http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/cusa/2009-11-11-memphis-pastner-recruiting_N.htm

#2 only behind Ohio State for 2010 recruiting as of now.

This is incredible after losing Calipari. Memphis played surprisingly well this year and it seems they won't miss a beat.

Nah. It's the No. 1 class according to ESPN, and I think Rivals will have them at the top too since they've added Black.

well Top Class yes. This is impressive and a great start under the new coach.

Memphis is still recruiting well and getting it done without Calipari. Memphis is going to be at the top for years to come.

I hope the Big East can get them into the conference

Academic reputation plays a considerable role in getting teams to a conference. The ACC is made up solely of schools in the First 2 tiers of the US News rankings, which matter more than what the admissions officers want to tell us. Take away Florida State, and they're all Top 100 schools with average SAT scores of 1200 or more, math and reading.

The University of Memphis is a 4th tier school, or in other words, you pretty much just need to be a Tennessean with a C average in high school and take your SAT's and you'll get in. They would be the least academically reputable school in the Big East by far, and there's no way they'd want to go down that low to get Memphis. The conference is already too big with 16 schools and they diluted their academic rep a little bit by getting DePaul along with their academic doormats in WVU and Seton Hall which are Tier 3. Getting Memphis would be flat out unacceptable. Who cares about their men's basketball program, when women's basketball is mediocre at best and they play at the FedEx Forum too (and the Big East is a women's basketball powerhouse), their football team flat out sucks, and it's not just one sport that gets a team over the hump. The other CUSA turned Big East schools brought more overall on the field, court, pool, or ice, and academics-wise than Memphis.

It is true that Memphis probably won't be in the Big East mostly due to the fact that they now suck at football.

Football is where the money is at and having Memphis won't improve that.

Memphis in the Big East would make it a crazily competitive basketball conference.

But Memphis will be at the top of Conference USA for years it looks like. We see they still have alot of talent and alot more talent coming in.

People thought Memphis would disappear off the map like UMass did after Calipari left but looks like it isn't happening.

Pastner is doing a good job and looks like Memphis will be a good team for some years and could be a Top 5 NCAA Tournament team this year

snagging Elliot Williams from Duke was a HUGE transfer steal

KONJ, you hit the point on the head that football is part of why Memphis would not be a Big East school, but the academics do count more (a lot more) than we give credit for. These partnerships do raise dollars for the schools, esp. for research and that is where the rich schools get richer.

The Big Ten schools are all part of a special academic consortium to lend resources with each other for research, libraries, etc. Actually the consortium includes a 12th school, the University of Chicago, another academic heavyweight and one of the original Big Ten schools.

The ACC schools also have a similar academic partnership, and with Duke, UVA, UNC, Georgia Tech, BC, Wake, all in the Top Tier, and with UMD, Miami, and NCSU ranked real close to the Top Tier (all 12 are Tier 2 or better), that is also another great academic partnership.

As with Pastner, he is doing a great job considering that he is not at a particularly good school. The good news for him is that many basketball players, esp. elite players are not particularly concerned about academics, and it'll be easier for him to get more players. Bad news is that he needs to keep them for graduation. Recruiting freshmen is easy for him. Making them graduate, like he did is hard, and that is what will keep Memphis among the elite for the long haul.

It seems like Memphis with it's below standard academics and terrible football team is going to be stuck in Conference USA.

In basketball I'm glad they're starting to play Tennessee annually. That's going to be a fun rivalry since Tennessee is on the rise in basketball as Memphis looks like they're going to be good for a while.

Memphis won't help the Big East in football so it's unlikely. SEC there's almost no since they'd get their butts kicked in every week in football their

Big East was considering East Carolina too who is decent at football but nothing too special if you ask me. In Basketball they're not that good so doubtful that happens too