And to add insult to injury, it looks like Memphis may get that coveted "imminent" Big East invitation that Temple had imminently wrapped up what seems like eons ago according to that sage of sources MH55.

According to today's papers,Memphis will officially announce that they are joining
the Big East in 2013  at a press conference this afternoon.

http://brett-mcmurphy.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/29532522/34753656

Conference USA

That would be surprising, to be honest. If you look at this article from the Quad estimating the size of market shares, the smallest Big East team is Louisville with 300,000 fans, and most of the AQ conferences have about 1,000,000 fans or more, average. The teams the Big East has to replace, Pitt and Syracuse, had about 800,000 each. Looking at teams from the Big East, MAC and Sunbelt as well as eastern Independents as potential additions, you find the highest market sizes to be:
Notre Dame - 2,261,738
Troy - 381,102
S. Miss - 361,613
East Carolina - 348,391
Arkansas State - 312,058
Navy - 237,222
Memphis - 235,636
UAB - 236,825
Temple - 226,483
Marshall - 225,810
Buffalo - 213,393
Army - 198,182
Akron - 197,930

Ohio isn't even close, at 107,504. Looking at the above list, I coded as blue the independents that almost certainly wouldn't consider it. I coded as orange the teams that are probably too far south, to be regionally appropriate (but note that they were willing to add TCU at 370,000 and they added UCF at 500,000) for a conference called the "Big East". That leads me to conclude that Memphis was a reasonable choice, and that East Carolina is probably the most likely addition. Behind them, Temple, Buffalo, and Marshall could each make a case. Also, having reached as far south as Louisville, Memphis and UCF, they could pick up Southern Miss, Arkansas State or UAB.

I do think these numbers are not static, though. I am fairly certain that with Ohio establishing a steady tradition of winning, their fans are increasing, and if a new survey were done next year, it would show higher numbers. The same is probably true for Temple. Akron, with a new stadium, might have seen growth in the fan base, if they were winning, but they have been doing the opposite, so their numbers might be down.

In reality, adding any of these teams will dilute the Big East as none of them are close to the one million fan base level that most of the AQ conferences seek. The Big East is already the weakest AQ conference, with only West Virginia and Rutgers in that range.

Dont phret phellas, I assure you, when the dust se"][""]["les, the Owls will not be stuck in a conference playing you, Kent and Buffalo....

http://brett-mcmurphy.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/29532522/34753656

Let's see the French Quarter and Houston's Main St or the Court St Diner and chicken wings in Amherst NY...

Seriously ?

Hey, MH55er, is that source your linking of Temple's going to CUSA the same "crack" source that had Temple getting that ever-so-elusive "imminent" Big East invite. To say the BigEast has gone from sea to shining sea to give out those "imminent" invites would be an understatement.

Oh well, make sure the oil is changed in your Chevrolet if you are indeed going CUSA!

As a MAC member for the last 3 years of bowl eligibility, I too feel the pain of desperately trying to get out of our own conference tie ins, if we are lucky enough to get by the Sun Belt or the MWC when we have more wins.

As for our basketball trade off, Im sick of reading our contract w the MAC provides nothing. If this conference had more than 1 auto bid, in say the last three presidencies, maybe you could fathom what Im talking about. Bottom line, Ohio would leave for CUSA the day the invite was extended.

  

I don't think any Temple fans travel to any MAC games anyway.

Ok, fine. I think it's safe to say that we will not get a Big East invite until we either (a) upgrade the men's restrooms from troughs to urinals, or (b) win 13 national championships.

boa loser reminds me of the nemesis in the movie "The Help."  Have a nice meal, putz.

Nebraska has troughs, and the Bigtendozen just took them, and they don't have 13 National titles.