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Per NY Daily News article today, the Big East Presidents and ADs had a meeting the last two days and decided to split the 6 football schools into a new conference and add Louisville and Cinn. to form a new 8 team league. A formal vote could be taken in the next few days.
This will leave CUSA with 8 football schools,if Army leaves. Don't know what happens next with CUSA. Do they add teams,stay at 8, or break apart?

Marquette and De Paul will go to the Big East BB conference,leaving St Louis and NC Charlotte behind.

Don't forget the possibility of UAB not staying 1-A.

The question on South Florida is also interesting. Do they stay East or look South, e.g. Conference of the South? If Cincinnati and Louisville depart for BE, then keeping Conference USA separate from BE improves our chances and that of the "Conf. of the South" concept for Conf. USA. WAC can do it as well but TCU won't get excited about it.

[This message has been edited by Water Pony (edited 07-10-2003).]

If Cincy and UL leave for the Big East, and then Army leaves, it seems like SMU would be a #1 choice for CUSA. Right?

But even if we do get invited to join CUSA, without Louisville and Cincy, maybe we would be better off staying put?

Also, I think the WAC will make a play for TCU, Rice, and Houston if UL and Cincy leave CUSA.

The best thin that could happen to SMU would be for the Big East to implode, for the BE fball schools to break away and invite Louiville & Cincy to join them.

The, with a little luck, CUSA decides to expand to 12 all sports schools and looks like this:

EAST: ECU, Marshall, USF, UCF, UAB, Memphis

WEST: USM, Tulane, Houston, TCU, SMU and either Tulsa (hoops) or Rice (baseball)

With a little more luck. UAB will not be a player and USM would replace them in the east. That would mean that both Tulsa and Rice could join the west group.