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Burwell: Big East may go to 12 next year


SLUDrew

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Fox is pushing for 12 teams according to "sources" and if the Big East can get up and running in the near future, invites might be given to teams 11 and 12 to join in 2013 instead of having to wait for 2014. SLU is well-positioned for one of these spots and sources close to the University are claiming that the exit fees will not be an obstacle

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bryan-burwell/ufr-burwell-on-slu-in-tourney-big-east/html_82e40e18-9c0d-59ce-b3e2-8b5e62813972.html

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Fox is pushing for 12 teams according to "sources" and if the Big East can get up and running in the near future, invites might be given to teams 11 and 12 to join in 2013 instead of having to wait for 2014. SLU is well-positioned for one of these spots and sources close to the University are claiming that the exit fees will not be an obstacle

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bryan-burwell/ufr-burwell-on-slu-in-tourney-big-east/html_82e40e18-9c0d-59ce-b3e2-8b5e62813972.html

Have we backed off the ledge yet? :)
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I hate to knock Burwell on anything SLU-related, as I really appreciate his coverage (and especially the fact that he actually shows up to the games), but his floating this idea now makes me like our chances for next year even less. No one will be happier than I if he turns out to be right, of course...

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Is there any place other than the ledge? After all, we are Billiken fans.

The Billikens were even mentioned this morning on 95.7 Bay Area radio, "Saint Louis has a good team."

SLU is 13th in the USA Today Coaches Poll, 15th on the NCAA seed list.

My first bracket has SLU defeating Georgetown for the National Championship!

In the words of former football coach Howard Schnellenberger: "We are on a collision course with the National Championship."

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Admittedly, Burwell is often a little lose with facts and details, but he is a nationally-connected reporter. He used to be a contributor to ESPN's Sports Reporters and Jim Rome's Burning. He was a correspondent for HBO's Real Sports. He also wrote for USA Today. He certainly has access to lots of people in the sports and media circles.

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At least it's some new information (SLU may be in Big East next year). I fully expected him to just re-hash old news or make up some speculation.

^ This, seriously. At least he apparently has sources and is pressing them for the intel. I fully expected "The new Big East will either go to 10 teams, or they might go to twelve, and SLU may or may not be in."

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Admittedly, Burwell is often a little lose with facts and details, but he is a nationally-connected reporter. He used to be a contributor to ESPN's Sports Reporters and Jim Rome's Burning. He was a correspondent for HBO's Real Sports. He also wrote for USA Today. He certainly has access to lots of people in the sports and media circles.

He actually still is on Sports Reporters; he was on this past weekend.

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It sounds unlikely, but if the new Big East can get their sh!t together and has the five new teams decided, this week would make perfect sense to make the announcement. They could highlight that 3 of the five new members (SLU, Butler and Creighton) are all in the Big Dance.

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Keep in mind the Butler/VCU to the A10 rumors were initially reported in late March 2012.

In early May it was announced that Butler would be joining the A10 in 2013-14.

In mid-May it was announced that VCU would be joining the A10 in 2013-14, then within days it was announced that VCU would join a year early.

By the end of May, Butler was officially joining a year early as well.

I don't doubt that there are internal disputes over 1) whether or not to expand to 12 for next year 2) which schools to add.

Hypothetically, let's assume that the Master Plan (i.e. the end game that FOX and the lawyers tasked with handling this are pursuing) is to expand to 12 in time for next season. If that's the case they'll need to appease the minority faction that wants to hold at 10 (i.e. FOX will have to pony up a few extra bucks) as well as mollify the school(s) that are not getting their wish as far as the last school(s) added, without pissing off any of the other schools in the process (so Georgetown gets X-concession because they dragged their feet? Well now we're going to drag our feet unless we get Y-concession).

It's March. Focus on the games on the court. If SLU starts taking down Blue Bloods and survives the Region of Death to advance to Atlanta, then FOX will push even harder to get us added for next year.

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The Big East will need to go to 12 to better prepare for what's coming. The ncaa tournament will not be around much longer.

Please explain. CBS and Turner have billions of reasons it will be around at least 11 more years.

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