The Catholic Seven cannot dissolve the league, which is great news for UConn

That is just about as good a piece a news as UConn could hope for.

Read this Jeff Jacobs column now

I had a lot I wanted to say about realignment tonight, but any thoughts I'd have would be redundant after this Jeff Jacobs column. It's fantastic. Go read it. Here's a sample:

There is no greater fib than the one that paints the Catholic basketball schools as victims in the Big East saga. Ha. Ha. Ha. LOL. Amen. In the midst of the Big East's getting eight, nine, 10, even 11 bids, DePaul hasn't made an NCAA Tournament since joining the league. St. John's? One NCAA since 2000. Providence? No NCAAs since 2004. Seton Hall? Six years without an NCAA appearance.

Catholic basketball schools made money they never would have been able to make elsewhere. Yes, conference realignment caused anxiety. No, it wasn't always fair that the basketball tail couldn't wag the football dog. But when your share of the media rights is $1.6 million annually and you compare it to $350,000 the Atlantic 10 schools got last year, well, that additional $1.25 million surely helped soothe the nerves. And let's face it. They got clout and cred in the NCAA they never would have gotten elsewhere.

Let's also face some more facts. As soon as the Catholic schools caught wind that the new deal Aresco has been working on wasn't the windfall they expected, or wanted, it didn't take too long to put a bullet in the head of their beloved Big East. UConn, like the other football schools, found out about the Catholic school meeting Sunday after the fact. Heartlessness, as Big East defections have shown, is a two-way street.

Report: Zombie Big East would retain BCS bid

We might be able to make a guess about where the shambolic, zombie football portion of the Big East is headed, thanks to a new report from USA Today that the entity formerly known as the Big East football playing schools will retain an automatic bid to next year's BCS. What's that worth? Well money for one thing, because it locks the twelve schools in the league (which might be eleven if Louisville bolts early) into a $20 million payday.

More importantly though, I think that could act as an anchor to keep these schools together long enough to figure out what to do next (in UConn's case that means pray for more shakeups in the big five conferences). Like I said this morning, I have a hard time picturing a scenario where the departing basketball-only schools invite UConn to their party, so sticking with its new football playmates is probably UConn's best -- and only -- option for now.

But make no mistake, this would only be a temporary move. The BCS ends after 2013, and UConn and Cincinnati (and South Florida and Boise St. and SDSU and.....) would obviously bolt if they were given a better offer. The bid could keep everyone together for 2013, but after that things get very, very murky.

I hope you like existential peril: Catholic schools to split from the Big East

The "Catholic Seven" are leaving the league, what does that mean for UConn?