Update, 6:55 pm: President Jack DeGioia officially announced the formation of the league in an email to students. “This is an extraordinary time for the Big East, and we couldn’t have wished for a better start to our new future. We have ten incredible schools, have retained our storied name, and have solid partnerships with FOX Sports and Madison Square Garden,” he said. “We look forward to our continued work together, to strengthening our relationships, and to the truly exceptional future that this will set for our athletics programs.”

Original Post: Georgetown athletic teams are set to play in a new league this fall, albeit under the same name. The “Catholic seven schools,” Georgetown among them, announced their departure from the old Big East conference last December over concerns that the desertion of its central members, such as Syracuse and Pittsburgh, would damage the standing of the league in in the long term.

The new league will retain the Big East name and add Xavier, Butler, and Creighton as full members. Conference play will begin next year, the 2013-2014 academic year. The new league also reportedly signed a 12-year $500 million deal with Fox Sports. The annual Big East tournament will still be played in Madison Square Garden.

“Today we relaunch the Big East,” said Rev. Brian Shanley, the president of Providence College, at a news conference in Manhattan. “We go back to being a basketball-centric … league going forward. … We looked for schools that had academic profiles like us. We wanted schools with strong sustainable and sustained athletic programs. And we wanted schools that could play really good basketball, because that’s really the bread and butter of the Big East.”

The league will begin operations on July 1 and the schools are in the process of searching for a new athletic director. Apparently, expansion to 12 members in coming seasons in possible. President Jack DeGioia has acknowledged that he has heard from “quite a few schools.”

Image courtesy Big East communications department.

Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III was named Big East Coach of the Year yesterday afternoon. Otto Porter Jr., his sophomore star, was named the Big East Player of the Year in a unanimous vote by league coaches.

The vote comes in Thompson’s most impressive job on the Hilltop since his arrival from Princeton University nine years ago. Thompson overcame the losses of his three top scorers from a season ago in Jason Clark, Henry Sims, and Hollis Thompson. His team also recovered from the academic suspension of second-leading scorer Greg Whittington in early January.

After a torrid start to the season that saw the Hoyas defeat national powerhouses like UCLA and take then No. 1 Indiana to overtime, Thompson’s group struggled through the beginning of the Big East slate, dropping their first two with the wheels falling completely off in a 28-point drubbing to Pittsburgh.

After a couple of more blips in the schedule, though, the Hoyas reeled off 11-straight wins and rose from an unranked afterthought to No. 5 in the nation. On Saturday, Georgetown clinched the No. 1 seed in this week’s Big East Tournament, as well as a share of the regular season title with a thorough 61-39 victory over Syracuse.

Porter has been the catalyst for much of Thompson’s success, taking on a bigger offensive role after Whittington’s untimely exodus. He led the Hoyas in points (16.4), rebounds (7.5), and steals (2.0) per game while gaining traction for national player of the year honors later in the season.

The sophomore do-everything forward’s season culminated with three Big East Player of the Week honors. He was also the only unanimous selection to the All-Big East First Team. Porter has posted 25 games this season with double figures in scoring, with 8 of those games at 20 points or higher.

Porter pulled away from other possible contenders for the Big East Player of the Year honor when he willed the Hoyas to a victory against Syracuse in front of a record-breaking crowd of over 35,000 by scoring a career-high 33 points. This performance also greatly contributed to his selection as one of 25 finalists for the Wooden Award. He would be the first Georgetown player to win the award and only the third Big East player to do so.

Porter along with the rest of Thompson’s squad will be back on the court at Madison Square Garden tomorrow at noon to take on the winner of Cincinnati and Providence, who play at noon today, in the Hoyas’ first game of the Big East Championship.

Photo: Miles Gavin Meng/Georgetown Voice

The seven, all coincidentally Catholic, schools that announced their departure from the Big East last month are reportedly negotiating an exit from the Big East conference after the 2013-2014 season, according to a ESPN.com source.

Big East rules require that members pay an exit fee of $10 million if they decide to leave the conference before a 27-month waiting period. If the members wait for two seasons, they won’t owe the conference anything.

The seven schools are also in the process of negotiating a television deal, likely, at this point, with Fox Sports. The Big East’s current deal with ESPN and CBS sports expires this year, which could motivate an earlier departure: “With the TV deal up and Fox looking for content right away, it would make sense to try to get out at the end of this season, if that could be negotiated.”

