Conferences playing musical chairs

By Eric Williams Sports Central Columnist

The Big East is a conference that was built upon the strength of its basketball competition. In the 1980s, the conference's glory years, the Big East was arguably the premier conference in men's basketball.

Georgetown University was in the championship game three times in a span of four years, winning once, with one of those losses coming to conference rival Villanova, in one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history.

In 1984, the Final Four was essentially a Big East reunion party, with Villanova, the Hoyas, and the St. John's Redmen (as they were known at the time) all making it to college basketball's grandest stage, with the University of Memphis playing the role of party-crashers.

Rivalries like Georgetown vs. Syracuse, Georgetown vs. St. John's, and St. John's vs. Syracuse were about as intense and exciting as there were in college basketball. Television ratings were high. All of the top high school recruits would have given their shooting arm to play in Madison Square Garden. Or the Carrier Dome. Or the old, dusty Capitol Center in Landover, Maryland. There were stars like Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, Derrick Coleman, and Dwayne "Pearl" Washington playing against each other on a nightly basis. Big East basketball was thriving and the fact that it was viewed as primarily a basketball league wasn't a major concern.

However, the '90s brought about major upheaval in the college athletic landscape, with many conferences looking to add schools and combine with other conferences to become "super" conferences. The Big East, not to be outdone, decided that they too would add schools, with the University of Miami being the main acquisition. While not a basketball power, it's football team was, and with the Big East looking to become a player in all sports, including football, the addition of the Hurricanes was viewed as a major coup. The media attention generated by the Hurricane football team meant major revenue for the conference, while helping to raise the profile of the conference as a whole.

Now, with word that the Hurricanes are looking to defect, the future of the Big East is in serious jeopardy. From a strictly basketball standpoint, the loss of the Hurricanes won't be too costly. The Hurricanes' basketball team has been consistently one of the worst in the conference, so losing them won't sting too bad, except for the teams that look forward to the almost automatic two wins they'd get every year. However, the news that Boston College and Syracuse are looking to join them in the ACC is much more damaging.

The historic rivalries that the Orangemen have maintained over the years with Georgetown, St. John's, and, more recently, UConn, will, in all likelihood, be abandoned. It's absurd to think that rivalries that featured so many great players, not to mention future Hall-of-Fame coaches Jim Boeheim, Lou Carnesecca, and John Thompson, may not continue.

From a football standpoint, the potential move makes sense for all three schools. All three schools have rich football traditions and, as a football conference, the Big East is little more than a stepchild to the other major conferences, with Miami's presence the major reason the league is even included in the BCS system. However, the Big East's conference football history is only about a decade old and fairly unspectacular, whereas its basketball history is filled with tradition, heated rivalries, great players, and championship banners. The only reason for these schools to jump to the ACC is for the potential increase in revenue, and possibly, the increased level of competition in football.

And maybe that's what's it's all about: football. While the Big East is a major power when it comes to basketball, in the eyes of college football fans, it's generally viewed as "Miami and sons." The league isn't really a viable football league and because of that, the league can't command as much from money from television to television its games as the SEC, Big 12, or Pac-10 can. And since the whole pie is so small, the slice that each individual school receives is that much smaller. Therein lies the motivation behind the proposed jump to the ACC.

But, it doesn't seem as if everyone in ACC-land is ready to roll out the red carpet for the three renegade teams, especially Mike Krzyzewski and Gary Williams, basketball coaches at Duke and the University of Maryland, respectively.

"The thing that made our league is basketball," Krzyzewski said. "Football is great, too. But the two-division concept in basketball for our league would be really bad."

Williams has also expressed similar sentiment, especially since the inclusion of the three ex-Big East teams would probably mean a switch to the two-division system currently in place in the Big 12 and Big East.

Unfortunately for Krzyzewski and Williams, the decision doesn't rest in their hands. All they can do is express their reservations about the potential imbalance in the schedule and the loss of the home-and-home rivalries and hope that the university presidents listen to them. Can you imagine an ACC basketball season that only has one game between Duke and North Carolina? Or one game between North Carolina and North Carolina State? Or Duke and Maryland?

If the Big East teams were added to the ACC, it's possible that those scenarios could become reality. We've already seen it happen in the Big East, where St. John's only plays Georgetown and Syracuse once a year. And although I have nothing against Virginia Tech and West Virginia, I would much rather watch St. John's play Syracuse twice than Virginia Tech twice.

Miami is the key to a host of scenarios, however. If they do decide to break away and take the other two schools with them, there will only be five Division 1-A football-playing schools left in the Big East. What then, becomes of the league, in terms of football? Will they still be included in the BCS? Or, do those five teams break away, recruit football-playing schools from another conference (Conference USA, maybe?) and form their own league?

If they form their own league, what becomes of the remaining non-football teams (Georgetown, St. John's, Villanova, and Seton Hall)? The possibilities, and potential problems, are endless. The only thing that is certain is that there will be major changes on the college scene if these things do come to pass.

Who knows what will come of all this? Maybe we have gotten all worked up over nothing. However, it's quite possible that we have just scratched the surface of the changes that will take place in college sports this summer. Hopefully, the Big East, as we now know it, will still be occupying a chair once the music stops.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.