With the Big East looking dead in the water with the possible defection of West Virginia to the Big 12, one way to save the conference would be to merge with the super-league that Conference USA and the Mountain West will have in place either in 2012 or 2013. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Mountain West's Craig Thompson and C-USA's Britton Banowsky will meet with Big East commissioner John Marinatto on Wednesday to discuss a merger between the conferences.
News of this possible merger first broke on Saturday, but there were also reports that the Big East hadn't even looked at the proposal at the time. It now may be its only chance to survive in a new form.
The league would either be a 28-team or 32-team conference that would be broken down into four division of seven or eight teams each. Would such a conference have sustainability?
For more on the Mountain West and possible realignment, visit Mountain West Connection.