College Basketball: 5 Ways the Big East Can Survive Without Syracuse, Pitt

The Big East is in full expansion mode.

The Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big East were each preparing for realignment war when the ACC's preemptive strike rattled the nation into a fervor.

The announcement of Syracuse, a founding Big East member, and Pitt leaving for richer waters stunned even the most clairvoyant of analysts. The ACC gained two storied basketball universities while the Big East lost its foothold as the most powerful hoops conference in the country.

As conference realignment became rampant, it seemed all anyone could talk about was football implications. With Texas A&M and Mizzou both jumping into the SEC and the five-team deal led by Boise State into the Big East, football is the main concern.

However, with the Syracuse/Pitt move, basketball is the main object of interest. These two powerhouses jumped ship on a conference that has supported them for years.

Can the Big East survive without two of its signature programs?

We take a look at 5 reasons why the Big East conference will not only survive, but also thrive in the coming decades to come.  

Hold onto UConn

After watching two of their all-sport brothers leave for the basketball-oriented ACC, UConn all of a sudden also wanted in as well. As its conference lost the status as "the best basketball conference," they had a big reason to want to become the ACC's 15th university.

The Big East, however, must hold onto this basketball powerhouse. Losing UConn would spell disaster as it is one of their few remaining all-sports universities in the conference.

Connecticut is one of the keys to survival.

Continue to Win Like It's the Best Basketball Conference

The ACC has Duke and UNC as their basketball powers. Both are fantastic universities riddled with NCAA Tournament victories. .

However, the addition of Pitt and Syracuse does less for the ACC than one would think

Syracuse didn't have one Big Dance title until the 21st century when 'Melo led the Orange to a championship back 2003. Pitt still doesn't have a tournament title and barely has one Final Four appearance. 

Both programs are solid and will continue to be as they enter the ACC, but analysts may have been a bit premature in renaming their new-found home as the best hoops conference in the nation, stealing the title from the Big East.

Syracuse and Pitt's former conference still has big names like Georgetown, UConn, Louisville, Marquette, Villanova, and Cincinnati. All of those programs, plus their solid competition such as St. John's, Providence, and Seton Hall, are still top notch.

If the Big East schools continue to win and take top seeds in the tourney like they do every year, they'll not only reclaim the title they lost, but they'll also gain the respect of every other competitor due to their resilience to losses of giant programs to the ACC.   

Convince Louisville to Stay

The Cardinals are in the same position as the Huskies, except they're looking more towards the Big 12 than the ACC. Honestly, Louisville will go anywhere just to get out of a flailing Big East.

After West Virginia got the Big 12 invite over Louisville earlier this season, the Cardinals were up in arms. The Big East needs to quell those worries that everything is falling apart with reassurance.

Grabbing football powers Boise State and Houston was a huge step in the right direction, but Louisville is going to need some real, solid evidence that their current conference won't be going under anytime soon. 

The Big East needs to give it to them, and quick.

Add Lesser-Known Basketball Powerhouses

The Big East went all out on their desperate search for solid expansion universities when they snatched up Boise State, Houston, UCF, SMU, and San Diego State. Two big-time football programs join up to help increase money intake as well as stabilize two tough losses. 

But isn't the Big East a basketball conference?

We all know football is the money-maker, but wouldn't some strong basketball additions help make up for losses of big-timers like Pitt and Syracuse?

Why can't the Big East go after Xavier who resides in Cincinnati? It creates a great in-conference rivalry for the Bearcats and gives the Musketeers a shot to get into the big leagues.

What about Gonzaga? They may reside in Washington, but if the Big East can add Boise State they can add Gonzaga. The Bulldogs may own their conference now, but a chance to prove yourself week-in and week-out against the best is something most programs can't pass up. 

Bring in One More Big-Time Basketball Power

Now, this isn't a necessity, but it would definitely be on the wish list for the Big East.

If they can go out and convince some big-shot basketball program to replace Syracuse and Pitt, that would solve almost all of their problems in a single stroke.

Kansas would be the ideal target. The Jayhawks are also the most unlikely to even consider it with the revival of the Big 12 as of late.

Most anyone else who's big enough to be considered a "powerhouse" is also way out there on the possibility scale. But in this day and age, I would never count out a conference move if the payout is big enough.