[SLU ENTERS TALKS WITH THE MISSOURI VALLEY CONF!!!!!!!!!]

According to ESPN's Andy Katz, the trips to the three schools by the ACC is a mere formality. The deal will be done in June (early?). Then other things ought to happen. Should be interesting.

[Other catholic schools' message boards]

If I read those messages correctly about the link to Creighton, I got the impression that the connection was related to the baseball coach. That sounds like a weak link, but maybe the baseball coaches really do have some influence.

Creighton has had more recent success in basketball and they have retained their coach. Travel wise, Omaha is half again as far from South Bend as St. Louis.

[Fact or fiction...]

This is a quote from Andy Katz's article on ESPN:

"Marquette already has denied a report that Charlotte, Saint Louis, Marquette and DePaul would stick together and move as a block to another conference if Conference USA was poached by the Big East. Atlantic 10 Conference officials discussed expansion at a meeting last week. But if Conference USA or the A-10 went after any Big East leftovers, those two conferences could become too big."

So what's the real story?

Here's the link:

http://espn.go.com/ncb/columns/katz_andy/1557259.html

[Big East reality vs. Big East speculation]

How do you interpret this statement at the end of the article. I think he is saying he wants to broaden the range of teams in their league and would be in favor of the so-called Catholic league along with Georgetown and Villanova. If so, that would be pretty good support for a new league. How would you interpret the statement?

"At one point, there was the thought that the remaining footballs and basketballs would simply break away and the Catholic schools would form their own all-Catholic league.

But ADs at the Catholic schools seemed divided as to whether to take a financial risk to expand to the Midwest or become a Northeast corridor bus league, much like the MAAC.

Wegrzyn made it clear where St. John's stands on the issue.

"I think Villanova views itself as a national school, Georgetown views itself as a national school and we definitely are committed to having a national presence," he said.

"We want to play at the highest level." "

[From Bernies Bits]

DePaul is not a Jesuit school!!! Hello Bernie!!! Why not check the facts? In any event, it's good to hear that those schools are sticking together.