The Chuck Norris of College Basketball, Andy Katz (He doesn't sleep, he lies in wait) has finally weighed in on the whole Mountain West/Big East expansion/contraction thing.

In his 3-point Shot blog today at ESPN.com, "Chuck" Katz informs us that the BE's athletic directors are meeting on Jan. 11 to discuss moves and get an update on TV negotiations.

Dallas... hmm... isn't that where the SMU Mustangs are? Does that mean SMU is locked and loaded for the Big East. In a word: Yes. And what about the San Diego St. Aztecs?

Meanwhile, the Mountain West expects to move on San Diego State by the end of this week, according to a league source. The MWC has to decide if it will go to 12 or 14.



The MWC has interest in SMU and Houston, but SMU has let it be known to the MWC it has no interest as the Mustangs and Cougars are set to go to the Big East.

Apparently three Conference USA schools are of interest to the Big East. None of them are named the UTEP Miners, according to Katz.

ESPN's Andrea Adelson references "Chuck" Katz' blog entry in her own Big East blog entry today about possible Big East invites, adding this:

I think it is going to be hard for the Big East to convince any teams currently in the Mountain West to join the league. So it makes sense that expansion targets are coming from Conference USA and the MAC, two leagues that rank below the Mountain West in the current power structure.

Lastly, don't expect the Boise St. Broncos to be scheduling the Tulane Green Wave any time soon after the Green Wave's AD Rick Dickson (plenty of obscene joke possibilities there, Bronco fans) ran down the Broncos in a report by sporsnola.com today.

"Losing Boise State was disappointing, but I am proud that the BIG EAST did not compromise its standards and accede to Boise's inappropriate and unreasonable demands," Dickson said.

Wow. What a Rick... er.. Di... oh you get it.

Dickson (huh huh... huh huh huh...) obliquely and cryptically addressed the possibility of losing SDSU as well.

Other concerns about the loss of more members were acknowledged by Dickson. San Diego State may follow the same path as Boise State and step back from its Big East commitment. "It's not unrealistic to think that we may lose another member, but the conference is being aggressive in its planning and will remain a strong conference," said Dickson.

Green with Envy, Rick?

Anyway... stay tuned to MW Connection, as always...