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Report: Catholic 7/new Big East to officially add Butler, Xavier, Creighton next week

Brad Stevens

One of the worst kept secrets is expected to be made official sometime next week.

The Catholic 7, soon-to-be new Big East Conference, will officially add Butler, Xavier and Creighton to form a 10-team league ready for play at the start of the 2013-2014 season, according to Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune.

Xavier and Butler left Atlantic 10 meetings in New York on Friday, according to Sports Illustrated. The thought was that league might vote on increasing exit fees Friday, and if Xavier and Butler announced their imminent withdrawal, they would have lost voting rights and therefore would have had to exit the meeting.

For months now all three of theses schools have been viable candidates to join the Catholic 7 to form a new league. Hamilton also reports that nothing is truly official yet and delays could occur, though, the Big East is expecting make this announcement on Wednesday or Thursday, before the NCAA tournament begins.

Creighton will be added, according to the Tribune, “barring unexpected complications.” The Missouri Valley Conference has anticipated the departure of one of its most successful programs, having already talked about filling the Bluejays spot in the conference.

Hamilton went on to report that the new conference is now in search of a commissioner and with the help of a search firm, hope to hire the inaugural commissioner within 6-10 weeks.

For months its been reported that teams like Butler, Xavier and Creighton would join the seven Catholic defectors, but sometime this week that announcement looks to be official.

Terrence is also the lead writer at NEHoopNews.com and can be followed on Twitter: @terrence_payne