1. The Sports Business Journal gathered a small group of sports media consultants to predict which networks will win some of the upcoming television rights battles, and wouldn’t you know it, but the Big East deal was first on the table. And the consensus is… that no one agrees on how this deal is going to shake out, who is going to win, or if multiple networks win and just share the rights. At this point I think it is safe to say that everyone should just stop speculating because everyone admits it could go in a number of different directions.
2. So apparently it has been 50 years since Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim first stepped on the upstate New York campus as a freshman and this season will be Boeheim’s 37th at the helm of the Orange program. I guess it shouldn’t be surprising given how long Boeheim has been a larger-than-life presence in the conference, but it is still quite an incredible example of perseverance, sustained success, and school loyalty. There is a lot of talent left over from last season’s impressive squad, but it will be a transition year on and off the court for the Orange as they lost four key contributors, a longtime assistant coach in Bernie Fine, and are preparing to move to the ACC next season. As if there wasn’t enough on Boeheim’s plate, he is already fielding questions about when he will retire and he even admitted he will probably leave “sooner rather than later.” The man has a lot on his plate, but until he actually leaves, we won’t complain, because even if you don’t like Syracuse basketball you have to admit that the sport is more fun with Boeheim a part of it.
3. If there was ever any doubt that recruits are interested in what St. John’s coach Steve Lavin has to say, then take a look at the list of recruits scheduled to attend the Red Storm’s Midnight Madness event that will kick off tonight. There are 14 players on that list, from 2013 star Jermaine Lawrence to 135-pound Tremont Waters representing the class of 2017. It shouldn’t need to be said that showing up to a Midnight Madness event and committing to that school are two entirely two different things, but just the amount of interest that Lavin has been able to generate in such a short period of time — while battling cancer — is incredibly impressive. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lavin lands a stud recruit from the Tri-State area in the very near future.
4. You knew an article like this one was coming. Cincinnati enters the season with very high expectations, so it’s only natural that local reporters are going to write the old “expectations are high, but the team is staying grounded” article. We don’t mean to be insulting, because it is an worthwhile article to publish, especially when it’s true. With the exception of maybe Louisville, there is no team in the conference with more expectations on their shoulders than the Bearcats. Syracuse will be good but they are young; Notre Dame will be good but they are young also. Cincinnati has a blend of excellent veterans and promising newcomers, and everybody from pundits to local fans is expecting a repeat of last season’s success at the least. It sounds like coach Mick Cronin has done a good job of keeping his players focused, but it will be interesting to see what happens if the Bearcats stumble once or twice in the non-conference slate like they did last season.
5. It is hard not to root for Notre Dame big man Jack Cooley given that he looks so out of place among the athletic specimens that populate the frontcourt of conference foes. Last season Cooley came out of nowhere to earn second-team All-Big East honors and develop into a consistent offensive and rebounding force in the paint. This season he isn’t going to sneak up on anyone and he has also been given some additional leadership responsibilities on his young team, and he has responded well to the added duties. From the quotes from his teammates and coach in the article, it seems like Cooley has transformed himself from an afterthought to essential presence over the past two years and now he is poised to lead the Fighting Irish to one of their better seasons ever.

