C-USA Loses Five/Adds Five, SLU’s Status Unclear

It was a day of loss and gain for Conference USA Tuesday. The Saint Louis Billikens were not among the five teams who left for the Big East. Marquette, Louisville, DePaul, Cincinnati and South Florida will switch conferences beginning in the 2005-2006 season. Joining C-USA will be SMU, Rice, Tulsa, Central Florida and Marshall. What Saint Louis does is still in the air. There’s talk of them joining the Atlantic 10, though there has been local interest in joining the Missouri Valley Conference, which is based in St. Louis. The MVC might also be attractive because of the natural local rivalries that could occur with Southern Illinois and SMS.