On Saturday, Marquette along with the six other Big East schools announced they would be leaving the conference to form their own basketball first conference.

The presidents of the seven schools said in a statement:

“Earlier today we voted unanimously to pursue an orderly evolution to a foundation of basketball schools that honors the history and tradition on which the Big East was established. Under the context of conference realignment, we believe pursuing a new basketball framework that builds on this tradition of excellence and competition is the best way forward.”

There has been no time table for the move although the Big East does require conference members to give 27 months notice but if they vote to leave as a group, the Big East will allow them to leave as a group without paying the exit fees.

I’ll keep tabs on this story as we get more details. This is probably the best option for the non-football schools.