When the Big East emerged from months of self-analysis on Tuesday convinced it needs to add two football playing-members to survive, one school was conspicuously absent from its list of potential targets.
That school, of course, is Memphis, which has made it abundantly clear in recent years that it would bolt from Conference USA at the first hint of an invitation from one of the six BCS conferences.
There's no doubt that Memphis' trainwreck of a football program prevented the Big East from showing any interest, but the more interesting debate is whether the Tigers' formidable basketball program is actually better off remaining in Conference USA than joining a stronger league.
On the one hand, the minimal competition in Conference USA doesn't prepare the Tigers for the NCAA tournament and puts a huge onus on them to perform well in non-league play to prove they're postseason-worthy. On the other hand, Memphis demonstrated under John Calipari that the weakness of Conference USA does not prevent the program from attracting elite talent or making deep NCAA tournament runs.
Dan Wolken of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal tweeted Tuesday that Memphis hoops officials privately would favor remaining in Conference USA over joining the powerhouse Big East. Wolken points out that the programs who left Conference USA for the Big East in 2005 are either in similar shape (Louisville, Marquette, South Florida) or worse off (Cincinnati, DePaul) five years later.
Although it seems unlikely that Memphis would slip out of the upper echelon of the Big East as long as it had a coach who could lure elite local talent, Wolken is correct that there are advantages to the Tigers being Conference USA's big fish. They can dominate the league each year and earn a favorable NCAA tournament seed, yet they don't have the same trouble other non-BCS schools do scheduling home games against elite non-league opponents because they're still considered a marquee program.
No matter which side of the Memphis debate you fall on, the issue may not come up again anytime soon.
The Big 12 appears content to remain at 10 teams for now and the Big East isn't interested in expanding past 16 basketball programs. That means Villanova football is a good bet to join the league, as is TCU or Central Florida so long as one of them is willing to accept coming to the Big East in a football-only capacity.
Expect TCU to jump all over such a deal if offered. The Big East gets stronger in football and doesn't become even more unwieldy in hoops and TCU becomes BCS-eligible in football without sacrificing its basketball program.
A compromise that works for everyone? Amazingly enough, yes.
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