The Big East's Manifest Destiny

Lately, I've been having many a disagreement with some fellow Big East bloggers on Big East Expansion. But really, who doesn't disagree on it? There seems to be no right answer. If you add some teams, you have to think about kicking some out. If you don't kick them out, you'll probably have to rearrange the way a lot of the sports are played. And of course there's always the issues with money.

So who's right? Maybe none of us are. Maybe there is no right answer. There are literally thousands of possibilities out there, but luckily for me, I write a blog, so I have an outlet for my thoughts and opinions.

I've spent a while putting together a collection of my thoughts on Big East expansion, and you can read them here after the jump.

There are a bunch of names circulating around the Big East Expansion pool, and there are a million combinations of those names. It seems like there's a bit of a pipeline from Conference USA to the Big East, as USF, Louisville, Cincinnati, and TCU all originated there. It should come as no surprise, then, that most of these names that have been mentioned are current C-USA members. Central Florida, East Carolina, and Houston are the names we're most accustomed to hearing, and there have been mentions of Southern Mississippi, Southern Methodist, Army, and Navy among others. So who is the best choice for us? Of course, there are pros and cons to every team, but someone has to stand out. And where does Villanova stand in all this? The conference looked ready to go with them, but then shied away the week before they were ready to sign the papers.

The big issue in all this is exactly what causes all the world's problems: money. It truly is the root of all evil, and in this case, it's potentially screwing the conference out of building a great tradition. Currently, the Big East is in talks with ESPN to set up a television deal for a substantial amount of money. That would be great, except for one thing: THERE ARE 17 F___ING TEAMS, with possibly more on the way. And let's be honest, ESPN is only talking to us because we have the best basketball in the country. They've got football covered with their deals with the Big XII and Big 10, so they really don't want anything to do with Big East football, unless it's on Thursdays.

At the Big East Spring Meetings last week, the coaches of the 9 football teams all agreed that this conference needs to expand. They also generally agree that they should go to 12 teams. The problem with all this is the same problem with all expansion talk in this league: What do we do with basketball? If the conference expands the way they want it to, there's potential to have a 20-team basketball superconference. Practically speaking, that's insane, and impossible to sustain. UConn basketball coach Jim Calhoun said himself that a split is "inevitable".

I told you all that to give you my thoughts on Big East expansion. First,I'm going to say what I, along with many of my fellow Big East bloggers, have been saying for.months upon months: Boot DePaul. There is nothing that they offer to this conference that can't be found somewhere else. It's not just DePaul, though. I also think Providence has to go, and I can make a decent argument to drop Seton Hall as well. That leaves 14 basketball teams in the conference, and, quite honestly, is a prime case of addition by subtraction. Additionally, I seriously think it's time to give Notre Dame an "All in or all out" ultimatum to join in football. I realize the problem this raises with the possibility of losing Notre Dame's other sports, but it doesn't seem right for the conference to have one more school to split the basketball money when they won't commit to the league 100%.

In the likely event that Notre Dame declines the invitation, it would still leave three spots open for football teams. First things first, you have to split the remaining conference schools. Ditching the non-football schools would leave Marquette, Georgetown, St. John's, and maybe Notre Dame. Those schools, with the addition of a couple other homeless schools, would make an excellent basketball conference. Depending on the Villanova decision, they could also be a member of that conference.

With that said, it's time to move to the main attraction: how does football work into all this? First, you have to settle the Villanova situation. I think the Big East should go ahead and allow Nova to make the jump to the FBS level, but I don't think they should play in a BCS conference right away. Nova should do what USF did for their first few years as an FBS member and start out as an independent. This will allow them to get on their feet for a few years before they have to play a full BCS conference schedule, and they'll be able to play basketball in that Big East non-football members conference. After all that, it still leaves the issue of who to add to the Big East. Obviously, the conference is going to be looking out for its basketball interests as well as football, so they'll be looking for a school that has success in both. I think you first have to aim high and try to lure some BCS schools over. That's why my first suggestion is to extend offers to Boston College and Maryland. Both are proud, historical schools that each have a history of success in basketball and football. In order for them to even consider making that lateral move, the commissioner and conference officials are going to have to make huge strides with a TV deal. The money situation should be helped a bit by thinning out the conference, but there's still going to need to be a lot of money at stake for a BCS school to bail on their conference. Let's be optimistic and say we get one of those. Next, they'll probably have to settle for a non-BCS school. This is where the choice is very important, as the conference will be looking for schools that have excelled in both major sports and have a respectable television market. My two suggestions are Houston and Southern Mississippi. Both schools have shown that they are superior to the rest of Conference USA in both basketball and football for many years and have proven the most that they'll be able to sustain viable programs if they make the leap to a BCS conference.

So, there you have my thoughts on this ever-frustrating world that is Big East expansion. Like I said before, I'm glad that I have a blog where I can write out what I think, but I want to know what everyone else thinks about expansion. Who do you think is the best fit? Should the conference split? Tell me what you think in the comments.