One mean move the Big East could make

Things are going to be awkward in the Big East for years to come. Why? Because if the Big East decides to hold Syracuse and Pittsburgh to its remaining membership requirement, the two schools still have 27 months to spend in the Big East before they can be allowed to leave for the ACC. Most conferences would let schools go before that window was up, but the Big East hasn't hidden its displeasure with the way the Orange and Panthers bolted the league so quickly.

Maybe the Big East thinks it makes sense to make Cuse and Pitt sweat out their last 27 months in the league. Maybe the conference wants to make things awkward. Breakups are weird that way.

You'd think holding those schools to an overlong timetable would be enough to get back at those ruffians from Syracuse and Pitt -- but the New York Daily News's Dick "Hoops" Weiss actually has another, even more diabolical, proposal:

If the Big East wants to play hard ball with Pittsburgh and Syracuse, which defected to the ACC without notice, it should hold them to the 27 month window of notification, which would preclude 'Cuse and Pitt from entering the ACC until the start of the 2014 season. And, here's the kicker, the Big East should also restrict league championship events, which have automatic BCS or NCAA bids attached, like their annual basketball tournament in the Garden to those schools that are committed to staying.

That way, the league can keep teams that are bolting the conference in the Big East Tournament but deny them the luxury of automatic entry to the Big Dance.

I'm not sure this would work. I am sure it would get very messy. Lawyers would almost certainly be involved. Fan bases would be irate. Jim Boeheim's head would probably explode.

It's nothing more than a random idea, but it is fun to think about, isn't it? I would imagine fans of, say, Georgetown find this scenario to be the stuff of pleasant early-morning daydreams. As if the hate didn't run deep enough already.

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/36504/one-mean-move-the-big-east-could-make

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