I'd love to know if this could have been avoided? Possibly not...but in my own mind I'll blame SMU and Houston since I've always been upset they are joining the league.
Had the Big East responded to losing Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia with Central Florida, Temple, and Memphis only...I think that would have been a great response. But adding SMU and Houston into the mix really hurt the league perception. Those teams add nothing to the basketball side, and we're seeing that they don't really add much to football either. What a waste of membership those two are.
This sucks!!!!!!!!!!!