Memphis Tigers to Big East

For years, Tiger fans have yearned for a spot in the Big East. They will finally get their wish.

A source close to the situation confirmed Tuesday that The University of Memphis will make the jump to the Big East Conference after being a Conference USA member since 1995. A press conference has been scheduled for noon today to announce an all-sports move to the new conference.

Rumors have circulated for years about a possible invite to the Bowl Championship Series conference.

As part of a larger, national conference realignment driven by football and the promise of millions of dollars from TV deals, eight schools defected to other conferences from C-USA in 2005, with five of them heading to the Big East. Louisville, Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette and South Florida were invited to the Big East, while Saint Louis, Charlotte and Texas Christian went to other conferences.

The Tigers were left out as traditional rivals, Louisville and Cincinnati, moved on to greener pastures, leaving behind a severely weakened C-USA.

That's not to say Memphis didn't capitalize on the easier conference for basketball success. Following the defections in 2005, Memphis dominated C-USA on the court, going 15-1 in conference in 2005-2006, then 16-0 three straight years, including a National Championship game appearance in 2008, four C-USA regular season championships and five conference tournament championships.

A move to the Big East would be a major boost in the quality of conference opposition. The Big East has ranked in the top five of conference RPI each year since the 2005 realignment. It was ranked the No. 1 conference in terms of RPI last year. The Big East schools that Memphis will join in 2013 boast a total of 10 national championships, 38 Final Four appearances and 272 NCAA tournament appearances.

Memphis will join current C-USA members Houston, Southern Methodist and Central Florida as all-sports members after they also received invites to the Big East late last year. Boise State, San Diego State and Navy have also been invited as football-only members. All schools will begin Big East competition in 2013, except for Navy, who will start in 2015.

Prior to receiving the invite to join the new conference, Memphis was set to join the rest of Conference USA in a potential merger with the Mountain West Conference in 2013. That merger would have put Memphis in a 17-team league with the likes of UNLV, Colorado State and Air Force.