Navy very interested in joining BE but...

[CuseLegacy]

wants conference to get their house in order first. Good Luck with that!!

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/23910/navy-has-no-timetable-for-big-east

 

[Chip]

Even Navy is saying holding SU and Pitt to 27 months is dumb.

BE needs to dump Marinatto. Sooner the better.

 

[Scooch]

Navy is part of the US government, they should be used to being part of a larger organization that is f$&ked up beyond repair.

 

[Louie&Bouie]

I can just see Marinatto wringing his hands, sweat on his forehead, basically begging Navy to make a commitment. For any of you skeptics, this is where we could've been.

 

[GoSU96]

I can just see Marinatto wringing his hands, sweat on his forehead, basically begging Navy to make a commitment. For any of you skeptics, this is where we could've been.

Who do you think is behind Navy coming in, and they were getting lined up BEFORE all this happened.

 

[All4SU]

Right. I don't blame Navy one bit for taking a wait and see attitude. At this point, what's the hurry for them?

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Who do you think is behind Navy coming in, and they were getting lined up BEFORE all this happened.

The basketball schools simply do not want to add anymore teams on the hoops side ... that's why they are looking for football only members.

Temple ... you're on deck.

 

[MaxwellCuse]

I think you are right about Providence not wanting any more all-sports members. That's why the acdemies are the top choice followed by Villanova for football and Temple as football only.

Looking at the ECU and UCF forums the opinion seems to be gaining currency that the BE is in no hurry to be proactive until the remaining football schools exhaust all other conference possibilities and agree to stay in the BE. The basketball schools seem to be flexing their muscle and Marinatto is not the guy to buck them.

 

[Miasta]

Has anyone given a good answer yet as to why the basketball schools don't simply split off from the football schools and start their own conference? I'm an ACC guy, so I don't know the inner workings of the Big East, but what would be wrong with the non-football schools forming their own conference that looked something like this - assuming Villanova goes FBS and joins the football schools:

Georgetown
Seton Hall
Providence
St. Johns
Depaul
Marquette
George Washington
Xavier
Umass
Butler / VCU / George Mason

That looks like a pretty good basketball conference to me. Keep it at 10 teams to have a round-robin schedule to help build some new rivalries, and then have one kick-ass three day tournament with only 2 play-in games. Do those non-football schools really need the football playing schools so bad that it keeps them from doing what otherwise seems obvious? If they split, then the football schools could form a decent conference that might still be able to keep its AQ status:

North
Connecticut
Rutgers
Temple
Villanova/Marshall
West Virginia
Navy

South
Cincinnati
Louisville
Memphis
ECU
South Florida
Central Florida

You guys know the Big East much better. Why has it stayed stuck together for so long when everything that seems to make sense says the non-football schools should split and do their own thing?

 

[OrangeXtreme]

If the BB schools leave, they can no longer claim that they belong to a BCS conference.

They become another Atlantic 10.

 

[MaxwellCuse]

I believe that if the basketball schools left first they would also forfeit the right to call themselves the Big East Conference. That brand still holds value, particularly in the basketball world.

 

[OrangeOnions]

Who ever thought Navy would be joining the BE let alone making sure the BE has it's house in order before joining?!