With the ACC threatening to tear it apart, the Big East is going on the offensive to save itself in some form -- beginning with the conference's annual spring meetings this weekend in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

Veteran Big East coaches Jim Calhoun of Connecticut and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim aren't giving up hope that the league can't stay together, despite the ACC's decision to expand Tuesday. At least one source thought Virginia could withdraw its vote for expansion if the plans don't include Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech is one of three Big East schools -- along with Syracuse and Boston College -- that could be invited with Miami to join the ACC.

	“	I'm an optimistic guy and, regardless of what happens, I truly believe basketball-wise we'll be fine. ”
		— Jim Calhoun, Connecticut head coach

While the Big East office would like to stay together as a 14-team league, the reality is that it may have to jettison the five non-football playing members to save the league. And if that's the case, there is a good chance that basketball will thrive in realignment at the expense of Conference USA.

"I'm an optimistic guy and, regardless of what happens, I truly believe basketball-wise we'll be fine," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said.

With the real possibility of a restructured Big East by 2004, Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese asked Calhoun and Boeheim to travel down to Florida a day earlier than expected so they could discuss a game plan as it relates to the basketball-rich schools. The Big East's football coaches and athletic directors meet Saturday-Monday, while the basketball coaches meet with the athletic directors Monday-Wednesday.

Any future plans for Big East basketball, however, begin with Miami's ultimate decision to leave or stay in the Big East. If the Big East gives Miami enough reasons to stay, those reasons would likely include a restructured Big East.

The best possible scenario for the Big East would be to keep its eight football schools together -- Miami, Syracuse, Boston College, Connecticut, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Virginia Tech -- and try to convince Notre Dame to stay in all sports, or everything but football again. If the Irish remain an independent in football, the Big East could get to 12 football teams by adding Louisville and Cincinnati -- with the 12th team coming from a host of C-USA teams such as Memphis or South Florida.

The other team the Big East could go after is apparently the ACC's own Maryland. The Big East could try to poach the Terps and convince them that their heart should be in the Northeast, not the South. But the chances of Maryland leaving the ACC and its basketball rivals in North Carolina for the Northeast is unlikely.

"That would be a good league," Calhoun said of any future Big East that started with the eight existing Big East teams who play Division I football. "Louisville would be a great addition, too. We (Calhoun and Boeheim) want to protect the basketball interest like Mike (Krzyzewski), Roy (Williams) were doing in the ACC."

The Big East football schools will get a jump on the rest of the league since they meet first over the weekend. That could ease some of the tension -- if a decision is reached -- before the 14 basketball coaches arrive Monday.

Regardless, the consensus in the Big East is that there will be some sort of change.

While the ACC is expanding with an eye on a conference title game in football, there is no reason the Big East can't restructure its conference for the same reason. Miami could then possibly be convinced to stay, and with the magic number of 12 football-playing schools as a goal, Notre Dame, Louisville and Cincinnati would be a nice start. Not only would football have its title game, but the Big East would also have one of the best basketball conferences in the country.

Connecticut, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Louisville and Cincinnati are all national powers on the court. This new-look Big East would command major television dollars with major media markets in the Northeast and near the Midwest. The Big East would keep the automatic berth under the bylaws of the NCAA and the conference. The majority keeps the name, and the bylaws in the NCAA Tournament say that six continuous members would keep the automatic berth.

Even if the Big East loses the three teams on the ACC's wish list (Miami, Syracuse, Boston College or Virginia Tech), it can still thrive in basketball if it can raid Conference USA. Grabbing Cincinnati, Memphis, Louisville, South Florida and Temple (out of the A-10) as a start would help solve some football issues as well as providing a few national names in basketball. If the Big East dropped down to five members -- which could happen if Notre Dame didn't stay in basketball -- then there could be an issue for the automatic berth.

So, where does this leave the non-football Big East schools? Providence, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Villanova and St. John's are looking into creating their own conference of Catholic universities. The conference could look to add historical basketball powers Marquette, DePaul, Dayton and Xavier, with the possibility of Notre Dame joining this group. That would siphon off Marquette and DePaul from Conference USA, Dayton and Xavier from the Atlantic 10.

Such a Catholic league might only have to wait one season to get an automatic berth from the NCAA Tournament. The Mountain West waited just one year after it split off from the WAC. Regardless of how many new basketball conferences exist, the selection committee is unlikely to budge from the 34 at-large berths. If there were more automatic berths than the present 31 then there could be more play-in games to get into the field of 64.

Once again, the private-school, Catholic-based conference would be in high demand for television dollars because of its Northeast and Midwest-based alumni in major media markets. All of these schools have been NCAA Tournament-type teams over the past 10 years.

If, or when, any or all of these scenarios play out, the future of C-USA doesn't look so good. Created with basketball in mind, C-USA would lose its marquee teams and those left behind would quickly scramble to find new homes. Under most scenarios, Conference USA wouldn't exist.

Charlotte, for example, could go to the Atlantic 10 to strengthen that basketball conference. East Carolina could be of interest to the A-10 (although football becomes a problem). Saint Louis could be a coup for the Horizon or Missouri Valley. Finding a home for UAB, Tulane and Southern Miss, outside of the Sun Belt, is a problem. The WAC would love to get its hands on Houston and TCU to move to 12 teams and split into two divisions.

All of this brings us back to the ACC.

If the ACC adds Miami, Boston College, Syracuse and/or Virginia Tech, then its basketball product will be a bit diluted -- much like the Big 12 and SEC. ACC coaches said there was no talk of divisional alignment, but they have accepted the reality that they won't play each other twice in a true round-robin format.

"We didn't even discuss North/South or East/West," N.C. State coach Herb Sendek said. "Everyone has an opinion, but we didn't break it down."

If the ACC kept the four North Carolina schools together -- UNC, N.C. State, Duke and Wake Forest -- along with traditional rivals Maryland and Virginia, then the league would have an imbalanced conference in basketball. Putting Syracuse, BC or Virginia Tech with Miami, Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech wouldn't be fair. The Big 12 and the SEC have its divisional teams play twice, and then once against the other division. The ACC would likely do the same.

But the issue will certainly arise when schools like Maryland want home games every season against Duke and Carolina for its season-ticket package. The same would be true at Clemson. Everyone will want Duke and Carolina, but only eight schools each season (five in the division and three on the other side) would get either at home.

"We'll have a healthy reorganization in college basketball," Sendek said.

"But it doesn't matter what we think," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. "They'll do what is best for our league."

And the Big East is determined to do the same.

Welcome back to the ACC/Big East Challenge.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.