Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 12, 1994 TAG: 9402120174
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
Notre Dame and DePaul are being courted by the Big East Conference, and both schools are listening.
The Midwest programs have been targeted in plans for an expanded 16-team basketball conference, according to Big East sources. Irish football would remain independent.
Dick Rosenthal, Notre Dame's athletic director, acknowledged Friday the school is studying the feasibility of placing its basketball team in a conference. He hoped to have some definitive answers within two to four weeks.
"I think it's a dynamic world and I do think things change," Rosenthal said. "We're making a genuine, honest appraisal, and it would be premature for me to jump in and say now that we are going to be out soliciting conference affiliation."
DePaul is one of the founders of its new conference, the Great Midwest. However, athletic director Bill Bradshaw said Friday that while the school has yet to be contacted officially by the Big East, preliminary conversations with Big East representatives had taken place.
"Sure, there have been talks," Bradshaw said. "As an athletic director, you're trying to look into a crystal ball and determine what, in five years, will be in the best interests for DePaul."
Bradshaw said the Great Midwest has the potential to meet the school's interests. But he said several of those needs aren't being met, leaving the door open for a change.
Bradshaw is dismayed that the Great Midwest has yet to catch on in Chicago as it has in its other cities, from both an attendance and media standpoint. He said more needs to be done.
"The people haven't responded here," Bradshaw said.
DePaul's situation might be different with the Big East, which would bring teams like Georgetown, Syracuse and Seton Hall to the Horizon in Rosemont, Ill.
DePaul also doesn't play football, and with the football schools and leagues aggressively going after more power within the NCAA, Bradshaw is concerned about DePaul being left on the outside. That scenario would be reduced with the Big East, which has eight football programs.
Mike Slive, the Great Midwest's commissioner, said he wasn't worried about a Big East invasion.
"We have such a good league, I don't have serious concerns about what others will do," Slive said.
The Big East has long coveted Notre Dame, and it has an obvious desire to crack the Chicago television market. If Notre Dame and DePaul were invited, it would be as part of a restructured Big East.
The conference is wrestling with whether to invite the four football-only schools (West Virginia, Temple, Rutgers and Virginia Tech) to join as basketball members. However, the six basketball-only schools (Georgetown, Connecticut, St. John's, Villanova, Seton Hall and Providence) are resisting change. Syracuse, Miami, Boston College and Pittsburgh play both sports.
Notre Dame and DePaul could provide a compromise. If they were included, there would be eight basketball-only programs, putting it on equal political footing with the other eight football-basketball schools.
The Big East is expected to resolve the situation within a month. Notre Dame and DePaul will be watching.
"Division I conferences are changing," Bradshaw said. "You always have to be aware of that."
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.