If Memphis Wants In... Big East Should Give Notre Dame an Ultimatum!

After watching the Notre Dame basketball team get smacked by Villanova, in a game they needed to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes on life support, one must wonder, "Isn't it time for the Big East to gather up some strength and give Notre Dame the ultimatum—In or Out in all sports, including Football!"

Maybe get rid of Notre Dame and replace them with Memphis?

Just think of John Calipari, a Pittsburgh native, bringing his Memphis Tigers into the Big East and strengthening a schedule that constantly gets criticized for its weakness, and adding another national power to the Big East Basketball Conference—as if it's not the best conference in college basketball right now?

It's time for the Big East to ask itself "what are we getting out of having Notre Dame as a non-football playing member besides aggravation?"

The basketball team wouldn't be missed if they left.  This year they are going to finish real close to the bottom of the 16 team conference and it's hard to remember if they ever made it to the semi-finals of the conference tournament in all the years they've been a member.

I say aggravation because Notre Dame couldn't even accommodate Rutgers and agree to play a couple of away games in Rutgers Stadium instead of demanding they be played in the Meadowlands so Rutgers' home field advantage would be minimized.

This is the typical eltitism that Notre Dame always seems be associated with and may be one of the reasons their football team is the most hated in the country.

What would Memphis bring to the Big East besides one of the college basketball's true national powers, rich with tradition?

They would be that ninth team the Big East is looking for in football to make scheduling so much easier than it's become.  Still a result of the departures (Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech} and the additions (Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida) when the ACC expanded, scheduling football is a nightmare for the Big East.

This year Big East members South Florida and Rutgers are forced to play two Championship Sub Division Teams because of these scheduling complications.  

It even got a little chippy when South Florida's coach, Jim Leavitt made it known he felt Rutgers lured Florida International off his schedule at the last minute to play a two year series with the Scarlet Knights.

Memphis wouldn't just be the "ninth team" Big East Football needs but because they would be able to compete for a guaranteed BCS bid, they would develop a good football program.

They would become a quality football program just like Louisville and Cincinnati did once they left Conference USA.  Both teams have recently played in a BCS game and all though South Florida hasn't made it to a BCS game yet, they have become a nationally ranked team.

So isn't it time for the Big East to part ways the Irish and improve both their Basketball and Football conferences?