Reports: Catholic 7 picks Butler, Xavier and may add Dayton later

By Doug Harris
Staff Writer

Dayton won’t be part of the initial launch of the league formed by the breakaway schools of the Big East, but multiple media outlets reported Thursday that UD ultimately will be included in the conference when it expands to 12 teams.

Atlantic 10 members Xavier and Butler have been picked by the Catholic 7 of Georgetown, Marquette, Villanova, Seton Hall, St. John’s, DePaul and Providence to begin play in 2013-14, according to ESPN and SportsIllustrated.com, citing unnamed sources. Creighton is considered a favorite to join the group if the league starts with 10 schools next year.

The Catholic 7 reportedly will keep the Big East name and continue to hold their basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden.

Fox, which is starting a new sports network, is prepared to pay each member more than $3 million annually (a considerable jump over the $300,000-plus the A-10 doles out in TV rights fees) and is expected to announce the plans for the league in a meeting with advertisers Tuesday.

“While Butler, Xavier and, most likely, Creighton are expected to join the new Big East this fall, the Catholic 7 schools are also expected to add Dayton and St. Louis in 2014 for a 12-team league,” ESPN.com reported.

According to SI.com, “The league will eventually expand to 12 teams in the next few years, with Creighton, Dayton and Saint Louis expected to fill in the final three slots.”

UD Athletic Director Tim Wabler has been following the developments of the new league but said the school hasn’t been contacted about joining.

“There’s been no communication at all with anyone representing the Catholic 7 and the University of Dayton,” he said. “We’re reading the same reports, but we haven’t heard anything.”

For UD and other second-tier candidates for the new Big East, it hasn’t been easy dealing with an uncertain future.

“You never know what’s true or isn’t true with all that stuff,” UD coach Archie Miller said. “I think all the speculation has always been Butler and Xavier are automatics. After that, depending on how many they add and when they add them, it’s all kind of been in flux.

“There’s a lot of money involved, and at the end of the day, everyone wants to be in that league… They’re going to look at what’s best for them, and early on, I don’t know what that will be. I’m sure it’s probably a nine- or 10-team league. Eventually, I think the league will get to 12.”

- See more at: http://www.whiotv.com/news/sports/colleg...Bm4h0.dpuf

I think Dayton will definitely be added later.

Dayton is a done deal. They just aren't going until 2014.

As much as I want football in a good conference, I would not mind playing basketball in that conference AT ALL. That will be a very solid basketball conference.

One of the worst things about UC's situation is that if Dayton and Xavier end up in the Big East before UC lands softly somewhere else, basketball recruiting is going to become much more difficult. Hell, it already is given the collapse of the Big East, but having two new Big East schools in a solid basketball conference within 50 miles of each other sucks.

Despite the current conference situation, UC fields a FBS football team thats been to 2 BCS bowl games recently and are upgrading
a historic on campus stadium. Xavier and Dayton only dream of such things.

In other words, we are still better than them .

We will be fine...let xu and ud join their little bball only conference we have bigger fish to fry

Indeed. Bigger fish like Tulane and SMU. Big time, baby.

Xavier fans better be careful what they wish for. I would see them in last place if they were in that league this year. I don't think they recruit well enough to consistently be in the top half of that league and there are no gimmes in that league compared to A-10 ( Fordham, St. Bonnie, URI, etc. ). Also don't believe that league will give them a huge bump in recruiting, as there is no Cuse, Louisville, Pitt. or Cincy for that matter. Georgetown is the only perrenial in that league, maybe Marquette.

While X has improved their position somewhat from the standpoint of competition, I'll be surprised if the C7 TV deal is sustainable. Can't imagine future games such as Dayton vs. Providence or St. John's vs. Richmond will pull audience share compared with power five conference games. C7 are mostly small, private schools with a local following and very little national presence. DeCourcy has a great piece on the level of competition in the C7 vs. the old remainders of the BE. Bottom line: The C7 is about even in his assessment with the UC/UCONN/Memphis conference of tomorrow. Of course neither will ever be close to the Big East we knew as UC fans the past half dozen years. UC basketball will be OK parked here until conference realignment moves forward.

(03-02-2013 10:58 AM)CincyBro Wrote:  Xavier fans better be careful what they wish for. I would see them in last place if they were in that league this year. I don't think they recruit well enough to consistently be in the top half of that league and there are no gimmes in that league compared to A-10 ( Fordham, St. Bonnie, URI, etc. ). Also don't believe that league will give them a huge bump in recruiting, as there is no Cuse, Louisville, Pitt. or Cincy for that matter. Georgetown is the only perrenial in that league, maybe Marquette.

You're crazy if you don't think they get a decent bump in recruiting. They'll be on national television more often, playing in a respectable basketball conference and be under the Big East banner. That opens up more recruiting territory.

Same thing will apply to Dayton and other mid-majors when they gain entry into the league.

I would expect Xavier's recruiting to improve.

The things Xavier fans don't realize is that there's no nights off in their new conference. They're able to play horribly and still win games now because the bottom of the A-10 is phenomenally bad. There's no automatic wins with Fordham and St. Bonaventure anymore, now they're in a league where if they play bad, they lose.

Can Xavier beat Georgetown, Marquette, etc. On a given night? Absolutely. Can they consistently beat those teams over the course of 3 months? Who knows.

(03-02-2013 11:20 AM)Coopdaddy67 Wrote:  

(03-02-2013 10:58 AM)CincyBro Wrote:  Xavier fans better be careful what they wish for. I would see them in last place if they were in that league this year. I don't think they recruit well enough to consistently be in the top half of that league and there are no gimmes in that league compared to A-10 ( Fordham, St. Bonnie, URI, etc. ). Also don't believe that league will give them a huge bump in recruiting, as there is no Cuse, Louisville, Pitt. or Cincy for that matter. Georgetown is the only perrenial in that league, maybe Marquette.

You're crazy if you don't think they get a decent bump in recruiting. They'll be on national television more often, playing in a respectable basketball conference and be under the Big East banner. That opens up more recruiting territory.

Same thing will apply to Dayton and other mid-majors when they gain entry into the league.

National television with Fox, most games are going to be on the new fox sports channel, they will have no more games on real national tv than they do now.

Xavier's recruiting profile will improve as a result. At the same time it's not going to be as easy to make the tournament every year now. They are no better than the 4th or 5th best program in this conference.

(03-02-2013 12:29 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  National television with Fox, most games are going to be on the new fox sports channel, they will have no more games on real national tv than they do now.

For instance, take a look at Dayton. Most of their games are on WHIO-7, with a handful being on national or regional channels. Gaining entry into the Big East would definitely increase their television exposure compared to what they currently have.

(03-02-2013 01:06 PM)Coopdaddy67 Wrote:  

(03-02-2013 12:29 PM)CincyBro Wrote:  National television with Fox, most games are going to be on the new fox sports channel, they will have no more games on real national tv than they do now.

For instance, take a look at Dayton. Most of their games are on WHIO-7, with a handful being on national or regional channels. Gaining entry into the Big East would definitely increase their television exposure compared to what they currently have.

Most X games are already broadcast on FOX sports ohio, don't see that changing much, maybe some , not much.

I'll believe it when I see it.