Report: Big East Conference to announce new members soon

The Big East Conference's seven basketball Catholic schools will announce in the next week to 10 days other members of the conference, reports ESPN.com.

The league's members, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's and Villanova are set to start the new league July 1. The postseason tournament will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The athletic directors of those schools met in New York on Wednesday and said that the league's presidents told them that a search firm has been hired to find a new commissioner.

Additional members have not yet been invited, so naming any set teams is premature, although the favorites remain Xavier and Butler out of the Atlantic 10 and Creighton out of the Missouri Valley. Dayton and Saint Louis also are candidates from the A-10, with Richmond probably a long shot.