Big East Conference: Is Rick Pitino Right About Temple and Memphis?

Recently, Louisville coach Rick Pitino said that he’d like to see current mid-majors Memphis and Temple join the Big East Conference, at least in basketball.

Both schools are located in large markets, one of which doesn’t have a Big East school in anything and the other of which doesn’t have a Big East school in football.

Pitino's suggestion also operates on the assumption that the Big East is dead—in terms of football.  Everybody thinks it except the Big East, who happen to be the only people that matter.

So I have two questions:  Would it be a good fit, and could it actually happen?

First off, let's look at the advantages of being in a major conference in basketball.  Basketball is not as dominated by the big six conferences as football is.  Solid mid-majors like Butler, Gonzaga and George Mason—or Memphis and Temple for that matter—have received consistent tournament invites and have gone far in tournaments (in fact, recent Final Fours have included mid-majors).

Temple would be better served getting into the tournament with 20-8 seasons in the Atlantic 10 than to jump to the Big East and probably go under .500 in conference play and barely .500 overall.  This would explain why it hasn’t been enthusiastic about previous opportunities to join the Big East in basketball.  On top of that, Temple’s football program (one bowl game in 30 years) is obviously going nowhere.  It was even kicked out of the Big East a few years ago.

Yes, adding Temple would give the Big East a Philadelphia marker, but isn't the Big East’s solution to cornering Philly football.  Villanova’s program is OK—for Division I-AA. Its stadium isn’t even big enough to be in the bowl subdivision.

So, Memphis?

Memphis isn’t located in current Big East territory, and is located in the Deep South (the only current school).  However, it does border existing Big East territory, and the trend nowadays among expanding conferences seems to be to add in adjacent territory (Big Ten with Nebraska, Pac-12 with Utah).

Memphis’ move would make most sense if former Metro Conference and Conference USA stablemate Louisville (coincidentally Pitino’s school) says put, allowing for a natural rivalry between Memphis and Louisville

Yeah, Memphis’ football team ain’t too hot, but with the exodus of Pitt, Syracuse, and probably West Virginia, whose in the Big East is?

Bottom line to the two questions I asked earlier:  Memphis wouldn’t be as good a fit, but is more in the realm of possibility.  Temple would be a better fit, but ain’t happening.