Memphis To MVC?

During tonight's South Alabama basketball radio broadcast, former South Alabama Athletic Director Joe Gottfried mentioned that Jaguars would like to join Conference USA after the next big conference shift led by the Big East. He mentioned that Memphis is pushing to move the Tiger football squad to the Big East and then move all other Tiger sports (including basketball) to the Missouri Valley Conference. According to Gottfried, the Big East will add a 9th school in the next two years.

All of the talk in Memphis has been an all-sports move to the Big East, not to be a football-only member. One has to wonder how Memphis fans would feel about this move? Yes, the Tigers would be in an AQ football conference and basketball may be a in a better conference, but basketball would still be in a conference with a "mid-major" image.