Notre Dame Fighting Irish to Play Basketball in Big East in 2013-14 Season

Back in September, Notre Dame announced that they’d be joining the ACC – in every sport besides football of course – once they were eligible to leave the Big East. And while it seems that the Catholic Seven are trying to break free from their current conference in time for next season, Notre Dame has confirmed that they’ll remain in the Big East.

On Thursday, Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick announced that he believes it’s to not only his school’s benefit, but the Catholic Seven as well for all of the current teams in the conference to remain seated for one final season. Swarbrick also believes that despite trying to exit the Big East immediately, the Catholic Seven will be on their schedule and in their conference for the 2013-14 season.

“I think it’s in the interest of everybody to figure out a way to get it done sooner rather than later,” said Swarbrick about the dismantling of the Big East. “It’s not good for the conference. You get all this talk about when people are leaving instead of who’s in your conference.”

Although Notre Dame, just like everyone else, is looking for as quick of an exit as they can get out of the Big East, he would like to move ahead with scheduling next season as soon as possible as it seems all teams will be back.

Not only does Swarbrick think one more season of Big East basketball is in the cards, but Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey agrees.

“I feel strongly that the Catholic schools are going to be there with us. That’s one of the reasons we decided to sit tight,”said Brey, who’s been in South Bend since 2000. “It looked like the Catholic schools were not going to be able to formulate this league that they’re going to put together by next season. Now I think anything could happen. Could they put it together in the next six weeks? I mean nothing would shock me.”

The Catholic Seven still need to find other teams to join whatever conference they’re looking to realign to, and with just a couple of months left in the 2012-13 season, the odds of that happening seem unlikely at this point in time.

So maybe all of the hype about this being the last season of Big East basketball has been unwarranted. Either way, enjoy it while you’ve got it!

For hoops, hip-hop and other random sports and pop culture commentary, follow Jared Mintz on Twitter @JaredMintzTruth