Everything in the world of college sports is changing. Colleges are changing conferences, not chasing championships, but chasing dollars. College football is the biggest money maker for most schools, so football is the main factor behind these schools changing. Basketball, however, is getting left in the dust. The Big East as we know it is effectively coming to an end. It went from the being the best basketball conference in America since about the early two thousands to basically non-existent. Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Louisville, and Notre Dame (ND only for basketball) will all be departing for the ACC. West Virginia has already left for the Big Twelve, and Rutgers will be going to the Big Ten. In light of all these teams jumping ship, all of the catholic non-football playing schools decided to make their own conference. This new conference will consist of DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. Johns, and Villanova. Also joining this league will be Xavier and Butler from the Atlantic Ten. These seven teams will retain the Big East name when they split for good. Now I know what everyone is wondering, where does that leave the rest of the teams from the old Big East, especially UC? UC will be in a league with Connecticut, East Carolina, Houston, Navy, San Diego State, Memphis, SMU, Temple, Tulane, USF, and UCF. And once again UC basically finds itself back in Conference USA like they were previous to joining the Big East. Basically, what it comes down to is UC once again finds itself in a mid-major conference. The only upside for UC is that teams like Florida State, among others, seem to want out of the ACC. If Florida State were to depart for the SEC, either UC or Connecticut would most likely be getting an invitation into the ACC. But until this happens, UC finds them stuck in a situation they found themselves getting out of back in 2005. Mr.Gergen, former Elder basketball coach and UC fan said “I hope they get into another big conference because the one they are stuck in next year is pretty weak.” I asked him if all the shifting was good for basketball, he said “No, but football wags the tail.” “Football is where the money is at so basketball has to follow whatever football does.” Also, I got a reaction from Senior Sam Kwiatkowsi who said that they will be playing in a mid-major conference but they are still a major team, when asked if he thought UC was now a mid-major. “UC will be fine because I don’t think conference affiliation is that important in basketball like it is football.” I also asked Sam if he thought these moves were good for basketball, he also said “No, I think it is terrible for basketball.” Finally, I talked to our communications officer and super UC fanatic, senior Tyler Loebker about the state of UC basketball and the conference situation. I asked him if he considers UC a mid-major now and he said, “I wouldn’t go that far because if UC is, then UCONN would beand that just isn’t happening.” “I’m not sure if they will be able to get back to a major conference but they will make a strong push to get into the ACC.” It is impossible to predict the future of the Bearcats but whatever happens, hopefully they keep putting a great product on the court.