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The Big East split is a done deal.

Marquette and six other defectors - St. John's, Villanova, Georgetown, DePaul, Providence and Seton Hall - are expected to join Butler and Xavier of the Atlantic 10 to form a new basketball-centric league next season.

A 10th team could come from St. Louis, Dayton, Creighton or Virginia Commonwealth. The new league could even begin play with 12 teams.

The league could have rotating tournament sites or it could stay in New York. Marquette should get as least as much in the new TV contract as the $1.5 million it received from the Big East.

An annoucment on the new league could happen as early as Friday. It will have an automatic NCAA berth.

The yet unnamed league - members would like to call it the Big East if the Big East folds - will be Marquette's fifth since 1988. It joined the Big East in 2005 and has since fought an uphill battle as the once-promiment league tried to hold on with football schools. In doing so, it alienated the seven remaining basketball-first schools.

Marquette and the other six, which either do not play football or football at a BCS level, had been considering a break from the Big East for some time now. When the Big East reacted to the departures of Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse, West Virginia, Louisville and Rutgers with the additions of schools such as Tulane, that was the last straw.

The seven basketball schools were considering leaving at some point but have decided that now is the best time because the new direction of the Big East offers them very little, particularly in terms of extensive travel for its non-revenue sports as the league expands from coast to coast.

Marquette athletic director Larry Williams has been among those critical of the Tulane addition because it will not help the Golden Eagles' RPI when they are competing for a NCAA tournament berth. MU coach Buzz Williams rolled his eyes at the time the addition of Tulane was announced.

There is no word yet on whether Marquette will be liable for a buyout for withdrawing from the Big East. If all seven schools leave in a group, the Big East may have no way to recoup a withdrawal fee.