1. It is funny to think about given its proximity to and history with Maryland, but Georgetown was probably rooting for the Terps to land the Andrew and Aaron Harrison twins last week. For starters, the Hoyas and Terps haven’t played each other in more than 20 years thanks to feuding legends John Thompson and Lefty Driesell so it wouldn’t be as if Georgetown would regularly square off with the highly-touted duo. But also, if the Harrison twins were headed to College Park, the Hoyas would have had a much better chance of landing local product Roddy Peters who has shot up recruiting boards after turning heads on the summer circuit. Peters got the spotlight treatment from ESPN.com recently in an entertaining article that also touched on the dormant Beltway rivalry and the not-so dormant recruiting battle over Peters that is really just heating up. The article doesn’t reveal any new information about whether the storied programs will ever renew their local rivalry, but its a solid read, especially if you didn’t know the illustrious history between the two programs.
2. Two teams play one game on an aircraft carrier and now everyone wants to do it. The only problem is that while playing a game on an aircraft carrier to honor Veterans Day sounds like a great idea, the reality is that the logistics aren’t quite as rosy, as Syracuse and San Diego State found out this week. Luckily, some local sponsors stepped up and the two teams are once again set to square off on the USS Midway in San Diego Bay on November 9. Syracuse.com gives a good rundown of the behind-the-scenes work on how the game was saved, painting San Diego-based Syndicus Entertainment as rather incompetent in the process. This is great news as both the Orange and Aztecs are likely to be mainstays in the Top 25 all season, and this game will go a long way toward improving the winner’s non-conference resume.
3. At this point, every coach in the conference has been asked for their thoughts on the changing of the guard that is taking place next season, but by far the most interesting answers came from Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin who viewed the shifting landscape as a chance for the Bearcats to “plant our flag deeper” and then went on to say that his program was never going to get the respect it deserved amongst the conference elite. Now, Matt Norlander correctly points out that we have no context for these remarks, but I am not buying the Bearcats’ basketball program as an afterthought, especially considering its history in the past two decades. You can’t be an afterthought when you had players like former NPOY Kenyon Martin coming through campus. Heck, Bob Huggins is one of the most recognizable coaches in the entire sport, and he will always be associated with his excellent teams at Cincinnati.
4. If you haven’t noticed by now, we here at the Big East microsite simply cannot get enough of stories about facility upgrades and luckily the programs in the conference have thrown us a few bones by going and upgrading their facilities. Two days ago it was Georgetown, yesterday it was Connecticut, and this week comes news that DePaul has grandiose plans to move out of its outdated arena and into brand-spanking new digs, or the United Center, or the practice facility the Bulls are planning to break ground on. Who knows? Nobody! But we do now that getting a new arena is never a bad thing, especially for a program like DePaul that can basically use all the help it can get. So hey, maybe set up some hardwood at Soldier Field and have them play there. Maybe you can even get the promoters for the Syracuse and San Diego State game to find the sponsors.
5. It is always good to know that Louisville isn’t feeling the pressure of their immense preseason expectations. I don’t know how Lazer Blaze stacks up against some of the other laser tag spots around the country, but I do know that no matter what age you are, if you can’t enjoy a spirited round or two of laser tag, you just aren’t any fun.

Is It Even A Question Whether Russ Smith is the Cardinals’ best laser tag player?

1. There was a scary moment Tuesday morning in Washington, DC, at a session of The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics when former Maryland star and current ESPN college basketball analyst Len Elmore collapsed in his chair during a Q&A session. Luckily, the 6o-year old Harvard Law graduate and resident hoops intellectual was back up on his feet after paramedics arrived and he shortly walked under his own power to his hotel room thereafter. According to the Washington Post, Elmore told SMU president Gerald Turner that this incident was related to a “longstanding health issue” of his and has happened before. We’re glad to hear that Elmore appears to be doing alright, but we sure hope that his ailment is manageable and doesn’t cause him additional and dangerous related problems.
2. One thing we failed to mention from Monday’s fire hose of preseason information released by CBSSports.com was their article outlining the group’s selections for conference champions, Final Four teams/champions, and major postseason awards. Some of the more interesting choices were Gonzaga making the Final Four on two ballots (Goodman and Norlander), Arizona doing likewise (Goodman and Gottlieb), along with UNLV (Norlander and Borzello) and Michigan State (Parrish). None of the five writers chose the same national champion — Louisville, Arizona, Kentucky, Missouri, and Indiana — and they were equally disparate when it came to picking Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year. When it comes to NPOY, though, the group was nearly uananimous — Cody Zeller showed up on four ballots, with Doug McDermott picking up the lone contrarian vote. One thing is for sure: The field is completely wide open this year and any number of schools will start practice on Friday with reasonable dreams of cutting down the nets next spring in Atlanta.
3. Yesterday the WAC announced two new additions to its basketball-only league — and make sure you’re sitting down when you read that these titans of the sport are joining the once-venerable old conference — Utah Valley and Cal State Bakersfield. After all the recent defections, these two schools will join a ragtag group that now only includes Denver, Seattle, Idaho and New Mexico State. For the next two years, the league will keep its automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament under an exemption that allows it to do so without the requisite minimum of seven schools. For a conference that at one time or another boasted such notable basketball schools as Arizona, BYU, UNLV, San Diego State, Tulsa and Utah, this is a little bit like looking at a former supermodel in her 70s — it ain’t pretty anymore.
4. The Battle of the Midway has been saved from liquidation, much to the relief of both Syracuse and San Diego State, the two schools set to face off on the retired ship come Veteran’s Day. But if you want to grab a ticket, make sure to bring your American Express platinum card — ducats for this outdoor game will start at $150 a pop and increase up to as much as $500 the closer you get to the court. Novelty plus scarcity is a certain way to increase demand for a product, but we’re not convinced that pricing a game like this in the rarefied neighborhood of courtside seats to an NBA game is the right way to handle it. Honestly, we’d have preferred that some deep-pocketed sponsor pick up the tab and let military personnel make up the entire audience, but nobody asked us.
5. It’s not very often that we’ll mention a SWAC school in this space, but it’s also unusual that a school is hit by the NCAA with the dreaded “lack of institutional control” penalty. Texas Southern received just that news on Tuesday, as the NCAA in a statement said that the school was “responsible for booster involvement in recruiting, academic improprieties, ineligible student-athlete participation and exceeding scholarship limits” over the course of a number of years. As a result, the basketball program, now led by former Indiana and UAB head coach Mike Davis, will be banned from the postseason next season and lose two scholarships for the immediate future. The most surprising punishment is that the school must vacate all of its wins in every sport from 2006-10, one of the most egregious penalties we’ve ever seen the NCAA mete out to a school. Davis was certainly informed that he would be walking into a difficult situation at TSU, but we’re guessing that he’ll spend quite a few days clicking his heels together and hoping that he magically re-appears in Bloomington again.