Due to lower fees divided among the new teams in the conference, teams like Georgetown “could more than double” their revenue compared to what they were making with the Big East, according to another ESPN.com source.

The rest of the Big East is planning to fight to keep the “Big East” naming right and is planning on adding a 12th school after the Catholic seven leave either in 2014 or 2015.

Other schools proposed to join the Catholic seven in a new basketball-centric conference include Butler, Xavier, Creighton, VCU, Dayton, and St. Louis.

Image courtesy of Big East Communications Department

After the Hoyas’ win over Western Carolina this afternoon, Georgetown University informed media of their decision to leave the Big East Conference, in unanimity with the other six, basketball-centric schools of the league.

“I think after a lot of consideration, keeping a careful eye on the national landscape as it relates to conference realignment, what our history has been, I think we were wanting to get to a place where there was a focus on where we are and what we are philosophically in terms of our model of intercollegiate athletics,” Georgetown Athletic Director Lee Reed said.

The writing had been on the wall for months, as constant conference realignment saw the Big East pillaged of many of its crucial members, starting with Syracuse and Pittsburgh’s departures for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and culminating with Rutgers’ defection to the Big Ten and Louisville’s move to the ACC last month.

Over the past week, talks heated up among the presidents of the “Catholic Seven” schools—Georgetown, Villanova, Providence, DePaul, Marquette, St. John’s, and Seton Hall—and conference commissioner Mike Aresco. After a reported conference call between the parties on Thursday, the move became inevitable, though the swift announcement came as a bit of a surprise considering reports of University President John DeGioia’s initial reluctance to leave the conference. Reed denied that story, though, taking exception to the report.

“I think we will always be very thoughtful and deliberate in any decision that we make that has an impact on Georgetown University, so we’ve done that,” he said. “I wouldn’t characterize it on us being slow to the table.”

For Georgetown, the move affects the entire Athletic Department, save for football which will remain in the Patriot League for the time being. All other sports will compete in the new conference.

There are a great deal of legal ramifications to work out with Aresco and the conference in order to officially split from the Big East, meaning there are still some significant hurdles before the schools can move forward with forming their new conference. Many options are still on the table; taking the Big East brand with them is not out of the question.

The move marks a significant step forward for Georgetown, as they officially take the reins on their own destiny and escape a quickly-fading Big East Conference. Despite a feeling of panic among within its fan base, leadership at Georgetown—men’s basketball head coach John Thompson III included—never panicked because of their belief in the Georgetown brand.

“Georgetown was an outstanding program for the Big East,” Thompson said. “We have been an outstanding program during our time in the Big East. And we will be an outstanding program in whatever tomorrow holds. The stability is within our institution. Whoever wants to be with us can be with us.”

Here’s the initial statement from the presidents of the seven schools:

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. 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.

We are grateful to our Commissioner, Michael Aresco, for his exceptional leadership of the Big East Conference. We have been honored to be associated with the outstanding group of institutions that have made up the Big East. While we pursue this opportunity for our institutions, we believe the efforts of the past two years have established the foundation for an enduring national football conference.

We look forward to building this new foundation with an emphasis on elite competition and a commitment to the development of our students engaged in intercollegiate athletics. That is where we will now spend our energy as we move forward.

Further analysis on the move after the jump, along with statements from DeGioia, and Aresco. We will be updating this post with any further developments. 

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The seven non-football-playing schools in the Big East, Georgetown among them, plan either to leave or to dissolve the conference, according to reports from ESPN.com and CBSSports.com. A joint announcement could come from the “Catholic seven” schools—DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, and Villanova—as early as next week, barring an unexpected change.

Historically a basketball powerhouse, the Big East was rocked by the sequential departures of West Virginia, Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville, Rutgers, and Notre Dame. The Catholic seven are reportedly concerned that the addition of several schools with weaker basketball programs (especially Tulane) will damage the league’s reputation and standing over the long term.

Although nearly every media outlet expects a split, the details of a division and the rules surrounding it remain undetermined.

According an ESPN.com source, Big East commissioner Mike Aresco held a conference call with the athletic directors of the remaining and incoming Big East members to inform them that the seven schools plan on leaving the conference.

