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• DTRIK19 said May 15, 2008

  That would be awesome. I never understood why they didn't want to make the leap before...I guess they like beating up on weaker opponents. I didn't think they could make the best conference in basketball any better...but this certainly would.

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• GeekInPhilly said May 15, 2008

  DTRIK19...it wasn't that MEmphis "didn't want to make the leap" when Louisville and Cincinnati did, it was that they weren't invited by the Big East. Believe me, if the Big East had extended an invitation to Memphis, it would've been accepted faster than a cricket on caffeine.

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  • DTRIK19 replied May 15, 2008

    The official invitation was not extended, you are absolutely correct about that. The reason for that was Calipari's comments on not wanting to bail on C-USA. I was fortunate enough to have an internship within the Pitt athletic department during the "merger" and virtually every party involved on the Big East side of things wanted Memphis to make the leap as well, though they did not want to face public rejection and potential controversy if they were shot down by Memphis. Maybe all the criticism of not playing good teams is getting to J Cal. But trust me...they knew they were more than welcome.
• MoonDogLeft said May 15, 2008

  DTRIK19 - Excellent info. Thanks for adding to the value of the post.

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• MFSKEN said May 15, 2008

  DTRIK19...I am intrigued by your insight. The story in Memphis goes that the Big East would have invited Memphis four years ago had it made sense geographically. Being 1000 miles from New York is no different for Memphis than being 1000 miles from El Paso so It could work geographically. It would be expensive for east coast teams to travel to Memphis from New England and Middle Atlantic States once a year per sport versus 10-20 times a year per sport for Memphis.
  
  As far as Cal and the criticism he acts as though its no big deal. He still says the Tigers didn't choke in the NCAA final and says there is not one thing he would have done differently. That being said, he still likes to pile up wins against the bottom feeders and cry that he's not getting the respect nationally that they deserve. He is always pointing to the struggles of Louisville and Cincy in the Big East as a "Look Who Got The Last Laugh" because Memphis is top ten team every year and those programs have declined in rankings since their joining a much tougher conference. So a jump at this juncture would be out of character for JC.

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• HKTigerFan said May 15, 2008

  Hey DTRIK19, I'm not sure where you got your info. but an official offer was never made to Memphis by the Big East. Memphis would have and still would love to join the Big East... R.C. Johnson the athletic director at Memphis has been pushing and trying for this for several years. Their were a couple of reasons it didn't happen before. First, the Big East needed 3 schools and only 3 schools at the time. It was a contest, and the Big East chose the 3 schools it thought were most attractive and unfortunately Memphis was left out. Memphis and Loiusville are similar markets. Cincinatti is a little larger and Tampa a little larger still. Memphis' football program was and (though somewhat improving) still is very poor. They had consistantly been struggling for wins and fans, and were admittedly a step behind Cincy and 'Ville at the time of the jump. The Big East did not want to be pushed out of Florida when they lost Miami (for a whole host of reasons) so USF was almost a lock. Geographically Louisville and Cincinatti are closer to the east coast so those were small factors too. Finally Memphis (a somewhat small market) had just welcomed an NBA franchise to town (something UL didn't have to compete with). Economically the Big East was safer going with the 3 teams they chose and leaving Memphis out. Now a few years later the landscape is changing and just as the Big East knew at the time, if they want/need to restructure or expand again, Memphis will still be there waiting and willing. So there you go!

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• JLS1943 said May 16, 2008

  LOOK FOR MEMPHIS IN THE BIG EAST ANNOUNCEMENT BY END OF FOOTBALL SEASON.

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• twigsta23 said May 31, 2008

  who u people think u are dissin louisville i believe louisville beat memphis like every year in the conference usa now on louisville losen a lot of games in the big east well u gotta look at the big east they got georgetown,notre dame,marquette,pittsburgh,connecticut,syracuse,west virginia,cinncinatti,seton hall,st.johns,rutgers,south florida,villanova,depaul,and providince now im not sayin memphis cant beat any of these teams im just sayin for 2 years in a row its been louisville and georgetown taking that conference to the top and u sayin that louisville is a sucky team well if memphis does have the balls to come to the big east then its gonna be like the old conference usa days and rememba u can get beat on any givin night by any team

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• BeenTo2SUs said June 05, 2008

  The plot thickens with the impending retirement of the Big East commish:
  http://www.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/articles/Big_East_Commish_to_Retire_Will_Basketball_Schools_Split_from_Conference/274992

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• GrayAvenger said June 21, 2008

  Like every other school, Memphis needs and wants the money and prestige which comes with BCS membership. The Big East chose Louisville and Cincy over Memphis because they are closer and already had a relationship with some Big East schools. USF was chosen over Memphis because the Big East wanted to keep the Florida recruiting presence lost when Miami defected.
  Besides a great basketball program, Memphis brings a historic and nationally-recognized rivalry with Louisville and Cincy, the Liberty Bowl, Fed Ex sponsorship and a football program which has been to 4 bowl games in the last 5 years. Now that Mike Tranghese, "guardian angel" of the Big East's catholic non-football members is stepping aside, the way is clear for the Memphis Tigers to take their rightful place in the Big East. The surrounding SEC rivals Ole Miss, Arkansas and Tennessee's nightmares are about to come true.

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