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If two teams play at Madison Square Garden and no one is there to witness it, did the games actually occur?

That will be the quandary the Big East faces in 2014 if the league listens to the pleas of its basketball coaches and allows everyone into the conference tournament.

The Big East is convening this week in Florida and included in its crowded agenda, the conference is trying to hash out its future hoops tourneys. Next season it will actually shrink -- there will be 15 members of the Big East, but UConn, due to its APR punishment won’t be able to participate, so that’s a manageable 14-team membership.

But in 2014, the conference swells to 18 and the coaches already are pushing to
continue its all-inclusive tournament.

And so on Monday night, the Garden would swing open its doors to … SMU versus Central Florida and DePaul versus Houston for a play-in game.

Would they sell tickets for that or just give Larry Brown and Oliver Purnell sandwich boards and bells and let them hand out tickets to unsuspecting tourists strolling down 8^th Avenue?

We’re all crying uncle here, so please stop.

Big East basketball already has watered down its product to an unrecognizable glob of mush. Let’s not roll the tournament into the sewer, too.

We have endured the Tuesday night warm-up games for a few years now and while fans haven’t left putting needles in their eyes, they haven’t exactly been disappointed when the buzzer mercifully sounds.

But now we’re talking about actual play-in games. Chances are, you’ll see teams with abominable records whose only hope at the postseason is a national pandemic that afflicts only the top 100 basketball rosters in the country.

To paraphrase my friend, longtime Associated Press writer Jack Scheuer, it would be guaranteed VVVB hoops (very, very, very bad).

Worse, there is even a worry that the Garden might not be able to extend its commitment to Monday. The current contract does not give the league access until Tuesday and would consequently have to be renegotiated. If it couldn’t be, the games would have to be played somewhere in the New York area.

What in heavens’ name is the point of that?

A play-in game to make your conference tournament, played at some random outpost that looks like New York but isn’t quite New York.

They can call it the Hoboken Opening Round.

Coaches long have argued that teams deserve the right for the "full tournament experience" and that keeping people out of the Big East tournament only gives itchy trigger-fingered administrators cause to fire a coach who can’t get his team to New York.

Because finishing 18^th out of 18 apparently merits a pay raise.

Sorry, this isn’t pee-wee rec ball. Not everyone gets a trophy. Not everyone gets to play.

Besides, if you play a Big East tournament game and no one is there to see it, were you really there in the first place?

SMU had three more players selected in the NFL draft Saturday.

Following in the footsteps of OG Josh LeRibeus, who was picked in the third round (71st overall) by the Washington Redskins on Friday, was defensive end/tight end Taylor Thompson (145th overall), Richard Crawford (213th overall) and Kelvin Beachum (248th overall).

Thompson, a fifth-round pick by the Tennessee Titans, had 22.5 tackles for loss and 18 sacks in his career at SMU and was a three-time All-Conference USA selection.

Crawford will join LeRibeus in Washington. Taken in the seventh round by the Redskins, Crawford picked off six passes and recorded 101 tackles in two seasons and was a first team All-Conference USA selection in 2011 as punt return specialist.

Beachum moves on to Pittsburg after starting four years at left tackle for SMU, where he earned first team all-conference honors his junior and senior seasons. Beachum will be reunited with former Mustangs teammate Emmanuel Sanders with the Steelers.

Horned Frogs duo drafted

TCU linebacker Tank Carder and defensive back/kick returner Greg McCoy received draft calls Saturday.

Carder, famous for his “immaculate deflection” in TCU’s Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin, was selected 147th overall in the fifth round by the Buffalo Bills and becomes the fifth TCU linebacker in as many season to join an NFL team.

Carder was a two-time All-American and a Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year in his junior and senior seasons, amassing 70 tackles for the Horned Frogs his senior year.

McCoy will head to Chicago. Taken in the seventh round (280th overall) by the Bears, McCoy was an All-American return specialist his senior season, as well as the Mountain West special teams player of the year.

McCoy, who played at Dallas Woodrow Wilson, saved TCU’s Poinsettia Bowl victory by returning an interception 24 yards to set up the game-tying touchdown.

He returned two kicks for touchdowns in 2011 and his 30.6-yard return average his senior year ranked sixth nationally.

