(12-02-2012 02:22 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(12-02-2012 01:59 PM)Ned Low Wrote:  I seriously doubt that Boise and SDSU are going back... but I've been surprised before. I can promise you that Houston and SMU are going nowhere unless the BE basketball schools bail.

Which is very possible if the ACC loses two more. The next two ACC replacement teams would be UConn and Cinci. That means all the old ties between the basketball schools and football schools would be gone. That would leave 2 all sports schools remaining (USF and Temple) with SMU, Houston, Memphis, UCF, and Tulane coming in. They would need at a minimum, one more all-sports school to just to comply with NCAA regs and they would need two all-sports schools if they wanted to replace the existing structure. The football schools would have 2 votes and the basketball schools would have 7.

I dont see any all-sports schools east of the Mississippi that would be tremendously appealing to the basketball schools. Given the choices available and the lack of any remaining ties to the original schools, the basketball schools might just decide to cease sponsoring football.

Even if they dont shut down the league, I guarantee the selections will be who the basketball schools want. The football schools will have to sit down and shut up. Best case for football is that UMass and Tulsa end up being the two choices....But it could even be something like UMass and ODU or UMass and Buffalo---At which point, the football side is screwed. No matter what happens, its virtually a given that some additional basketball only schools will be added to the Big East to shore up thier basketball brand.

If you believe the info from Tulane poster after they were added, the BE was close to falling apart in the meeting they and ECU were added in. And that was with UCONN, Cincy, and L-Ville still in BE; although under the thought at least one was leaving.

I've always predicted a split, even going back a year. The Tulane annoucement was the first action that had me quesitoning that prediction, as I guessed it was the basketball schools that must have agreed to them. So the above information that came out afterward kind of surprised me.