Andy Katz article discussing yesterday's BE/ Catholic 7 meeting and future league expansion at http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... -7-10-days

Article out of Dayton with comments from Dayton President ,AD, and others regarding next week's expected BE/Catholic conference announcements and the apparent "fight" between Dayton and Creighton over the "number 10" membership spot.Link at http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/spo ... ided/nWsLz

Chicago Tribune article reporting that BE/Catholic 7 conference is expected to officially invite Xavier,Butler and Creighton sometime prior to the start of NCAA tourney play,possibly next Wednesday or Thursday.Link at http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/co ... 7661.story

If the Tribune is right and the walked out of a meeting because the exit fees in the A-10 are about to be increased I wonder if the Catholic 7 group would be willing to go ahead and admit Dayton and St Louis for next season since the new exit fees to leave next year might be higher than the current exit fees to leave now without any notice. I think the NEW Big East going to 12 members is inevitable because FOX needs the inventory so why not go ahead and do it now? There is also the issue of the 10-team line up not having enough members to field the minimum 7 in a number of Olympic sports--12 members would alleviate that issue.

There's growing speculation that it's getting political, there's a East-West thing, or Marquette-Georgetown thing brewing in the Big East, and that's a possible issue with the expansion to 12.

The Georgetown comments ticked off lots of people, because Georgetown was in the group that pushed everyone to turn down ESPN's offer (which led to SU/Pitt going to the ACC), was last to be on board with leaving the Big East, and then they took "a victory lap" for creating a conference they had to be coaxed into joining.

It would make a lot of sense if the 10 was a compromise: "Fine, we'll pause at 10 and evaluate eastern options in the last two spots. But we need 10 now, so let's add Creighton with Butler and Xavier."

By adding Creighton now, they can't be rejected later solely on geography. But you agreed to placate those who want East/West balance.

You have SLU as an obvious pick for the first expansion spot and those who don't care about East/West can say "look, G-Town doesn't want VCU, and Dayton's better than Richmond" to bypass the East issue and get the teams they want; or make G-Town blink on VCU.

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1897-1898 | 1900-06 | 1926-27 | 1929-30 | 1939 | 1942

Well, they wouldn't be wrong adding Butler, Xavier, and Creighton if the notion was just "getting the best three basketball programs in the region." I never got the allure of St. Louis...they and Charlotte fell off a long way once separated from C-USA, and it's really more Rick Majerus' presence that brought them back to some recognition than any storied tradition. I think their coach is a "one-and-done" if they win just one game in the tournament this year...joke's on the buyer considering they were Rick's kids.

I'm a bit confused why people think Creighton is so far off from a good fit...this school is to the MVC what Xavier was to the A-10 and Butler in the Horizon. I'm sorry for the MVC's loss, but I think they got this one right.

are they going to 12 in 2014 still? They just need to decide on the last 1? csn guys said the tv deal wants 12 b/c they need content, is that true? I hope they go to 12, but wonder if they will sit at 10 if they can get away w/ it.

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Living in St. Louis, I've been following the Billikins with some interest this season.

Honestly, I don't know if their first-year coach can recruit and assemble a team like Majerus did, but he is CLEARLY an effective "bench coach".
Accomplishments this year - regular-season A-10 champ, Winner of the A-10 conference tournament, and defeated Butler three (3) times (home / away / in tournament).
As a #4 seed, the expectation is that they could win 2, make it to the sweet 16, then have to face the #1 seed Louisville. If they could make it that far, that's goes beyond all expectations.

SLU has a nice new basketball arena, and since 2003 has been strongly focused on positioining themselves for jumping in wiht the other Jesuit schools in this new Big East.
I'm really not clear why Creighton is a better choice than SLU. St. Louis is a bigger market, and less travel for the other BE teams.

For any BE teams to succeed, they need to invest in a good coach / recruiter.
Correct me if I'm woring, but Providence, Seton Hall, and DePaul haven't done SQUAT since the 1980s, when Rick Pitino, P.J. Carlissimo, and Ray Meyer coached them.
SLU at least has had more recent success under Charlie Spoonhour, and Rick Majerus.
Whomever is added to the conference should see a big boost in recruiting, with the ability to offer kids the chance to be on Fox TV in high-profile games.

Is it me, or does the BE drag everything out interminably.... if they are going to 12 - JUST DO IT !!! Quit screwing around. Why is it nobody in that conference can make a dman decision?

Creighton's 19 conference championships to SLU's 6?
Creighton's 18 tournament appearances to SLU's 7?

I know St. Louis is the better market, but St. Louis is just not the better team. And St. Louis has spent a mint making this current run, on a venue and a coach. They are going to have to keep that pace going...I'm not sure SLU as an institution can keep that up. The problem I have with SLU is that they seem like a DePaul, Providence, or Seton Hall-type...once in, where's the motivation to succeed consistently?

How about having Bradley, Drake and Wichita State as possible candidates to join the Catholic-7-based new Big East?

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The two private schools simply aren't good enough to hang with the Catholic 7 and don't fit the mold of a Catholic school in a major metropolitan area. Wichita St has great bb but they are public and too far away for serious consideration.

Then I believe that the new Big East should ONLY focus on being in the East and the East North Central section of the Midwest. Creighton and Saint Louis are within the West North Central section of the Midwest. It should expand some non-football members from the America East (while the AmEast's football-sponsoring teams on other football conferences should be either on the NEC or the CAA).

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Florida State Seminole fan for life (mostly on football, basketball and baseball)!

College sports is also a game of television media markets and for St Louis it is hard to argue against the #21 media market in the US which happens to not have an NBA team.

For schools like Creighton and Dayton, while they don't have excellent markets, they make up for it in fan support and history of success. They also help complete rivalries that will be marquee match ups on FOX (Xavier vs Dayton & Creighton vs St Louis). The other thing about Creighton is that it gets the Big East into a market--adding another program in the East, unless its Richmond or Duquesne, doesn't actually add a new television market, it simply duplicates a market that the BE already holds.

Ok. And aside from what you've said, will the new Big East be ONLY a basketball conference (now splitting from the football-sponsoring schools) or will it be an all-sports conference starting next season?

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Florida State Seminole fan for life (mostly on football, basketball and baseball)!

The Big East will be an all sports conference that does not sponsor football, but I assume they'll sponsor the main sports like M/Wbb, volleyball, softball, baseball, M/W tennis, M/W golf, M/W t&f/cc, + M/W LAX, M/W soccer, & possibly (not sure if enough teams to qualify) M/W swimming/diving and women's rowing but not Women's field hockey.

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