The Catholic 7 departees are still formally members of the Big East conference for contractual reasons - after all, they are not inclined to walk away from nearly $70 million dollars in the bank. But as Big East football fans know, the Catholic 7 are the most detestable, greedy, unethical bunch in all of college sports (which is really saying something), and their shameless capacity for inducing outrage knows no bounds. The latest cardinal sin is that the Catholic 7 are collaborating with Notre Dame, funneling ND inside information in its quest to leave the Big East conference early. The Catholic 7 working against the league's collective financial interests isn't exactly news, nor is their blind devotion to a Notre Dame program that surreptitiously abandoned them with zero qualms. To see those two phenomena converge really is a sight to behold however. Catholic 7 hypocrisy and greed destroyed the Big East, and it's still continuing to this day when they theoretically are already out the door.

Boise in the MWC? UNC and Georgia Tech in the Big Ten? Sounds fun.

Lenn Robbins in his column today unfairly slammed Rutgers and Pitt, who were horrified last year at the prospect that the Big East would accept a below-market deal. There were no ulterior motives beyond that. The only saboteurs in the Big East live in Providence. Beyond that, Robbins reports that Mike Aresco thinks the Big East can still get $100 million dollars. Here's why my PURELY SPECULATION theory comes in. We know that Mike Tranghese is pulling the strings here. Could that be the case either because Tranghese is angling to return to his commissioner's job in a reconfigured Catholic league, and/or is seeking to permanently wed Providence to Villanova/Georgetown/St. John's? If the split happens, for better or worse, they're stuck together forever. It's just something to think about. Tranghese has never, ever had the Big East's best interests at heart, so why would he start now? The man admitted to Mike Francesa of all people that he only cared about Providence College.

Reportedly so, as Mark Blaudschun has reported that Mike Tranghese is hanging around, and that's never good news. His wise counsel helped destroy the Big East in the first place. Watching the Big East both destroyed and to see these seven programs leave is a clearly suicidal, insane, deluded move that will have a net result that will be fantastic for Rutgers sports on many levels. Any resulting television package will be near-valueless, and they risk letting Rutgers and Louisville leave the Big East a year early, surrendering millions in NCAA payments, exit payments, and not mention the inevitable myriad lawsuits. It's just baffling to believe that this level of self-delusion could exist. The idea that they, the faction who have been calling the shots in the Big East with dictatorial powers for years, could feel slighted at the slightest notion of power sharing and are willing to reduce themselves to a mid-major merely because their pride has been wounded. What doesn't make sense is why Georgetown, St. John's, and Villanova would go along with this hair brained scheme coming out of Providence and South Orange. You never know, it might still just be another media leak designed to racket up pressure on Mike Aresco to save their precious RPI with a new division setup, or perhaps other parties are leaking this news to lower the value of the TV rights deal? It's still baffling to believe that they could be THIS insane.

Congratulations Cards, this was well-earned. I knew that Louisville would land on their feet, they just have too much to offer as an athletic program. Hopefully everything works out for the other Big East programs, but that prospect is getting increasingly unlikely...

The Big Ten has it right - expansion should be driven primarily by television markets. The Big East, not so much. Tulane in theory adds New Orleans, but they're a private school, not a large public university like Rutgers and Maryland. ECU is another warm body that has good fan support and has had some success in football, but brings little in terms of television markets. This might be pre-emptive inventory if the conference loses any further teams. According to CBS Sports, BYU again recently rejected overtures from the league. Oh well. Once again, you have to hope everything works out for the other football schools, but it sure will be hilarious watching Providence have to travel to New Orleans, Dallas, Houston and the like. Oh well, back to ignoring all the vitriol while counting our gigantic pile of money.

If you thought the paranoia and conspiracy theories in South Orange were a thing of the past following Bobby Gonzalez's firing, think again. Following, once again, another spate of recruiting disappointments (this time it was striking out with Reggie Cameron and Tyler Roberson), Seton Hall fans are already drawing their knives out against men's basketball coach Kevin Willard. Willard has consistently failed to recruit top local players (being notably spurned by the likes of Kyle Anderson, Myles Mack, Eli Carter, etc...), to the point where that's become a major sore spot. SHU has resorted back to the Bobby Gonzalez script of getting by with DI transfers and shaky academic qualifiers, and what's really driving the point home with their lack of recruiting mojo is their one pipeline to the Canary Islands. Between poor recruiting, squandering a loaded roster two years ago that should have been a Sweet 16 lock, and an epic second half collapse in 2011-2012, it's understandable why Willard is starting to feel pressure. It doesn't seem like there's any good news on the horizon, and now they somehow have to get through a season without any proven replacements for Herb Pope and Jordan Theodore. Still, that's no excuse to lash out in a manner that recalls the bitterness and divisiveness of the Gonzo era. This may be a stretch, but anything wrong with Seton Hall basketball right now probably has a lot more to do with the athletic department and institutional issues than with negative comments on an internet message board. But by all means, alienate your remaining core of devoted supporters. That is not, if anything else, a surefire tried and true method that is guaranteed to end well in a positive and successful manner.