Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson is saying that the school is not discussing a move to the Big East conference ... hdespite reports saying that they are.''No, absolutely not,'' Johnson said. ''I have had no meetings with the Big East.''
"We have no expansion plans and are speaking to no schools about expansion," Big East spokesman John) Paquette said.
However, that doesn't mean that he's not interested in leaving Conference USA. There are some rumblings that Memphis does want to move up into a BCS conference and believe they've set up their program to be an attractive addition somewhere.
The pros for staying in Conference USA is, well, domination in basketball and a shorter travel schedule. The cons are everything else (competition, mo' money, mo' exposure, etc). They'd also rejoin Louisville and Cincinnati as conference brethren.
The rumblings also have East Carolina also thinking about bolting C-USA for the Big East.
As for the Big East, adding Memphis would mean they'd expand further west and into the football fertile South (adding ECU would bring in the North Carolina market). They'd also continue to stockpile on great hoops programs and pick up another big sizeable city market.
On the football side, adding a ninth member to me is a no-brainer. However, it gets a bit messy on the basketball side. The Big East already has 16-teams (which is absurd) and adding one or two more schools would be way too much. They could drop one or two non-football schools (DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's and Villanova).
Um, but which one would they drop? From a competitive standpoint, St. John's would top the list. But, c'mon, that's their New York City connection and that ain't happening. Georgetown, Marquette and Villanova are top notch hoops programs. Providence and Seton Hall are Big East originals. Notre Dame is Notre Dame (even without the pigskin). That leaves DePaul ... and I'd doubt they'd shoo away ChicagoLand.
But all this does bring out one huge point: Memphis has grown too big for its home.
Previously at FanHouse:
Teams Want in the Big East Even If the Big East Doesn't Want Them
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. Suggestion:
The Big East Forms a second conference with the eight non football schools. They play home & home, so that's 14 games a year right there. Make the sked so that they automaticly play x-number of games a year with the football conference school. This way the hoops teams don't lose Syracuse as a rival. The fooball conference goes after Memphis & ECU which puts them to ten. Add Army for the New York market, then you'll be one team away from a Big East Conference Championship in football. You could always make an obigatory "dream run" at Notre Dame, and then find a eighth school for the hoops conference.
Posted at 8:08AM on May 17th 2008 by Grer The Sarcastic Bastard
2. DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Norte Dame. Providence, Seton Hall,St Johns, Villanova, should drop out of the Best East, before it falls under it's own weight, and form a non football, all Catholic school league. They could add Detroit and Xavior, it would be huge. Dickie V talked about that years ago, he could be the the league President.
Posted at 11:47AM on May 17th 2008 by rengp
3. Georgetown and Villanova want no part of a Catholic League.
Posted at 7:59PM on May 17th 2008 by Dh
4. The Big East has no balls in football or they would tell Notre Dame to join football or get out. It is still weak with what they have in football.
Posted at 8:15AM on May 18th 2008 by Jack Adams
5. The Big East should add ECU, Memphis, Univ. Central Fla., and Notre Dame to the football conference. If not Notre Dame them add Navy or Army. They could play the football championship game in NYC. Add Xavier Univ. to the basketball only conference and they would dominate both football and basketball NCAA championships yearly.
Posted at 6:00PM on May 19th 2008 by Gary Porteous