsuit to try to block expansion. The schools have accused the ACC, Boston College and Miami of taking part in a conspiracy to expand and ultimately to weaken the Big East. The lawsuit contends the five schools have invested millions of dollars in their football programs based on presumed loyalty from the other schools.

Andy Katz is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.



[This message has been edited by Navy&Crimson (edited 06-17-2003).]

[Charleston Pony]

If nothing happens with ACC expansion, but the Big East adds Marquette alone from CUSA, that leaves CUSA with 11 fball amd 13 bball members. I would think they'd want to add one all sports member, but who? C.Fla? Marshall? SMU? Tulsa? Rice?

[Water Pony]

Conf. USA will need to add more than Marquette. With or without ACC expansion (I still think Miami-only is a likely move), the Big East will add FB schools such as Louisville and Cincinnati, a Ohio River expansion for BE.

As a result, Conf. USA needs definition or will spilt into two conferences, like the SW Private Universities plus Service Academies.

If no ACC expansion, Louisville at least moves to BE, perhaps bringing Cincinnati.

[FloridaMustang]

Stop mentioning Cincy as a possible BE candidate. The BCS conferences actually DO care about academic reputation.

[Southland]

This is actually a great development for us...

The ideal situation for us would be for Marquette and Xavier to go to the Big East before ACC expansion. Then have the A10 replace Xavier with either Charlotte or DePaul.

Despite ESPN (Eastern Sports Propaganda Network) reporting every Big East release as fact, ACC expansion will go through. The football side will need three members: Louisville is reportedly in, South Florida is likely, while East Carolina, Cincinnati and Central Florida would be the candidates for the final spot.

With Xavier in the Big East, Cincinnati is probably a weak candidate. Central Florida in Orlando is probably the strongest candidate, because they give the BEA another school in Florida, and South Florida a travel partner.

Assuming Cincinnati and ECU return to CUSA, it would leave the conference with 8 fulltime members, 2 non-football, and Army as a football-only.

It would make a lot of sense to invite Navy to join as a football-only affiliate, to balance the membership football v. other sports.

If (and there have been a lot of ifs here), this transpires, look for CUSA to expand with two all-sports schools not only to add a Championship football game, but reduce travel by breaking into divisions.

Candidates would include SMU, Rice, Tulsa and Marshall. Considering our relationship with TCU, Houston, Tulane, Army and Navy, plus the finance woes of UAB, I'd say we would have a lot of supporters for one of those bids.

[Nacho]

The others might help but the only help I can see coming from TCU is asking us exactly where we want the knife if our back.

[Water Pony]

I don't understand why Central and South Florida would appeal to Big East academically, geograhically, other sports, etc.

Cincinnati might not be among the strongest academically, but the Florida schools, Marshall, etc. are even less so.

Conf. USA would be smart to find a home for Navy, SMU, Rice and Tulsa and take pride in the membership. Otherwise, the WAC East must appeal to TCU and Tulane, who will find more in common with a SW oriented conference, such as the envisioned WAC East. The remanants of a Conf. USA won't appeal to them. Mtn. West makes so sense for them either.

Also, with NCAA Reform, the quality of the school and graduation rates will be important to all conferences. Scholarship will accure to those with a commitment to doing it right.