TCU will become the Big East's ninth football and 17th basketball member on July 1, 2012 according to Fanhouse. That gives the Big East 18 months to figure out just how they're going to make this monster work.
The frank truth is that a 17-team basketball league is probably unworkable. The Big East may find some crazy-ass way to do it, but I'd bet that this either starts the break-up of the conference (especially if the Big East looks to expand further, which wouldn't shock me) or marks the beginning of the end for some schools. Let's just say that if I was the athletic director at DePaul, I wouldn't let John Marinatto take me on any fishing trips to Lake Tahoe.