NEW YORK – First came last year’s basketball season – one which Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese dubbed the greatest in Big East history. Then came bragging about the credentials of Carmelo Anthony and Emeka Okafor and a welcome for two new coaches. And when Tranghese finally seemed poised to expound on the Big East’s biggest question, he tried to stomp it flat.’I know you’ve read a lot about what’s going on, but you’re not going to hear anything about it today,’ Tranghese said yesterday at Big East men’s basketball media day in Madison Square Garden. ‘We’re not going to talk about expansion. This day is for the players and coaches.’Instead, Tranghese said that he will address the expansion issue during a press conference Nov. 4. The Big East will hold a meeting of school presidents at noon and a press conference at 2 p.m. in the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Tranghese is expected to announce the Big East’s interest in expanding to 16 teams, adding Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette, DePaul and South Florida.The addition of those five teams would make the Big East the most dominant basketball conference in the country. By adding head coaches Bob Huggins, of Cincinnati, and Rick Pitino, of Louisville, the Big East would possess four of the NCAA’s most recognizable coaches. Cincinnati won seven consecutive Conference USA championships before slipping to fourth last year. Pitino helped launch Louisville into the top five. And Marquette enters this season fresh off its first C-USA title, a Final Four appearance and an attention-grabbing performance by NBA lottery selection Dwayne Wade.’I heard Mike’s speech and I know we’re not going to talk about expansion … but I was talking to Dave Gavitt, (the creator of the Big East), the other day and told him how he changed the face of basketball in the East,’ Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. ‘He may have changed it more than we know. He may have helped create the greatest basketball conference ever. I don’t think it would even be close.’Said Tranghese: ‘Football is going to take a few years, but we have the potential to be a tremendous basketball conference.’With so many perennial winners potentially joined in one league, Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey mulled over the number of NCAA bids the Big East need. He worried whether the Big East would get the opportunity to put each deserving team – about eight annually by his estimation – into the tournament.’Now, that hasn’t happened yet,’ Brey warned. ‘But if that does happen, is there a better basketball league in the country?’Brey said the additions would benefit Notre Dame and help unify the conference thanks to the Midwest location of four of the five potential candidates. Bob Gorin, Cincinnati’s director of athletics, agreed that the additions make sense geographically and said Cincinnati has been having informal discussions with the Big East for nearly a month.’I’ve learned not to expect anything in this business,’ Gorin said when asked about Cincinnati’s chances of getting invited. ‘But I’m hopeful the option comes to Cincinnati.’Cincinnati president Nancy Zimpher and Marquette media spokesman Ben Tracey declined comment. Representatives from South Florida and Louisville could not be reached for comment.When discussing the Big East’s switch to one division comprised of all 14 teams, Georgetown coach Craig Esherick mentioned the Atlantic Coast Conference’s opposition to the previous two-division system. In doing so, he treated the ACC like it was the dirtiest word in the dictionary.’There’s a certain conference – and I’m not going to name them, because I think they’ve been talked about quite a lot recently, you know who I mean – but they said we went to two divisions to try to gerrymander more teams into the tournament,’ Esherick said.Calhoun, a Massachusetts native who enjoyed UConn’s natural rivalry with Boston College, was less discreet.’I’ll never play Boston College again,’ Calhoun said. ‘I’m a good friend of Boston College head coach Al Skinner’s, but I will never play Boston College again. This is the only way I can show how I feel.’Despite Calhoun’s stance, Tranghese said he’d encourage teams to schedule football games against Miami and Virginia Tech.’This is a business, and playing Miami makes sense financially,’ Tranghese said. ‘I’d encourage any of our teams that are able to schedule a game against Miami to do so.’Tranghese said lawyers from the Big East and Boston College were still working out BC’s exit fee, and that Boston College hadn’t decided on when to join the ACC. Tranghese hopes Boston College remains in the conference through next year to avoid a football season with only seven teams. He said he hasn’t discussed keeping Temple in the conference for an extra season.Tranghese also doubted that the lawsuit filed by Big East schools against the BCS would amount to anything. He wasn’t much more optimistic about the one filed against Miami, BC and Virginia Tech. As hard as Tranghese and the Big East coaches tried to deflect the spotlight away from the expansion issue, the bigger question prevailed. After 30 minutes of following his non-discussion policy, a small gathering of media members gravitated toward Tranghese. Moments later, the gathering turned to a throng, and Tranghese spent more than an hour discussing the Big East’s current situation.Tranghese talked about the long hours he’s spent in discussion with Big East presidents and a heartfelt meeting in which the remaining 11 schools debated the benefits of splitting the conference permanently. ‘We had to make sure everyone wanted to move on with us,’ Tranghese said. ‘That was a long, drawn-out and very emotional process for everybody. It’ll be nice to get it taken care of and move past it. It’ll be nice to get beyond talking about membership.’Tranghese aside, most at media day chose to focus on the immense strength a reconfigured Big East would have in the future. ‘I’m trying to find a silver lining here,’ Brey said. ‘Because it’s been a tough couple of months.’