As the dust is beginning to settle, it appears that this is working out really well. The NBE / Big Skidmark is about to lose Louisville, too, leaving UConn and Rutgers in Conference USA for the 2000s, a greatly diminished league.
Rutgers and UConn will be like Atlantic 10 programs within 5 to 7 years, giving us much less competition for football prospects in New Jersey and CT (of course, after Penn State comes through first ...).
There is a miniscule chance that we could get out of the Big East in time for 2012, if we can pull it together in the next couple weeks. Otherwise, next year is our swan song, for certain. The Big East, without Pitt, Louisville (rumored to be on the next train to the Big XII), SU and West Virginia - and adding all those football teams with awful basketball programs - will have a hard time holding the prime time ESPN coverage at the Garden.
It could be within a few years that the ACC championship could rotate to the Garden, along with Raleigh and Atlanta, or something like that. Maybe the Big East tournament gets moved out to Brooklyn to play in the Nets' new facility ? They will be minor league soon enough.
And although I am going to miss the league that we were founding members of, those s in Providence always treated us poorly. And they really screwed the pooch on how they handled the transition from regional hoops league to being a BCS member in a billion dollar sports world.
The real shame is if Providence weren't such parochial idiots, the Big East could hav survived as a better version of the ACC. Hell, look at the ACC, half the teams are from the Big East.
I actually thought of that brainstorm yesterday but forgot to post in the GTown hysteria. Makes sense though. I wonder if the ACC teams would pitch in for us? Problem is, we and Pitt are 2 teams.