A two-thirds majority vote is required to dissolve the league altogether, which the seven-member pact holds until July 1, 2013, but, according to another ESPN.com source, the rules governing the dissolution may require at least two votes from non-football-playing members and two football-playing members. Such a requirement would force the Catholic seven to sway two of the full-member, football-playing schools UConn, Cincinnati, and South Florida, which presumably don’t want the Big East to break up.

If the constituent universities vote to dissolve the conference and form a new league, however, the Catholic seven may be able to retain the Big East name, branding rights, and NCAA tournament revenue. If the seven schools simply leave they would be forced to forfeit that revenue and start a conference with their own money.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the seven Catholic schools have already decided to dissolve the league rather than leave, save the last holdout—Georgetown’s own President John DeGioia, who “is struggling with the idea of his school leaving the Big East.”

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Many things stopped for Hurricane Sandy: campus was closed, classes were cancelled, and parts of the New York City subway system shut down for the first time in its history. But has the Georgetown women’s soccer team slowed their roll in the Big East? Not a chance.

The Hoyas were out in full force on Sunday as they beat DePaul University 1-0 at North Kehoe Field in the quarterfinal match of the Big East tournament. Players and officials alike kept an eye on the sky as the Hoyas opened with aggressive play, winning two free kicks in the opening three minutes of the game.

Georgetown’s goal would come in the ninth minute when Daphne Corboz delivered the Hoyas’ third corner kick. Her delivery found its way to freshman midfielder Marina Paul. Paul promptly headed the ball into the box and junior forward Colleen Dinn knocked the ball into the net using the back of her head.

Try as they might, the Hoyas couldn’t capitalize on any of the other chances they created during the first half. A notable miss came in the 17th minute when Corboz had a soaring shot saved by DePaul goalkeeper Megan Pyrz. Pyrz again denied her in the 30th minute.

DePaul only managed one decent effort on goal when Amber Paul took a shot that was easily saved by goalkeeper Emma Newins. Their lack of chances carried over into the second half where Georgetown outshot DePaul 7-3. Sophomore Jessica Clinton and junior Mary Kroening would both see attempts on goal come to nothing.

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Last year, the women’s soccer team had its most successful season in the history of the program. They finished with 15 wins, good for their most ever, and made it to the semifinals of the Big East Tournament.

This season, the team sports a much younger look, but is still strong, having won their first six games in a slate that included Columbia, Cornell, and Delaware. Though the 2011 team lost many players to graduation, the new team is fully capable of repeating last year’s feats, and is gifted with decreased pressure and expectations.

Last year, then-senior Ingrid Wells played an enormous role on the team and was one of three players named to the All-Big East Team. Coach Dave Nolan realizes the enormity of her loss but remains confident in the players stepping up in her stead.

“Good players come and go, and you have to think down the line on how you have to replace players,” Nolan said. “Ingrid was a very special player, but there are other special players as well.”

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The Big East announced complete schedules for its member institutions today, including Georgetown’s. The Hoyas have 30 games on the schedule, including 17 home contests, all at the Verizon Center. Though the Blue and Grey’s opponents have been known for quite some time, dates and times of the conference matchups were not finalized until this morning. The announcement finalizes the basketball team’s schedule for 2012-2013.

The Hoyas begin their Big East slate with a matchup against Marquette in Wisconsin on January 5. This leaves the team with almost two weeks off after their last out-of-conference matchup against American on December 22. The Hoyas then head back to DC to take on Pittsburgh on January 8 – the conference home opener is scheduled for the day before classes start for the semester, perhaps signifying a solid student turnout for the teams’ last battle before the Panthers leave for the ACC.

They then head up to Madison Square Garden for the second time this season to take on historic rival St. John’s on the 12th. The Red Storm make a return trip to DC on February 2 for a 4 p.m. start. The late start time seems to be a trend for this year’s schedule, with one late-season matchup with Rutgers scheduled for 9 p.m. on Saturday, March 2 (great news for hungover Hoyas who just can’t muster the noon start times).

After the first St. John’s matchup, Head Coach John Thompson III and company return home to face Providence before hitting the road for contests against USF and Notre Dame. The game against the Fighting Irish will be played on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in South Bend and will be nationally televised on ESPN.

