(Image source: Big East)

BY: SAM KOROTKIN

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Everyone’s doing the shuffle- and the Big East must have felt left out.  After the departure of Syracuse and Pittsburgh from the conference- some are wondering if the Big East will settle.

Rumored schools include Army, Navy, East Carolina, and Central Florida among others, which analysts at ESPN say are the bottom of the barrel.

 

“If the Big East is going to add schools like the military academies, East Carolina, Central Florida, you know, are those schools really going to join for all sports and be in basketball with Georgetown, Villanova, St. John’s and Marquette, you know probably not, what number are we going to get up to at this point? And clearly they’re not going to be equal to Pitt and Syracuse.”

Before the Pac 12 decided a dozen was the magic number, there were reports of a possible merger between the Big 12 and the Big East. But now, the International Business Times asks, and answers.

 

“Would it make sense for the conference to merge with the Big East? It doesn’t make a whole lot of geographic sense and it seems the Big 12 is far more interested in poaching programs like Air Force and BYU than combining forces with the Big East.”

But what’s the cause of all this shuffling? Virginia Tech basketball coach Seth Greenberg made an appearance on the Jim Rome radio show and said- maybe programs are being a bit selfish.

 

“They are going to do what’s in their best interest. Everyone does what’s in their best interest. That’s just- again that’s the world we live in. Is it right? I’m not saying its right, but it is reality.”

And for the fans- Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel believes all of this realignment will actually hurt the college football brand.

 

“I think fans want stability, they want to play their familiar rivals, and you know most of all they don’t want to have to keep going through this. You don’t want to have to wonder every year, ‘which conference am I going to be in next year?’ There needs to be some sort of stability.”

But for some of the lesser known programs- ESPN’s Pat Forde says this is something they’ve been waiting for, for a very long time.

“ECU app to Big East is like going from loitering on the league’s front porch to ringing the doorbell. Been trying to get in for years.”
 

Transcript By Newsy