The Big Ten expansion: could Memphis end up in the Big East?

All the talk the last couple of days seems to be about the expansion of the Big Ten, as the league is looking to add a 12th team. (Side note: shouldn't the league change its name from the Big Ten if they add a 12th team?)

While there will obviously be an effect on the college hoops landscape regardless of what school joins the Big Ten, that effect is all-but negligible to the Big Ten officials charged with making the choice. This is strictly a football decision, as the conference is looking to break the league into two six-team divisions, allowing them to play a conference championship game.

So who is going to move?

Your guess is as good as mine. Names like Notre Dame, Rutgers, Syracuse, Pitt, Texas, and Missouri have all been thrown out there.

It would be a shame to see a school with the basketball tradition of Syracuse, Pitt, or Notre Dame leave the Big East for the Big Ten, but there is at least one school that would love to see that happen.

Memphis.

You see, the Tigers have wanted to join the Big East (or any BCS conference, for that matter) ever since the league raided Conference USA after Virginia Tech, Boston College, and Miami defected to the ACC. They even went so far as to hire former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese as a consultant in September, just three months after he left his post with the Big East.

The Tigers are a legitimate basketball power these days, even with John Calipari in Lexington. The Big East losing a Pitt or a Syracuse, and the rivalries and traditions that go along with it, would be a travesty, but adding a school like Memphis would definitely help to soften that blow.

Having said that, if Josh Pastner is landing recruiting classes like this in C-USA, does any Big East coach want to recruit against him when he can promise to national TV exposure the Big East brings and a trip to the Garden each March?