Google search: Dayton + Big East + December 15, 2012


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The presidents of the Atlantic 10 Conference have scheduled a meeting for Thursday with the intent of trying to solidify commitments from their membership, The Post has learned. According to a person with direct knowledge of the meeting, the A-10 is well aware league members Dayton, St. Louis, and Xavier, have "one foot out the door," to join the Group of Seven in a new conference.

Those three programs have poured millions of dollars into their programs in recent years for new facilities, increased budgets and higher coaches’ salaries.

Butler, which has done the same, including a renovation of venerable Hinkle Fieldhouse (where many of the famous scenes from the legendary movie "Hoosiers" were filmed), is another school on the Big East group’s wish list.

A Post source also said Creighton has been contacted by representatives of the seven Catholic schools that are leaving the Big East.

The Group of Seven is looking to add five teams to get to a 12-team league with Eastern and Western Divisions.

Creighton, located in Omaha, Neb., could join with Butler, Dayton, DePaul, Marquette, St. Louis and Xavier in a Western Division.

Duquesne also has emerged as a school of interest because it would get the Group of Seven back into Pittsburgh and it has upgraded its facilities with the opening of the Power Center in 2007.

St. Mary’s, from the San Francisco area, and Gonzaga, from Seattle, are also possibilities, but the Group of Seven would have to weigh the travel costs for non-revenue sports against the merits of the two highly respected men’s basketball programs.

As for the departing seven, there has already been speculation they will try to align with other Catholic schools that have strong basketball programs, such as Xavier, Dayton, Creighton, or even Gonzaga, which is located in Spokane, Wash.

Xavier and Butler have widely been rumored to the most likely to receive the first two invitations.

Saint Louis would have plenty of competition for an invite to join the new league.

Catholic school Dayton, also currently in the Atlantic 10, figures to be a strong candidate.

Creighton and even Gonzaga and Saint Mary's have been rumored to be possible fits as well.

It could come down to whether or not the new league decides to have ten or 12 teams. Ten would work better for scheduling -- they could have a round robin schedule and play each team at home and on the road -- while also keeping the number of teams splitting the revenue shares lower.

Twelve teams would allow the league to gain a wider footprint while possibly allowing for bigger television contracts.

It would be hard to see Saint Louis not getting an invite should the league decide to go to 12 teams.

If they cap it at ten, Dayton could join Xavier and Butler in getting invitations ahead of SLU.

In the best of all possible worlds, the new conference, which could start play as early as 2014, will consist of 10 teams, with an ESPN contract that is comparable to the one that exists now in which each of the schools earns $1.6 million per year, and includes a home-and-home among all the schools, a Big Monday slot and a postseason tournament in our city.

Most likely, the league will look at Xavier, Butler, Dayton, St. Louis and Creighton as candidates for expansion, although no one has been officially contacted yet.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – New Big East, you remember Butler. Send an application form. Fast.

Word is, the seven Big East evacuees are starting up a new basketball league and looking for suitable fresh recruits. Maybe they were watching what the Bulldogs did to top-ranked Indiana on Saturday.

Maybe Saturday was never supposed to be an audition, but it should be an easy reminder of what Butler has become.

Yes, one theory holds that the New Big East is interested only in fellow Catholic schools. Xavier and Dayton to start. But if religion is a criteria, this is the holy land of the game.

Creating a premier basketball league and not looking at Indiana would be like creating a franchise of pineapple plantations and not looking at Hawaii.

And yes, the Bulldogs have been in the Atlantic 10 for what, three hours? But conference affiliation these days is like Hollywood weddings. Everything is written in pencil.

So Butler should be on the short list.

"I understand all the speculation. I understand all the talk,'' Stevens said in the hallway afterward. "But I'm not privy to it, and I haven't even thought about it or talked about it.''

But isn't it a feat just to be wanted?

"I think feats are what you achieve on the floor.''

Look what his team achieved on the floor Saturday. Surely, the New Big East noticed.