Cader and McCoy are Gary Patterson’s 30th and 31st players drafted in his tenure at TCU.

The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl returns to Fort Worth in 2012 as a lead-in game on Saturday, Dec. 29.

The game was played at at SMU's Gerald J. Ford Stadium the last two seasons because of the $143 million renovations to TCU's Amon G. Carter Stadium. It drew a game-record 36,742 fans in 2010, when Army defeated SMU on its home turf, 16-14. BYU rallied over Tulsa for a 24-21 victory in last year's edition.

ESPN and ESPN Radio will air the game, with kickoff set for 10:45 a.m. CT.

"We are very pleased to have our 10th anniversary game featured on ESPN as the Saturday lead into other bowl games," bowl executive director Brant B. Ringler said. "We also look forward to continuing our great relationship with TCU after staging several highly successful events at Amon G. Carter Stadium for the first seven years of the bowl game."

Ticket information will be released through the Armed Forces Bowl website. Capacity at the renovated Amon G. Carter Stadium will be approximately 45,000.

The Cowboys' Dallas Day kicks off today at Valley Ranch with several area players getting a chance to talk with team officials.

SMU guard Josh LeRibeus, a 6-3, 312 pounder and TCU defensive end Braylon Broughton, 6-4, 255, will visit the complex.

LeRibeus missed his junior season for academic reasons but played his senior season. Here's the scouting report on him from NFL.com. Our guys at Scouts Inc. have this report.

Broughton improved his stock among NFL teams with a strong effort at TCU's Pro Day. He ran a 4.5 40 and has the size and power to maybe get drafted in the middle-to-late rounds.

Broughton also visited the Detroit Lions.

Former Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert's career in Austin came to an end with boos in a first-half benching against BYU last season. After shoulder surgery, however, he'll be ready to go for 2012 at his new home in Dallas.

Gilbert announced plans this winter to transfer to SMU, and was given an injury waiver by the NCAA, meaning he didn't lose a year of eligibility in 2011, when he played less than two games before being benched and undergoing surgery.

He'll compete for a starting job next fall after finishing his undergraduate degree in May, and have two remaining years of eligibility when he gets to campus in Dallas.

"It's great for Garrett that he did a tremendous job for us, and sorry it didn't work out where he wanted to stay, but we wish him good luck and really glad that he's a Texas grad or will be a Texas grad this summer and wish him well at SMU," coach Mack Brown said.

Great news for a good guy whose career just hasn't gone like most predicted. He showed so much promise in the 2010 national title game in relief of Colt McCoy, but in the following season, was one of several reasons for the Longhorns' fall to 5-7. For whatever reason, it didn't work out in Austin, but it's nice to see he'll get a fresh start as a Mustang.

Texas offensive lineman Sedrick Flowers was also granted an injury waiver.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Damier Pitts scored all 16 of his points in the second half to help Marshall defeat SMU, 74-56, Wednesday in the first round of the Conference USA tournament.

The sixth-seeded Thundering Herd (19-12) led 33-26 after DeAndre Kane scored 11 of his 18 points in the first half. But Marshall went scoreless for the first 4:29 of the second half as the 11th-seeded Mustangs (13-19) tied it.

A jumper by Pitts ended the drought, and Shaquille Johnson scored seven points during an 11-2 run that gave the Thundering Herd a 44-35 lead with 10:48 remaining.

Johnson added 15 points and Dennis Tinnon had 15 rebounds for Marshall, which will play third-seeded Tulsa in the quarterfinals Thursday.

Rodney Clinkscales led SMU with 17 points. Robert Nyakundi, whose 42.5-percent 3-point shooting led the conference, made just 2 of 10 -- and the Mustangs 6 of 24 -- from long range.

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Neil Watson scored 18 points, Maurice Bolden added 11 and Southern Mississippi beat SMU, 67-60, on Wednesday night.

Southern Miss (24-6, 11-4 Conference USA) led for the entire game, but struggled to put the lowly Mustangs away. Watson scored 13 of his 18 in the second half as the Golden Eagles pulled away in the final minutes.

