The seven basketball-only members of the Big East announced Saturday they are leaving the Big East.

The schools without Football Bowl Subdivision teams – Georgetown, Providence, Marquette, St. John’s, Villanova, Seton Hall and DePaul – are leaving the conference they helped build into one of the greatest basketball leagues in the nation.

“Earlier today we voted unanimously to pursue an orderly evolution to a foundation of basketball schools that honors the history and tradition on which the Big East was established,” the schools’ presidents said in a statement. “Under the current context of conference realignment, we believe pursuing a new basketball framework that builds on this tradition of excellence and competition is the best way forward.”

The likelihood of the move gained traction when the Big East added Tulane to replace Rutgers, which is moving to the Big 10.

“The basketball institutions have notified us that they plan to withdraw from the Big East Conference,” commissioner Mike Aresco said in a press release. “The membership recognizes their contributions over the long distinguished history of the Big East.”

The Big East has been a conference in flux since Syracuse and Pittsburgh announced they were leaving to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. Ever since, a defection of more schools, including West Virginia and Notre Dame, made the conference’s future even murkier.

Trying to attain sustainability going forward, the Big East added schools from coast to coast, though it came at the expense of the level of competition for the league’s basketball programs.

Connecticut is the lone founding member of the Big East that will remain in the conference since it is a full member. UConn was reportedly hoping to join the ACC to replace Big 10-bound Maryland, but the league took Louisville instead.

“We have a strong Conference with respected national universities, and are working together to forge the future,” Aresco said in the statement. “We have a variety of options, and are looking forward with great partnership, collegiality and optimism.”

Published on December 15, 2012 at 3:12 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman