Here is my suggestion for what the BigEast should do. Follow along, as I have been following along closely and think this just might work...
The BigEast remains as is, I will assume Uconn stays as it has been this long and they have not got an offer. This point really doesn't matter much, and I will address this later on.
1. The BigEast adds Kansas, Kansas State to Louisville, Cincinnati, West Virgina, Uconn, Rutgers, South Florida.
2. The BigEast adds Iowa State and Baylor. Brings the total to 10.
3. The BigEast brings in Navy, Airforce as football only members as was talked about. (12)
4. Add East Carolina, Villanova goes to FBS, brings total to (14) with only one new member.
***EDIT** TCU replaces East Carolina as I forgot them***
5. Sign everyone to a 50 million dollar buy out clause good for ten years.
6. If Uconn / Rutgers leave, the same happens, but football falls to a 12 team schedule, still enough for a conference championship.
That is a 14 team football schedule, and a 20 game basketball schedule. Is it a dream? Probably. But I think it is so nontraditional it might just work. Think, football only, basketball only, its crazy. But to me, it seems like the BigEast has always been non-traditional, and they need to be nontraditional now.
This is the best of both worlds, for teams all slightly on the outskirts. The BigEast network then possibly becomes a reality, or ESPN ext. picks it up. There is no more talk of BigEast collapse because of the huge buyout, and the rest of the conferences have no choice but to accept the BigEast as a legitimate member of the new conference layout.
No one has yet answered this. Isn't there a limit on conference basketball scheduling? I could swear there's an 18-game conference season max.
I've never heard of that. I think it's just total games.