When the Big East broke the trend of hiring experienced sports administrators and brought former CBS executive vice president Mike Aresco on board as its new commissioner, there was little doubt that Aresco’s experience in programming and negotiating large television played a large role. The conference didn’t have to wait very long to see its new hire in action as one of Aresco’s first responsibilities as commissioner was to secure a lucrative, long-term television deal with ESPN.

New Big East Commissioner Mike Aresco Has His Hands Full Trying To Land A Favorable Television Deal With ESPN (Photo credit: John P Filo/AP Photo)

But now, with little more than two weeks left before the two sides’ exclusive negotiating window closes, the deal doesn’t appear to be any closer to being done than it did when Aresco took over. The new commissioner told reporters that the deal between the two sides is ‘not anywhere near done’ and that there has been plenty of interest from rival networks as they sense an opportunity to capitalize.

Now, it should be clear to anyone with even the most minimal business sense that Aresco’s comments could be true, or they could just be a rather transparent negotiating ploy to create the aura of competition between ESPN and its rivals even if there isn’t one. It will be interesting to see whether ESPN eventually decides to get the deal done or whether they believe the price is just too steep for a conference that doesn’t have nationally-relevant football programs and is in the process of losing three of their best basketball programs.

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1. CBS Sports rolled out a few major parts of its college basketball season preview yesterday, including the “expert” picks for this season and Jeff Goodman and Gary Parrish’s picks for preseason All-American honors. Goodman, Parrish, and Jeff Borzello picked Louisville to win the Big East this year, with Matt Norlander and newcomer Doug Gottlieb choosing Syracuse. The Cardinals also proved to be a popular Final Four pick, with Goodman choosing the Cards as his preseason national champion.  Bob Huggins also makes a cameo as Goodman’s coach of the year pick. The All-American picks were less Big East-friendly; only Georgetown forward Otto Porter cracked the four teams listed, with a fourth team selection alongside Kansas block artist Jeff Withey and Lehigh’s Duke-killer C.J. McCollum.  Pittsburgh freshman Steven Adams cracked the All-Freshman second team. The Kiwi center is expected to man the middle for the Panthers, and help prevent a second straight disappointing season for Pittsburgh in its final Big East campaign.  These lists include a number of incoming blue-chip freshmen and mid-major superstars, while the Big East has a number of consistent contributors aiming for breakout seasons.  It will be interesting to see if the conference is better represented on these lists come March.
2. Hopefully for Pitt, Adams’ signing turns out to be worth the effort, because it put a lot of stress on head coach Jamie Dixon. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dixon suffered a pulmonary embolism after one of the 16-hour flights from Wellington, New Zealand, and was hospitalized after he discovered he was having difficulty breathing.  The article goes on to describe Adams’ unique story, one that I’m sure will spread quickly if the seven-footer helps the Panthers make it back to the top of the Big East and into the NCAA Tournament in 2013.
3. In yesterday’s ‘5’, we told you about Georgetown’s new athletic training facility, which is set to break ground in the “very near future.” Well, Connecticut is following suit in upgrading their facilities… the school just doesn’t want people to know how it’s doing it.  According to Boston.com, Husky sponsor Webster Bank will be footing some of the bill for these new facilities, but the university declines to disclose various other financial agreements, like the one with Webster, as well as the identities of many private donors. The legal matters involved in situations like this are not nearly as fun as the basketball implications (unless you’re into that sort of thing), so my biggest takeaway from this situation is that UConn is moving swiftly to stabilize its program as a national contender in the post-Calhoun era. We’ve seen other Big East programs get major boosts from upgraded facilities recently, like Syracuse with it’s Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center and Louisville with the Yum! Center, as well as Kentucky who just opened some ritzy new basketball-focused dorms. Nailing down the coaching situation, whether that’s Kevin Ollie or someone else, is important, but new practice facilities should definitely help UConn sell itself on the recruiting trail going forward.
4. Those of you in the Mid-Atlantic region will be able to catch quite a few Georgetown (and Big East) basketball games on MASN this season.  The Big East slate here includes the Hoyas’ trips to Marquette, South Florida, and Rutgers, as well as home games against Providence, Seton Hall, and DePaul. In my experience, there are few things worse than trying to find a way to watch your team’s less marquee match-ups on television, so I fully support any agreement that will get more league basketball on TV. If we’re being honest, the real winners here are the DMV-area Western Carolina fans who will be able to catch their December 10 bout with the Hoyas.
