It’s not expansion per se, but a kind of interesting plan/negotiations that makes some sense. Army and Navy wouldn’t actually join the Big East, but they would each play 4 games each year against Big East teams.

For example, in a given year, Army would play Connecticut, Cincinnati, Louisville and Pittsburgh. Navy would face Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse and West Virginia.

So far the service academies have said no, but it strikes me as in the early negotiations. Working out the money and how the schedule would work.

It preserves Army and Navy’s independence. Gives them both two solid home games each year. Gives both sides some more set games and less travel issues with the geographic proximity.

It’s not a long term fix — the conference splitting is the ultimate end point — but it could be a good way to lessen the number of 1-AA games and ease scheduling issues.

The basketball summer league in Pittsburgh is over. If you actually care about the outcomes, the team that included Gary McGhee won. Yet, despite finishing with 20 points (including 11-14 on FTs) and 8 rebounds, McGhee knows reality.

“It was something fun to do for the summer time,” McGhee said. “Everyone came out, and had some fun. Sometimes there’s not a whole lot of defense, but it was a good experience.”

What’s good is that Pitt’s primary 3 — Fields, Young and Blair — were listed on the first team squad and more importantly 2 of the newcomers — Gibbs and Miller — made the all-rookie group. The Pitt players were taking it serious enough to go hard and compete. They thankfully didn’t get hurt, this sort of thing can only help team chemistry.

Overall, for basketball in Pittsburgh area, this has been big. Robert Morris is trying to build to mid-major consistency.

“We’ve realized that every step, starting with this summer league, will pay off,” Green said. “This summer league, going against (players from) the Big East and … Atlantic 10, it will help.”

This isn’t fundamental basketball. There are few set plays and little format. Referees’ whistles are rarely heard, and defense “isn’t what I or (Pitt coach) Jamie Dixon or (Duquesne coach) Ron Everhart would like it to be,” Rice said. But it’s a huge step toward improvement. The Robert Morris players will continue their education on toughness and teamwork, and get a first-hand look at how larger programs operate.

“It’s great they’re playing in this league,” Rice said. “They’ll find some bad habits, like shot selection, but when they play at Pitt or Duquesne or West Virginia, those guys won’t take us for granted.”

Duquesne also benefited from playing in the summer league. Even WVU found it valuable to encourage their players to drive up twice a week to compete.

Alex Ruoff has the fading remnants of a sizeable shiner under his left eye. The cause?

“Those guys in Pittsburgh,” West Virginia’s senior guard said, “think they’re pretty tough.”

Well, aren’t you the guy with the black eye? Still, that only adds to the rivalry and makes the competition in the summer league better.

The fact that there has been coverage of the summer league by multiple news outlets, beyond a cursory article explaining how it is underway. Add in that the sportsplex was always packed for these games shows just how much interest and a surge in popularity college basketball is having in the region.

It started with Pitt becoming a quality basketball program and has helped raise the other programs in the area. Mountaineer and Dukes fans probably don’t want to admit this, but the best things for their programs is Pitt to continue to have success. It raises the profile of the sport in the region, and encourages the other schools to try and keep up.