Sounds like Xavier wants in

[Pakuni]

Not a surprise, but good to hear  as they're probably the most important school to get on board.

If Xavier were to join a league with the Catholic 7, coach Chris Mack would be on board.

"Selfishly, I think it'd be great for recruiting," Mack told USA TODAY Sports on Friday. "It'd be great for our program. But at this point, it's all speculation. We just keep our head down and worry about today's practice."

"The great thing about our program is that for 30 years or so, we've done an amazing job of putting ourselves in a great position to be a desired commodity."

So have the Catholic 7 schools been in touch?

"There hasn't been any official contact of any sort," Xavier athletics director Mike Bobinski told USA TODAY Sports on Friday. "We have been mentioned in every story, and that's sort of a good news/bad news. Obviously, we feel good about that. There's a reason we're mentioned. It's because we've had an awful lot of success and we've done a lot of things very well for a long period of time here. That part is a good part.

"The challenging thing is to sort of calm the fears of our current colleagues and the folks in the Atlantic 10 who have been great partners to us. We've tried to be great partners to them. But none of us can predict the future. We are not advertising ourselves out there. We're not doing that.

"Should opportunities be presented to us that are different and worthy of consideration, it would be irresponsible to dismiss them. We have to be aware. We have to be receptive to those things."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2012/12/16/xavier-university-atlantic-10-catholic-big-east/1772529/

[🏀]

Yeah, pretty much expect X to take the #8 spot in the new conference.

Sharpie'd.

[jsglow]

Appropriate comments.  Clearly excited to be expecting a phone call.  Right choice for slot 8.  But I'll anticipate that the full  dance card will be set before any announcement is made.

[GGGG]

I'm sure back channel conversations have already taken place...perhaps even before news about this surfaced late last week.

[chapman]

From Zag's Blog:

A source close to the decision told CityOfBasketballLove.com on Saturday afternoon that Xavier and Butler will "definitely" be joining the Big Priest schools.

Besides Hunt that would be a second source claiming X and Butler are on board.

[Avenue Commons]

I'm sure back channel conversations have already taken place...perhaps even before news about this surfaced late last week.

Xavier and Butler's interests were confirmed before the C7 split. It would have been irresponsible to jump ship without a lifeboat.

[cheebs09]

From Zag's Blog:

Besides Hunt that would be a second source claiming X and Butler are on board.

Also, Zags is a pretty solid source. I'd put much more stock into what he says over Hunt. Although, I saw a picture of Larry Williams with Hunt there, so maybe he's getting some really solid information (granted where was Larry to crush that Big Ten talk?).

Butler and Xavier seem to be the popular ones everywhere you look. I'm hoping that he is pretty far off on the rotating tournament site. I'm hoping for MSG or Barclays.

[avid1010]

love the thought of adding xavier...xavier, creighton, and gonzaga seem the most stable to me.  seems they always have solid programs, even though they are sometimes a stepping stone for coaches.  that said it seems that mack and few aren't interested in leaving their schools.  no clue if mcdermott will have any loyalty to creighton.  i worry about butler a little more, if/when stevens leaves.  if i'm figuring things correctly that means MU is in a 10 team conference...home/away is 18 games.  not sure how that works for a tournament?  have two initial games where 7 plays 10 and 8 plays 9, then 7 more seeded games for 9 games total?