After the brief road trip, the Hoyas return to the District for their second longest homestand of the season, in a week that starts with a projected top-five team, Louisville, on January 26 and continues with Seton Hall and Rutgers.

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The Georgetown Hoyas (22-7, 12-6 Big East) begin Big East Tournament play tomorrow at 2 PM, when they play the Pittsburgh Panthers (17-15, 5-13) at Madison Square Garden. The Panthers come in after walloping St. John’s this afternoon, 73-59. Senior guard Ashton Gibbs led the team with 20 points while Nasir Robinson chipped in 15 points to go along with 8 rebounds.

Awards and Snubs

Over the weekend, senior guard Jason Clark was named to the All-Big East First Team while classmate Henry Sims was recognized for his turnaround this season, as he was named to the Third Team. Junior guard Hollis Thompson was named Honorable Mention. The senior was proud of his accomplishment but in his own, selfless manner, deflected the attention towards the team.

“That’s a personal accomplishment, but I could only be in this position because of my teammates,” Clark said. “We’ve been winning games – at the beginning of the season, I just wanted to lead this team to victory. I worked hard, I think I deserve it, but there’s a lot more from on this point.”

His coach, John Thompson III, was very proud of Clark and Sims’ efforts as well, focusing in on Jason’s contributions to the team.

“Very happy for Jason,” Thompson said. “Jason Clark is someone, that for four years, has just worked – he’s just gone about his business, worked extremely hard for four years, has always been in the background, for four years has always been extremely selfless.”

In addition, Clark was awarded the Big East Sportsmanship Award, a testament to his peers’ perception of Clark. The guard did not hear about the award until reporters mentioned it to him yesterday, but was honored by the distinction.

“I’m just all about the game of basketball,” the Arlington native said. “I’m not with all the trash talking and all that other stuff. The game gets emotional sometimes, but I respect a lot of the other players around the league because they respect me. I’m out there usually having fun.”

Not everything went as expected for the Hoyas, though, as freshman Otto Porter was not named to the All-Big East Rookie Team. Porter leads the Hoyas in rebounding this season and has played his best in Georgetown’s biggest games. Still, Porter remains humble and simply wants to acknowledge the snub through his play this week.

“It motivates me,” said Porter of the snub. “But I just come in and play my game, basically. Just playing in the Big East is my motivation. I just want to win.”

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According to ESPN.com, the Big East will soon announce the addition of Houston, the University of Central Florida, Southern Methodist University, Boise State University and San Diego State University to the conference. The announcement could come as early as today.

Boise State and SDSU will join the conference as football-only members, while Houston, UCF and SMU will play all their sports in the Big East. The addition of new members was made necessary after the imminent departure of Pittsburgh, Syracuse, West Virginia to other conferences threatened to reduce the number of football-playing schools in the Big East to five. The schools will join the conference in time for the 2013-14 season.

The new Big East football conference will touch both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and have teams in all four time zones. For the political junkies among us, the addition of the two Texas schools and SDSU means that a presidential candidate can win even if he or she only carries the states which have Big East schools.

Commenting on the additions, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino told ESPN.com:

I think what (commissioner) John Marinatto just did, he should get a substantial raise for what he just accomplished. Getting Boise State. Getting Houston, SMU. I think that is as good of a job for a commissioner with his back against the wall as I’ve seen since I’ve been in athletics. The teams you lost aren’t as good in football as the teams you’re bringing in.

In terms of basketball, it would have been difficult to replace the loss of Syracuse, Pitt and West Virginia, three schools that have together won five of the last nine Big East tournaments. While the addition of middling basketball programs is certainly concerning for the future of Big East basketball, Voice staff writer Daniel Kellner (COL ’12) was optimistic in a recent column about the addition of Houston, SMU and UCF. Discussing each program’s basketball successes, most notably Houston’s appearance in two straight national championship finals in 1983 and 1984, Kellner emphasizes the big picture:

While none of these programs are set to enter the Big East framework as title favorites in the coming seasons, they are each loaded with potential in their own way. More importantly, however, the Big East will almost certainly persist through the realignment apocalypse. The Big East can afford to lose some competition in basketball anyway. The real danger to the Hoyas was the uncertain existence of the conference as an entity at all. If this plan goes ahead successfully, the Hoyas will still have Big East basketball, and that’s what really matters.