Sources are saying that the Big East is about to be in worse condition than it already is–the seven basketball-only schools are set to split from the conference and will be officially announcing next week.
The NY Post originally reported that the basketball schools will split from the conference on Thursday, but CBSsports.com says the official announcement will not come that soon. The mass exodus of basketball schools comes after ESPN.com reported that the seven Catholic Big East basketball schools, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova were leaning towards splitting from the shambled conference with no immediate plan of what they were going to do after the split.
It is unsure if the basketball-only schools will create their own conference or vote to try and carry the coveted Big East name with them, as of right now everything is unresolved. The decision to split came from negotiations for a new television deal that had projections twice as low as the ESPN deal that was set in place with the Big East. The basketball schools met with Big East Commissioner Mike Aresco to express there concerns. Ultimately, the decision was to leave the conference.
For UCF, the certainty of the conference and their future in it is in limbo. Since UCF isn’t set to join the conference until 2013, they will not have a vote on the conference’s next move.
It is for certain, however, that if the Big East were to survive another avalanche of departing schools, UCF would by no means be joining the Big East they originally were set to join a year ago. Since 2005, the Big East has lost a combined 17 members, including the marquee football teams such as West Virginia, Rutgers, and Louisville.
KnightNews.com is working on getting an official statement from the University on their next move.