5. Former St. John’s guard Nurideen Lindsey‘s hardship waiver was granted by the NCAA this weekend, and the feisty guard will be able to open the season with his new team Rider this season.   The 6’3″ Lindsey was very impressive in his short, nine-game St. John’s career, during which he averaged 12.4 and 2.8 assists per game. In his debut against William and Mary, for example, Lindsey scored a season high 19 points and added four assists. Later in the year, he added 18 points and two assists in an 81-72 loss to then-#16 Arizona. Lindsey and the Broncos open their season at home against Robert Morris on November 9.

1. Today is the rare double holiday and no offense to Columbus Day, which is great and all, but let’s face it, the first day of the 2012-13 Big East Microsite is a far bigger deal across the country. If you read Will’s opening post, you know that we have a solid group of folks this year and we are aiming to be bigger and better this season. So let’s dive right in, shall we? It seems only fitting that we should lead off with a note involving new commissioner Mike Aresco, who spoke to reporters about the state of the conference this weekend and had some interesting things to say about basketball in particular. The jist of his chat was that he isn’t worried about weak football teams dragging down the brand because Big East basketball is “legendary.” I guess we shouldn’t tell him that some of the conference’s most “legendary” programs are leaving soon enough for greener pastures and one has already left. We will cut him some slack since its his job to make the conference sound good and because the basketball will remain pretty darn good. Frankly, we have always thought of the Big East as a basketball conference, I am sorry, but Syracuse v. Connecticut just doesn’t hold the same allure on the gridiron as it does on the hardwood.
2. Well, that was quick. Facing a rather grim season outlook, UConn fans got a surge of hope in September when the nation’s No. 1 prospect, Jabari Parker, took an in-home visit from the Huskies after new head coach Kevin Ollie was promoted last month. But just as quickly as it began, it has ended, as Parker has announced his five finalists and UConn is not among them. UConn was hardly a favorite at any point in the race so it shouldn’t be too disappointing. And in some sense, just the fact that Ollie has enough influence to get through Parker’s doorway after the Huskies had already been cut from the list means that the program’s recruiting is in capable hands.
3. I don’t have any idea how far away the “very near future” is but it sure sounds like Georgetown and coach John Thompson, III, are very close to getting a new, on-campus, athletic facility that would help Georgetown’s athletic teams stay competitive in the conference’s ongoing facilities race. The new building will cost $60 million dollars and basically only needs a final round of fundraising before the school can get started on its construction. The facility is going to house multiple sports teams, but make no mistake about it, Georgetown knows where its bread is buttered, and this move is designed to help the basketball teams stay competitive. The conference is full of programs with glimmering, shiny, multi-million dollar facilities, and it is high time that Georgetown got its own.  It is far too early to see what type of impact the facility will have on recruiting, but needless to say, it won’t hurt.
4. The good folks over at CBS Sports examined the question of whether Madison Square Garden is better-suited to host the ACC Tournament than the Big East Tournament, especially in the wake of all the defections. There are a lot of angles to analyze here but it does seem surprising Madison Square Garden didn’t at least take a shot at landing the ACC, which figures to feature better altogether basketball programs and programs like Syracuse and Pittsburgh that always draw well in New York City. It is also pretty clear that while the Big East has done an admirable job of patching up its basketball holes, the tournament isn’t going to have the same aura about it. I would explain more but frankly they do a better job, so just go read the article.
5. We end with something fluffy and really there is nothing fluffier than a nice “top list.” Taking a break from its excellent coverage of the local Orange, Syracuse.com ranked the top five transfers coming into the Big East this season and the list is pretty excellent. Personally I would have said Luke Hancock will make more of an impact for Louisville than Tony Chennault will for Villanova but that is the beauty of these lists. They are pointless and fun-to-read at the same time. We will try to stay away from these for the most part and deliver some actual news. But it’s the first day, and this post is already late. So enjoy and welcome back for what should be another excellent season of college basketball.

