According to ESPN's Brett McMurphy (re-alignment guru), Andy Katz & Dana O'Neil, an announcement will be made in the next week that the so-called Catholic 7 will be leaving the Big East following this season and will be taking the Big East name with them.
All reports, from both ESPN & CBS, indicate the league will also announce Xavier & Butler will be joining them in their inagural season. ESPN, in their report, indicate the league will add St. Louis, Dayton & Creighton for 2014-15.
The move was expediated by Fox Sports who will also announce they will have the TV rights to the league. Fox Sports is holding a press conference on Tuesday announcing the launch of Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2.
So, Marquette fans, this is your new league next year:
- St. John's
-Villanova
- Seton Hall
- Providence
-Georgetown
- DePaul
- Xavier
- Butler
Marquette will lose its rivalry with Notre Dame, though one expects each would like to schedule one another, its rivalry with Cncinnati which goes way back even before the Great Midwest & its matchups with Louisville which date back to Conference USA and before and included some memorable games.
They do renew a rivalry with Xavier, a team they once played regularly and includes a tourney game from a few years back.
I'd guess Marquette & Georgetown would enter next year as favorites. It stinks losing Syracuse, Louisville, Cincinnati, UConn & Pittsburgh games but the 16 team league didn't mean home games against those clubs anyway. Methinks a trip to Hinkle would be fun in the future.
FYI: This is how Marquette has fared historically against their future conference opponents -
vs. DePaul, 68-44 (loss in '79 NCAA tournament)
vs. Creighton. 48-28 * -possible member
vs. Xavier, 45-16 win in '11 NCAA tournament)
vs. St. Louis, 31-23 * -possible member
vs. Dayton, 22-14 * -possible member
vs. St. John's, 14-6
vs. Butler, 14-14
vs. Providence, 12-4 (loss in '97 NCAA tournament)
vs. Seton Hall, 10-2
vs. Villanova, 9-11 (loss in '80 NCAA tournament)
vs. Georgetown, 7-8
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