Louisville coach Rick Pitino argued the 16-team Big East should split into two divisions once TCU becomes the league's 17th member in 2012.

Under the Pitino plan, the Eastern Division would featureVillanova, Georgetown, St. John's, DePaul, Marquette,Seton Hall, Providence, Notre Dame, and South Florida. And in the West would be Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Louisville,West Virginia, Cincinnati, TCU, Rutgers and UConn.

Teams would play opponents from their own divisions twice apiece but they wouldn't play schools in the other division except during the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden.  Pitino would favor adding one more team so that both divisions would have nine schools and each could play 16 league games.

"You build rivalries within your division," Pitino wrote.  "Each team would play 16 league games.  Everything would be fair and level for everyone."