1. Does anyone even celebrate Columbus Day, and how would you do so if you had a notion — pull out some vials of smallpox and spread it around? At any rate, Happy Columbus Day, everyone. If nothing else, the holiday means we’re on the verge of the start of official practices around the country, and that nip in the air we felt over the weekend was a very welcome sensation. One player almost exactly one year away from competing in his first college practice is Chicago’s Jabari Parker, and the multifaceted big man on Friday announced the five schools who are most likely to earn his services next year. The quintet includes BYU, Duke, Florida, Michigan State, and Stanford, with the Blue Devils and Spartans widely considered the two favorites. BYU and Stanford are outliers with Parker’s faith and interest in academics driving those decisions, but a wild card school here we should keep an eye on is Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators. Donovan has already received commitments from two top 10 players in this class and the pressure that he’s feeling from Calipari’s hauls in Lexington has clearly pushed him to double down on his persuasive sales pitch.
2. News leaked late last week that the Battle of the Midway, a showdown of preseason Top 25 teams Syracuse and San Diego State on the USS Midway in San Diego harbor, was in danger of cancellation because of a lack of financial support. While we are still on the fence about the need for multiple aircraft carrier games per season (others are planned for Charleston, SC, and Jacksonville, FL), this game projects as the best matchup of the trio so we were hoping it would find a way to continue. With the financial assistance of Fox Sports San Diego agreeing to cover any shortfall, the showcase event will go on as scheduled on the evening of Veteran’s Day (also known as Opening Night). Syracuse definitely will have some holes to fill but Jim Boeheim has considerable talent returning; still, Steve Fisher’s Aztecs no doubt will have this one circled on their calendar as a major seed-line enhancer in front of a home crowd in a very cool environment.
3. Kansas State put a ribbon on its brand-new $18 million basketball practice facility on Friday, as the arms race in college sports continues to search for bigger and bolder solutions to problems that were arguably never there. According to this article from the Topeka Capital-Journal, K-State had in fact been the only school among Big 12 members without such a facility in place, and new head coach Bruce Weber will surely use its state of the art characteristics to his advantage on the recruiting trail in coming years. Much like Louisville within the state of Kentucky, the Wildcat program runs at a natural disadvantage through its close proximity to the basketball behemoth just a few miles down the road — but, at the same time, a rising tide lifts all boats, and the KU sphere of influence can serve to help Kansas State’s on-court aspirations, even if it is unlikely to ever reach the standard of excellence achieved in Lawrence.
4. A common refrain around Pac-12 circles is that if three-bill center Josh Smith ever gets serious about his weight and effort on the court, UCLA becomes a much different team. Much has been written over the last two seasons about Smith’s problems with motivation and over-eating, but this weekend article by the LA Times suggests that the gifted big man, while not yet anywhere near where he needs to be, may have at least turned a corner. His body fat is now at 17% (down from 25%) and he is talking the talk about following a better diet protocol and giving maximum effort on the floor. Hey, it’s a start, and for Bruins fans salivating at the possibility of an energized Smith to go along with their super freshmen and other returnees (one of those players, Tyler Lamb, will have arthroscopic surgery and be out 4-6 weeks), the realization is that a player with his gifts giving only 50% is still a valuable asset to a team gunning for a national championship.
5. We’ll finish off this M5 with a report from Jeff Goodman on a most curious career path for a former college basketball journeyman named Eric Wallace, a player who bounced around between three different schools in his five-year career. The 6’6″, 230-lb. forward enjoyed his best season at Seattle University last year, averaging 9.4 PPG and 7.9 RPG through a combination of grit and athleticism, but it is his next career choice that makes this story interesting. DraftExpress‘ Jonathan Givony recommended Wallace to an Australian Rules Football combine in Los Angeles based on his athletic gifts, and he did so well there that he was subsequently invited to the AFL Combine in Melbourne, Australia. Despite no previous experience with the game whatsoever, he earned the “Best International Performer” award there, and he hopes to use his newfound ‘talent’ to get an invitation to a team’s rookie list allowing him to stay in Australia and learn the game in a more focused manner. So many players end up chasing the NBA dream when they have no realistic shot, it’s great to see someone like Wallace perhaps finding an entirely new way to use his gifts without fear of too much disappointment.

