In yet another major conference realignment, the Big East's seven Catholic schools -- including Georgetown -- have agreed to leave the conference, but are still deciding how to do it, according to an ESPN report.
Georgetown, DePaul, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall and Villanova are expected to release a statement regarding their respective futures within the next 24 to 48 hours.
ESPN has more on the process:
It's unknown whether they would attempt to dissolve the conference or leave as a group. The conference can be dissolved in a vote of the league members by a two-thirds majority, according to Big East bylaws. With all of the Big East's recent defections, only 10 members (the seven non-FBS schools plus Cincinnati, UConn and South Florida) can vote on the league dissolving
Once the seven schools decide to move to a new league, they will keep their automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. NCAA rules state that as long as a group of seven universities have been in the same league for five years, they keep their bid after a move together.
The Big East, once one of America's most competitive conferences, has been losing schools at a rapid rate, having recently lost West Virginia and TCU to the Big 12, Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame to the ACC and Rutgers to the Big Ten.
Georgetown was a founding member of the Big East, which formed in 1979.
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