Quote:
Originally Posted by I. J. Reilly
Yeah, but there is no way the status quo survives. It looks as though Delaney has two plans’ here;
1.ND joins as the 12th team and he’s done
2.Blow up the Big-East and make ND join as the 16th
One way or the other, he’s walking away with ND in his conference. Does ND really think he’s bluffing on option #2?
Maybe it just comes down to school politics. The ND admin’s know that it’s best to be the 12th team, but they can’t look like they caved to the Big-10’s demands so they will have to be drug into the league kicking and screaming.
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I think there is some faulty logic involved in the notion of the Big Ten blowing up the Big East to force ND's hand. ND is in the Big East for all sports aside from football. If the Big Ten takes two schools, there'd still be 14 BE basketball schools left. It only potentially becomes a threat to ND if more dominoes fall and the ACC/SEC start inviting Big East schools as well. Even then, Big East basketball will very likely still exist after all of this - none of this will effect Georgetown, Villanova, Seton Hall, St. John's, Providence, Depaul, and Marquette which is all ND is really concerned about as a non-football member.
ND's hand could be forced by big changes, but it'd have more to do with being left out of the new power structure and missing out on the financial windfall of super conferences running their own networks, etc.