Chris Johnson is an RTC Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn.

There has been no shortage of discussion surrounding the impending basketball decline in the Big East. By now, you’ve surely heard that by 2015, the loaded league we all came to know and love will have lost a sizeable chunk of its upper-echelon talent. I’m talking about Pittsburgh, Syracuse, West Virginia and Notre Dame – four valuable hoops entities who, as is the case with most realignment movement, are chasing more lucrative football-fueled media rights packages (Notre Dame, whose TV contract with NBC is college sports’ most unbreakable bond of broadcast loyalty, is the lone exception). But the Big East itself, the league, the brand, the unit, isn’t going anywhere. Sure, it has settled on some bizarre geographic additions, but Temple and Memphis are valuable upgrades – elite programs that, from a purely basketball-centric perspective, pretty much any league would welcome with open arms. Combined with holdovers Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette, Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Johns, that’s a diverse but promising collection of strong programs. Conference realignment may have staggered the Big East, and it’s unlikely the league will ever regain its status as the nation’s best basketball conference, but the new-look membership is more than passable in the context of power conference hoops. I’d argue it’s still one of the top five leagues in the sport, particularly if SMU’s Larry Brown experiment generates the national attention and relevance that program sorely lacked, and if Central Florida can overcome its NCAA penalties.

With so much turnover in the next few years, Cronin believes the Bearcats are on the rise in the restructured Big East (Photo credit: AP Photo).

For the remaining members, those loyal bystanders who abstained from the massive conference realignment wave, the departures of three historic programs leaves a significant power void at the top of the league’s competitive totem pole. Syracuse, Georgetown, West Virginia and Pittsburgh didn’t just deplete the Big East in the obvious, quantifiable way (the league now has four fewer members). It fundamentally altered the conference’s identity. For decades the Big East served up a steady dose of riveting rivalries, legendary coaches and a unique brand of hard-nosed east coast hoops. The realignment reshuffling has skewed that image, but it also presents a silver lining for the programs who chose to stick around. Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin understands the negative perception hovering around the Big East’s realignment defections, but he sees a rather opportune moment for his program. Long overshadowed by the likes of Syracuse and Pittsburgh and West Virginia, along with a handful of other Big East heavyweights, Cronin sees an opportunity to remold the league’s power structure, with the Bearcats claiming a prime position in the conference hierarchy. SNY.TV, a broadcast affiliate of the storied league, spoke with Cronin over the weekend.

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Chris Johnson is an RTC Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn.

Over the past three years, conference realignment has precipitated a shift of thriving programs away from the Big East into the ACC. Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame, three valuable pieces of the Big East’s hoops power hierarchy, saw weakness in the Big East’s deteriorating leadership and declining status in the BCS power structure. They sought greater stability and a more lucrative TV payout in their new conference. The Big East was fracturing, so it was not at all surprising that these programs wanted out. It is hard to fault their move. But like so many of the realignment-related movements of late, their league hop had detrimental consequences on the Big East’s basketball league. For years Syracuse and Pittsburgh have contended for conference titles, played fierce rivalry games and did their part to help make the Big East one of the nation’s most compelling hoops leagues. Notre Dame is, by all accounts, a football school, but had itself risen among the league’s hoops upper-tier under head coach Mike Brey. When these programs announced their departures, it wasn’t just a blow to the league’s membership, but to the Big East brand itself, the very essence of which rested upon such fierce hardwood drama. This was a familiar wave of movement; it wasn’t long ago that the ACC poached Virginia Tech, Boston College and Miami, another football-motivated move that impacted its basketball competition at the expense of the Big East. These six defections over the last decade (Boston College, Miami, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Pittsburgh), along with West Virginia’s jump to the Big 12, has conspired to reconstitute the Big East into an amorphous heap of disparate programs, a depleted league robbed of much of its hoops equity.

The Big East won’t serve up the same tantalizing display of hoops heavyweights in its conference tournament after the current contract with Madison Square Garden runs out in 2016 (Photo credit: Chris Chambers/Getty Images).

The realignment-powered decline of Big East basketball is nothing new. It is a topic I (along with many other college hoops scribes around the web) have visited before in this space. This latest bit of news counts as a rare positive step for the revamped league, and it was brought to light Tuesday by ESPN.com’s Brett McMurphy. The ACC may have stolen the Big East’s basketball talent, but it can’t take its legendary conference tournament venue! Take that, conference realignment! Madison Square Garden, according to McMurphy, did not submit a bid for hosting rights to the 2016-21 ACC Tournaments. The newly-unveiled Barclays Center, home of the re-branded Brooklyn Nets, also passed up the soon-to-be hoops super-conference’s league tourney. The Big East’s current deal with MSG runs out in 2016, but an extension is in the works to keep the league’s tournament at the historic New York City arena through 2026, according to the New York Post.

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1. So the Big East is realigning … again. But what does it mean for the Big Ten? Well, for starters, it means Notre Dame won’t be joining the ranks of the Big Ten, since it’s taking its talents to the ACC for basketball season. It also means the conference that has been long regarded as the best hoops league in the land takes yet another hit after the announced departures of Syracuse and Pittsburgh (not to mention the retirement of Jim Calhoun at Connecticut). Sports Illustrated‘s Luke Winn took a look at the conferences around the country before and after these seismic shifts and noted that the Big Ten moved from the No. 4 spot (I find it hard to believe that was ever the case in the first place) up to No. 2 behind the new-look ACC. It looks like the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge will be a better measuring stick now than ever.
2. It’s starting to sound like a broken record, but Michigan State’s Mark Hollis is at it again. This time, the forward-thinking athletic director has the Spartans playing another aircraft carrier game (the Germany game against UConn was made official this week)… at Pearl Harbor. He also is pushing for the Spartans to host the First Four round of the NCAA Tournament in nearby Grand Rapids. Hollis has pushed for the Spartans to host NCAA Tournament games at Van Andel Arena before, but this seems more plausible.
3. From the facilities to the uniforms, the Minnesota basketball program is undergoing a bit of a makeover this summer. The Gophers will be donning new threads this season, outfitted by Nike, joining Michigan State, Ohio State, Illinois and Purdue as other conference teams to sport the Nike Aerographic design uniforms. According to the Big Ten Network, the faint design on the back of the uniform features design features Williams Arena, Minnesota’s block “M” logo and “1851,” the year the university was founded. Speaking of Williams Arena, the home of the Gophers will also have a new overhead scoreboard when the team takes the court this season. The high-def unit — which is 11-feet-seven-inches by 13-feet-eight-inches — was part of an $8 million facilities upgrade around campus.
4. Indiana basketball has a rich and proud history that includes plenty of memorable games against teams in and out of the Big Ten. So, Terry Hutchens asks, do the Hoosiers have a natural basketball rival? Would it be in-state foe Purdue? Or conference teams like Illinois or Michigan State? There’s plenty of history between Indiana and Kentucky, especially considering last year’s memorable game at Assembly Hall and the impasse the teams reached when trying to continue their non-conference series. What do you think? Do the Hoosiers have a significant rival on the hardwood?
5. We know how hard it can be, as college students, to come up with $186. Between tuition, rent, trying to survive on ramen noodles and occasionally enjoying a beer (or three), there’s not much left in the bank. So that’s why we agree with NBC College Basketball Talk‘s assessment of the Izzone at Michigan State offering students a chance at free student section tickets this season — “Awesome.” Spartan fans had the opportunity to take one half-court shot, and 21 students came away with tickets good for 13 Michigan State home games. Just what we need — another excuse to practice the half-court shot.