Southern Miss shot 52.2 percent (24-of-46) from the field and enjoyed a huge 37-19 advantage on the glass. The Golden Eagles stayed one game behind Memphis for the C-USA lead.

SMU (12-18, 3-12) was led by Robert Nyakundi's 18 points while Jeremiah Samarrippas added 13. Nyakundi hit three 3-pointers in the second half to keep the Mustangs in the game, but they couldn't find a way to overcome poor defense and rebounding.

DALLAS -- London Giles scored 17 points Wednesday night to help SMU break a three-game losing streak with a 64-50 victory over Tulane.

Giles scored at least 10 for the 18th straight game for the Mustangs (12-16, 3-10 Conference USA). Leslee Smith grabbed 11 rebounds, and Jeremiah Samarrippas had seven assists.

Robert Nyakundi, leading the conference with 41.7 percent 3-point-shooting accuracy, improved on that by going 3 of 6 from long range for nine points.

Five-time Conference USA Freshman of the Week Ricky Tarrant's 21 points paced the Green Wave (15-12, 3-10), who dropped their fourth consecutive game. Josh Davis had 11 rebounds.

The Mustangs shot 53.5 percent (23 of 43) to the Green Wave's 28.9 percent (13 of 45). But Tulane made 22 of 31 free throws, while SMU was limited to 11 of 18.

SMU, which never trailed, split the season series after Tulane won 80-74 on Jan. 25.

DALLAS -- Robert Nyakundi scored 17 points, London Giles added 14 and SMU rode a late run to a 68-62 victory Wednesday night over crosstown rival TCU.

Nyakundi was 6 of 13 from the field, including three 3-pointers. Jeremiah Samarrippas and Aliaksei Patsevich added 10 points apiece for the Mustangs (11-13), who shot 52 percent from the field.

J.R. Cadot led the Horned Frogs (13-10) with 14 points, and Amric Fields and Garlon Green scored 10 each.

TCU led 59-58 after two Fields free throws with 2:06 to play, but a Giles 3-pointer gave SMU the lead for good. Patsevich added a layup, and he, Nyakundi and Samarrippas each hit two free throws in the final minute to seal the victory.

This is the 10th straight year the Metroplex rivals have met as nonconference opponents; the teams played together in the Southwest and Western Athletic conferences from 1923 to 2001.

SMU announced the signing of 20 recruits today, including quarterback Neal Burcham, who was a four-star recruit according to the ESPN rankings.

Interestingly, SMU also signed Prescott Line, the brother of SMU's Zach Line. SMU has nine ESPN three-star or higher signees, tied for the most in Conference USA (Marshall).

The list of signees:

Chauncey Briggs, OL, 6-5 330 West Bloomfield, Mich. (West Bloomfield)
Neal Burcham, QB, 6-3 185 Greenbrier, Ark. (Greenbrier)
Christian Chamagua, OL, 6-6 290 Manvel, Texas (Manvel)
Brian Cramer, DL, 6-4 230 Round Rock, Texas (Stony Point)
A.J. Justice, DB, 6-2 185 Houston, Texas (Stratford)
Collin LaGasse, WR/DB, 5-11 190 Austin, Texas (Lake Travis)
Ty Law, DB, 5-10 170 Orlando, Fla. (Lake Highland Prep)
Prescott Line, RB, 6-0 215 Oxford, Mich. (Oxford Area Senior)
Ajee Montes, DB, 5-11 180 La Puente, Calif. (Bishop Amat)
Seaver Myers, OL, 6-6 290 Friendswood, Texas (Friendswood)
Elie Nabushosi, DL, 6-4 240 Frisco, Texas (Heritage)
Damien Neroes, LB, 6-1 215 Garland, Texas (Garland)
Jarvis Pruitt, DL, 6-3 220 Houston, Texas (Stratford)
Shakiel Randolph, DB, 6-5 190 Waco, Texas (Midway)
Nick Reed, DL, 6-1 265 Texarkana, Texas (Pleasant Grove)
Sam Rice, OL, 6-4 270 Coppell, Texas (Coppell)
Lincoln Richard, LB, 6-3 215 Everman, Texas (Everman)
Horace Richardson, DB, 6-0 175 Everman, Texas (Everman)
Daijuan Stewart, WR, 5-10 175 Baldwin, La. (West Saint Mary)
Chase Walling, OL, 6-6 270 Dallas, Texas (Lake Highlands)

DALLAS – In front of alumni, students, faculty and coaches at the Hughes-Trigg Student Center on Thursday, school president R. Gerald Turner announced that SMU has officially reached a level of national prominence that the university hasn’t seen since the days of the Southwest Conference.

At the celebration event for alumni and students, Turner announced that SMU will officially become a member of the Big East conference in all sports on July 1, 2013.

In attendance at the event, alongside Turner, was Big East commissioner John Marinatto, who personally accepted SMU into the Big East fold. Marinatto was greeted with an SMU football helmet, presented by the student body president.

The prize of this Mustangs victory, on the surface, is the chance to sit at the big boys' table in football with a BCS automatic qualifying bid opportunity through a Big East championship.

However, the treasure in SMU’s big move east is the financial gains the university will see in conference TV revenues and bowl payouts. That money will help resurrect aspects of the Mustangs' athletic department that had been downsized or eliminated due to budget cuts and financial problems faced as a mid-major school in Conference USA.

With a fatter pocketbook, SMU will make it a top priority to reestablish a marketing department within athletics to hopefully raise attendance at home events, athletic director Steve Orsini said.

Since the days of the football team's death penalty, SMU has managed to get by with little or no marketing effort that was specific to athletics. The Big East transition will not only allow SMU to make a national presence in college athletics, it will allow the school to be much more visible in its hometown.

Orsini said SMU is already beginning the planning phases of establishing a marketing department so it will be fully functional by July 2013, when the school will begin receiving its raised allowance.

“Even though it’s about 18 months until our first official day in the Big East, now is the time to start planning it because it will take a redesign, so to speak, a reallocation of our resources, plus just allocation of extra resources that we never had before," Orsini said. "Surely marketing, to meet our number one objective, which is increasing the attendance of every athletic event we have.”

SMU hopes the marketing push will add to the football attendance rise that has occurred with June Jones at the helm.

SMU averaged 23,515 at 2010 home football games, 2,167 more than the previous year. That increase was 30^th in the nation, according to the NCAA. That still doesn’t explain a half-empty stadium for most contests at Ford Stadium.

“We haven’t really sat down, but right now in the priority of things, but marketing, increasing attendance - that would be priority one,” Orsini said. “I think by marketing ourselves more, by having more success, we’ll generate even more resources, more sponsorship sales, more fundraising, more ticket sales, etc.”

Once SMU can scratch off the top item on its to-do list, it then has several options for which it can use the remainder of its Big East payout, if the school decides to put the money back into athletics.

One possibility that Orsini mentioned is the creation of new sports programs. He said baseball, softball, lacrosse and men’s track could be in the debate.

SMU’s tradition in baseball spans back to the second year of the university in 1916. SMU fans could watch Dallas’ boys of summer at Reverchon Park, a few miles away from campus, headed by several big names, including Dallas coaching legend Steve Adair. The team was disbanded in 1980 for financial reasons.

SMU never had a lacrosse program, but it might be a good fit now.

“Lacrosse, as you know, is growing here, and the Big East represents the footprint of the best lacrosse in America,” Orsini said. “Those are all things we’ll discuss and see at the presidential level here.”

Lacrosse is big on the East Coast but in its infancy in Texas. It's not recognized as a varsity sport by the UIL, but high schools have formed club teams that compete throughout the state. Squads from Coppell and Dallas St. Mark's, schools just miles from SMU’s campus, have been nationally ranked.

Looking at the big picture, SMU’s move to the Big East represents movement toward a point where the school shares equal emphasis and success in both academics and athletics, Orsini said.

“I think we’re getting close to that balance now,” Orsini said. “We want both. We want excellence in academics and athletics. We’re here now, but we aren’t winning. Now we want to win. This is an example of winning because now we’re at the highest level, the field of competition for me as an administrator is level again.”

Oklahoma State will be looking to break a three-game skid vs. SMU, which has won five of its last six games, in the opening game of the second annual Dallas Showcase at American Airlines Center on Wednesday night.

The game -- the first of a doubleheader -- is scheduled to tip off at 5:30 p.m. and will be telecast on ESPNU.

SMU (7-4), making its first appearance at the AAC, will be battling Oklahoma State for the first time since 2005. Three of the Mustangs' four losses have been by a combined nine points.

"With young players, sometimes they get ahead of themselves and think they are better than they are and then you take a step back," said SMU coach Matt Doherty, whose roster includes eight freshmen and two sophomores. "Hopefully we've taken some steps backwards and have gotten better. This will be a great test for us."

The Cowboys (6-5) aren't much older. OSU’s roster features six freshmen and one sophomore. Former Dallas Lincoln All-American Le'Bryan Nash, a 6-7, 230-pound freshman forward, leads OSU with 13.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.

"We have put our team in a very difficult situation as far as the schedule (is concerned)," OSU coach Travis Ford said. "We haven't played at home very often and we've played against teams much more experienced than us, but we're hoping at the end of the day it will help us get better down the road."

Tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster.com or at the American Airlines Center box office. Lower arena seats are priced at $29, $59 and $99. A portion of each ticket benefits Buckets and Boots, a Texas-based charity that supports volunteer firefighting efforts.

If June Jones is heading to Arizona State, as sources have said, there's something inherently wrong about the SMU coach abandoning his players and the school on the day the Mustangs are supposed to announce they'll be joining the Big East at 4 p.m.

(Eds note: As of 3:30 p.m. CT, the June Jones-to-Arizona State negotiations have hit a contractual snag and are not complete, a source close to the negotiations told ESPN.com's Joe Schad.)

This is supposed to be a great day for SMU with its return to a big-time football conference -- at least it hopes so -- and some degree of national relevance.

Instead, Jones' decision to leave for Arizona State makes SMU a laughingstock.

Again.

But for every SMU fan and alum who's salty at Jones for leaving, they should at least thank him for resurrecting the program. Jones is 23-28 in four seasons at SMU while leading the Mustangs to three consecutive bowl games.

Remember, this program was in disarray when he arrived.

But he couldn't get it over the hump, and it became clear that Jones became disenchanted with the fan support. Only about 14,000 showed for the Mustangs' final home game against Rice.

SMU, though, missed a chance to capitalize on its momentum from upsetting TCU, when it was blown out by Southern Mississippi (27-3) and Tulsa (38-7) on consecutive weeks. SMU lost four of five after beating TCU, the signature win Jones had been searching for.

It's rarely tidy when a coach leaves.

They either lie. Or go underground, so they don’t have to lie.

A couple of days ago, Jones reportedly told his staff that he was happy at SMU and wasn't leaving. Apparently, something changed.

That won't make transfer quarterback Garrett Gilbert feel any better. He transferred from Texas after getting benched because he wanted to play in prolific passing offense that would help prepare him for the NFL.

Now he has no idea what offense the next coach will run.

Improbable, but now not impossible, the BCS flame is rekindled for the streaking TCU Horned Frogs.

They'll need No. 11 Houston and No. 20 Southern Miss to each fumble a golden opportunity, while the No. 19 Frogs -- 8-2 and winners of five in a row -- can ill-afford a stumble of their own in their final two games against below-.500 squads Colorado State and UNLV.

Still, these Frogs, boosted by Saturday's huge road win at No. 5 Boise State -- the non-AQ BCS frontrunner before the loss -- that put a hammerlock on the Mountain West Conference championship and subsequently made TCU the leading dark horse to earn a third consecutive BCS bowl berth.

How is this possible? Let's review:

When Baylor kicked the game-winning field goal with 1:04 to play in the season-opener, TCU swallowed the hard truth that just one game in and the BCS was all but dead to them. A month later, SMU's overtime victory in Fort Worth questioned if the 3-2 Frogs were even capable of capturing a third consecutive league title.

Fast forward five weeks and Gary Patterson's boys provided that answer with Saturday's come-from-behind 36-35 victory on the Broncos' near-invincible blue turf. The heart-and-guts effort, spearheaded by the tremendous play of first-year starting quarterback Casey Pachall, put TCU in the driver's seat for the conference title and, somewhat unsuspectingly, rekindled the BCS flame.

Here's how:

The BCS selection process offers two paths of entrance for non-automatic qualifiers like TCU. The first is for a non-AQ conference champion to finish with a top-12 ranking in the BCS standings. At No. 19, that's highly unlikely considering the Frogs' final two opponents and the number of teams ahead of them. The second route grants a berth for the non-AQ league champ by finishing in the top 16 and with a ranking higher than that of a champion of one of the six AQ conferences.

Say hello to the Frogs' once-future home, the Big East.

That league currently boasts no teams ranked in the top 25 of the BCS standings. Cincinnati (7-2) dropped out of the Associated Press Top 25 poll, falling to 29th, and West Virginia is 27th. Neither team boasts a remaining schedule that would catapult it ahead of a 10-2 Frogs team, one that very well could claim a top-16 ranking.

Standing in the way is Houston (10-0) and Southern Miss (9-1). These two are on a collision course to meet in the Conference USA title game. If the Coogs win out, they'll be assured of the BCS berth. If the Golden Eagles win out, they'll likely hop the Frogs and earn the spot.

Pass-happy Houston, led by sixth-year quarterback Case Keenum, welcomes the disappointing Ponies (6-4) on Saturday (ESPN GameDay will be there) before traveling to Tulsa (7-3, 6-0) the day after Thanksgiving. Southern Miss has games against a pair of 2-8 teams in Alabama-Birmingham and Memphis.

The script favorable to the Frogs would see SMU or Tulsa knock off Houston, and then the Coogs beat Southern Miss in the title game, assuring each another loss. Of course, if Tulsa does the job, it would likely then face Southern Miss and that could hurt the Eagles' chances of jumping the Frogs.

If it plays out, the two-loss Frogs could very well become the first non-undefeated, non-AQ team to play in a BCS game.

If that happens, consider these Frogs charmed.

DALLAS -- Richard Crawford's punt return prowess jump-started SMU to its fifth straight win on a picture-perfect Saturday afternoon at Ford Stadium.

Crawford's two long returns in the first half accounted for the Mustangs' first two touchdowns in the dominating 38-17 victory over Central Florida. SMU was beaten by the Knights in the Conference USA championship game last season.

The game was played against a backdrop of more conference chatter, as both schools are expected to receive and accept invitations to the Big East in the next few days.

As for this season, the Mustangs (5-1, 3-0) sit alone in first place in the West Division of C-USA.

** The Mustangs got started early, scoring on their first possession. The 47-yard punt return by Crawford set up SMU on the UCF 19. Zach Line (82 yards rushing and two TDs) scampered around the right side from 11 yards out two plays later for a quick 7-0 lead.

** Crawford wasn't done. The senior topped his near-TD return with a 92-yard beauty he took to the house midway through the second quarter. Crawford caught the punt off a bounce, retreating inside the 10 before spinning towards the sideline. He broke a couple of arm tackles and followed a caravan of blockers into the end zone.

The return tied Val Joe Walker in 1951 for the longest in school history. It's also the second longest ever in C-USA.

** SMU's defense did a fantastic job for much of the first half getting the Knights off the field. UCF managed only four first downs on its first five possessions, punting three times and losing the ball once on downs.

** The Knights did get on the board with a 36-yard field goal with 4:05 left in the first half. SMU held on a third-and-2 at its 18 to force the kick.

** SMU took a 17-3 lead into the half despite have 40 fewer yards of total offense (184-144) and UCF having twice as much time of possession (20:01-9:59). Crawford's 141 yards in punt returns more than made up the difference.

** Mustangs quarterback J.J. McDermott improved to 5-0 as a starter with another strong showing. The senior transfer threw for career-high 358 yards and two touchdowns, completing 20-of-31 attempts.

** After the Knights scored their first touchdown early in the fourth quarter, SMU needed just one play to get it back. McDermott hit Der'rikk Thompson on the dead run with a perfectly-lofted pass that went for 78 yards.

** The announced 22,932 in attendance at Ford Field had to be a disappointment considering SMU's 4-1 record coming in, which had the Ponies receiving votes in both polls, and the fabulous weather. It was also SMU's first game since upsetting No. 20 TCU two weeks ago.