West Virginia daily

If the Big East wasn't the best conference in the country last season, it was second to the ACC. Now with a new look, the Big East is the deepest and strongest league in the land.

The chase for football dollars drove Miami, Virginia Tech and now Boston College off to the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Big East retains such powers as Connecticut, Syracuse and Villanova, but the new blood comes from a raid on Conference USA that netted Louisville, Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette and South Florida.

It means South Florida can have the honor of being the only 16th-place conference finisher in the country. And it also means tough times for basketball-proud schools such as Marquette, a 2003 Final Four participant that is picked to finish somewhere about 13th in the Big East, and DePaul, which will be lucky to be one of the 12 teams to qualify for the conference tournament.

On the flip side of the Big East is Conference USA, which lost nine teams and added six. Among the teams it lost: Louisville, Cincinnati, Charlotte, DePaul and Marquette. The programs it added: Central Florida, Marshall, Rice, SMU, Tulsa and UTEP. Not exactly a trade-off that will help its conference RPI.

Memphis should dominate this conference, possibly going undefeated. The Tigers play a grueling nonconference schedule, including games against Texas, Gonzaga, Cincinnati and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. They figure to get tested much more in November and December than during their conference season.

To recap the rest of the conference shuffling, the Atlantic 10 picked up Charlotte, meaning it has 14, not 10, teams; the Western Athletic Conference took in Utah State and Idaho from the Big West and New Mexico State from the Sun Belt; the Sun Belt took in Troy from the Atlantic Sun; and the Atlantic Sun brought in East Tennessee State from the Southern.

College basketball last had an undefeated national champion in 1976 with Indiana, so the chances are that somebody will upset Duke along the way.

If Connecticut's program hadn't been roiled by misdemeanor theft charges against its two top point guards -- A.J. Price and Marcus Williams start the season under suspension -- and the surprising decision by top recruit Andrew Bynum to enter the NBA draft, the Huskies would be a strong candidate to threaten Duke. And the Huskies still might. Williams' suspension ends Jan. 3, and Coach Jim Calhoun said sophomore forward Rudy Gay is poised to have a breakout season.

Michigan State was a surprise Final Four participant last season and returns four starters, including underrated center Paul Davis and playmaker Maurice Ager. Texas returns three double-figure scorers and is picked second to Duke in the first AP poll. Villanova might have had a chance if 6-10 Curtis Sumpter, voted preseason Big East player of the year, hadn't blown out his knee in practice two weeks ago.

Duke versus Texas, Dec. 10 at the Meadowlands could be a matchup of the nation's Nos. 1 and 2 teams. The Maui Invitational includes Pacific 10 Conference favorite Arizona, top-10 contender Gonzaga, Connecticut, Michigan State, Kansas and Maryland. Gonzaga at Washington on Dec. 4 could play a big part in who might be the top-seeded team in the Oakland region come Selection Sunday.

Texas Tech Coach Bob Knight needs 24 wins to tie Dean Smith's NCAA Division I record of 879. While flashy guard Ronald Ross is gone from last season's Sweet 16 team, Knight has averaged 22.5 wins a season in Lubbock and it might be worth taking a peek at the Red Raiders come the end of February.

Keydren Clark, a 5-9 guard from St. Peter's, is aiming to lead the nation in scoring for a third consecutive season. The only others to have done so are Oscar Robertson and Pete Maravich.

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