COLLEGE It's official: Big East will have five new members

Marquette, Louisville, DePaul, Cincinnati and South Florida enter in 2005-06.
NEWSDAY
NEW YORK -- The smile on Michael Tranghese's face was apparent from the moment the Big East commissioner entered the Grand Hyatt's Ballroom A in Manhattan Tuesday afternoon. Two hours later, as he got ready to leave, the smile was still there, just as wide.
With various Big East college presidents and athletic directors by his side, Tranghese put his best face forward at a news conference that finally made official what had become the worst-kept secret of the college basketball off-season.
Marquette, Louisville, DePaul, Cincinnati and South Florida will join the Big East in 2005-06, effectively replacing Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech, which bolted for the Atlantic Coast Conference during the offseason.
"It's going to be great to go work now and do what we want to do," Tranghese said. "These last six months have been a very difficult time."
Honeymoon didn't last
After the basketball season ended with national championships for the Syracuse men and Connecticut women, the honeymoon didn't last long. It all went downhill for conference officials once word trickled out that several schools were considering leaving for the ACC. It then became evident this off-season was crucial to the Big East's future.
When the dust officially cleared Tuesday, Tranghese called the changes a success.
The school presidents and athletic directors present agreed with Tranghese's assessment that the Big East is better now than it would have been had it stayed the same.
"People were critical we didn't move more rapidly," said Rev. Edmund J. Dobbin, Villanova's president. "We did move rapidly considering the care we gave this process. The outcome is that we've never felt better about the future of the Big East."
Basketball improved
It's hard to argue the basketball end, which vastly improved by adding perennial powers Louisville, Marquette and Cincinnati. Tranghese floated the idea of possible sending up to 10 teams to the NCAA Tournament and half-heartedly advised fans to get their tickets now for the 2006 Big East Tournament.
"I never say we're the best," he said, "but we're clearly as good as any conference ever put together."