By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Hey, UC fans, how would you like to have two games on the basketball schedule every season against Temple and Connecticut, in addition to Louisville and Memphis? Xavier fans, how do league games against Notre Dame, Georgetown and Marquette sound?

With potential for a shift of league affiliations should three Big East teams bolt for the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Enquirer presumed there would be major shakeups and we've hypothesized results for several conferences, including a new creation: the Great Eight.

Atlantic Coast Conference

NATIONAL DIVISION
Boston College
Clemson
Georgia Tech
Miami
Syracuse
Virginia

CAROLINA DIVISION
Duke
Florida State
Maryland
North Carolina
North Carolina State
Wake Forest

WINNERS: The former Big East schools (Miami, Boston College and Syracuse) finally get into a traditional conference where every program plays basketball and football. The ACC gets the added revenue of having a conference championship football game.

LOSERS: All those Duke and North Carolina donors who received ACC Tournament tickets for their sizeable financial contributions. With three more schools taking up seats, there will be less representation from Tobacco Road at the tournament.

EXCITEMENT FACTOR: 85 (1-100). The only thrilling addition to the conference is the Miami-Florida State football game, but they play that already anyway. Basketball loses its round-robin format with two divisions, although you can bet we'll be watching when Syracuse visits Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Big East

FRONTIER DIVISION

Dayton
DePaul
Marquette
Notre Dame (non-football only)
Saint Louis
Xavier

COASTAL DIVISION
Georgetown
Providence
St. John's
St. Joseph's
Seton Hall
Villanova

WINNERS: The five schools that weren't in the Big East last season (Dayton, DePaul, Marquette, Saint Louis and Xavier). Imagine Xavier matching up with Marquette and Notre Dame twice a year, while being able to keep its intense rivalry with Dayton.

LOSERS: Really, no one. The Coastal Division schools would lose their ties to the football-playing Big East members, but who cares? They didn't see a dime of the football money anyway.

EXCITEMENT FACTOR: 95. There are a lot of fans in the East who have been waiting for the all-Catholic league for quite some time, they just didn't think it would be called the Big East, which has the rights to Madison Square Garden for its conference tournament. This league is a basketball junkie's paradise.

Great Eight
Cincinnati
Connecticut
Louisville
Memphis
Rutgers
Temple
Virginia Tech
West Virginia

WINNERS: Cincinnati basketball fans, who get to keep their rivalry with Louisville while adding Temple, West Virginia and Connecticut.

LOSERS: The state of Connecticut, which shelled out big bucks to upgrade UConn's football team to Division I only to play in a league without Miami. Everyone else loses bowl affiliations of the Big East and Conference USA, but the Bowl Championship Series could be history after 2005 anyway.

EXCITEMENT FACTOR: 90. The basketball will be first-rate and should command a nice TV deal. There are no scheduling issues either, because with eight teams, they can play round-robin. There will be no eager anticipation of Virginia Tech's annual title march every fall, however.

Atlantic 10

Duquesne
Fordham
George Washington
LaSalle
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Richmond
St. Bonaventure

WINNERS: Fordham and Duquesne. They can breathe a little easier. The opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament actually exists if they can win the conference tournament, now with four fewer teams.

LOSERS: A-10 commissioner Linda Bruno's efforts to turn the conference into a basketball league on par with the Big East never really got off the ground, and this would end any hopes of that happening.

EXCITEMENT FACTOR: 70. The league probably could say goodbye to regular-season television, but we'd tune in for the championship game.

Big Ten

WEST DIVISION
Illinois
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Wisconsin

EAST DIVISION
Northwestern
Ohio State
Indiana
Penn State
Pittsburgh
Purdue

WINNERS: Football fans who finally will be able to witness a true league championship settled on the field instead of last season's travesty when Ohio State and Iowa, both undefeated in the conference, did not play each other.

LOSERS: None, except for league purists who don't want to see two divisions. We say purity went out the window when the conference added an 11th team and a postseason basketball tournament. This format also will be difficult for the person who makes the conference logo, which cleverly included an 11.

EXCITEMENT FACTOR: 95. This makes what is already a great conference in both sports even better. With a football championship game, Ohio State and Michigan could meet twice in successive weeks!

Conference USA

Charlotte
East Carolina
Houston
South Florida
Southern Miss
TCU
Tulane
UAB

WINNERS: Bobby Lutz. The Charlotte coach who has been somewhat overshadowed by larger presences within the league finally will become the top dog in this conference.

LOSERS: Those of us who thought C-USA would develop a strong football image.

EXCITEMENT FACTOR: 70. There will be some good games in both sports in this league. We just won't be watching.

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com