Talking the new Big East

NEW YORK - Bob Huggins and Jim Calhoun gone. Jim Boeheim, Jamie Dixon and Mike Brey going.

When the Big East congregates for its annual basketball media day in 2013, the scene will be much different than Wednesday's on the ninth floor of The New York Athletic Club on Central Park South. Huggins is already gone with West Virginia to the Big 12. Connecticut's Calhoun just retired. Boeheim and Syracuse will be joining Dixon and Pittsburgh in the ACC next season. Brey and Notre Dame will be joining them then or the season after.

Temple, Memphis, Houston, SMU and Central Florida will be represented in New York next October. Louisville coach Rick Pitino, whose team would have been a unanimous pick to win the 2012-13 championship if he had been able to vote for them, had an interesting take on the future.

"I think it's going to be just as good," Pitino said hopefully. "I think Memphis and Temple more than make up for Syracuse and Pittsburgh. I don't know if anybody can make for what Syracuse brought from a fan's standpoint . . . We've got Villanova and Temple, two great traditions in the Philadelphia area. St. John's is making a comeback. Seton Hall is making a comeback. In our area, you got Cincinnati and Louisville, two top 25 teams. You've got Georgetown in D.C. . . . Every year we're going to have eight top 25 programs. Temple and Memphis come in, they're two top 25 programs."

And there is even hope down below.

"I think the additions of Houston, SMU and Central Florida benefits Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John's, DePaul, South Florida," Pitino said.

Why?

Because the traditional no hopers now have hope that there are games they can win.

As for Louisville, "We're an extremely athletic basketball team, but we've got our blemishes like everybody else does," Pitino said.

The Cardinals had major blemishes last season, but Pitino got them to the Final Four anyway on the strength of unyielding defense. They could not shoot, but they won big because of the best coach not in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Louisville point guard Peyton Siva was voted preseason Player of the Year. Syracuse was picked second behind Louisville. Notre Dame was picked third.

"When I came in this league, there were established coaches that I to fight through to survive and keep [my] job. Jay Wright and I were in the same boat," Brey said.

This might be Brey's best team. If this is going to be ND's last Big East run, it would be a nice time to cut down the nets at Madison Square Garden. Still, parting won't be easy, after this season or next.

"I had very mixed emotions and that's from a guy who grew up in ACC country and coached in the league," Brey said. "We made our name in this league. We've got an identity. I like my presence in this league. I'm getting to be one of the veteran guys especially with Calhoun and Boeheim doing their thing."

Football is obviously behind all this movement, but ACC basketball, other than Duke and North Carolina, has not been up its old standards.

"The number of bids we're getting is the envy of every BCS league," Brey said. "It's probably why the ACC raided us again. They want to get eight, nine, 10 bids."

Pitino said he thinks realignment among the major conferences is finished for a while. One can hope. Meanwhile, one can get ready for the final ride on a completely recognizable Big East train.