Nothing can be ruled out in the head-spinning changes around college sports.
University of Massachusetts athletic director John McCutcheon likes his school's associations with the Atlantic 10 and the Mid-American Conference, but hard choices may be down the road as the NCAA landscape continues undergoing radical change.
The University of Massachusetts-Ohio men's basketball game Wednesday night was no different than other December matchups, a non-conference game.
This time.
As the breakaway Big East schools known as the Catholic 7 strike out on their own, nothing can be ruled out. For now, any notion of UMass becoming a Mid-American Conference member in all sports is the fourth option in a list of three, as Republican beat writer Harry Plumer astutely illustrated in last week's extensive description of the changing NCAA.
UMass officials dismiss the idea, but in a worst-case scenario, it can't be ignored completely. And worst-case scenarios are the shoes that seem to fit the college sports landscape most snugly these days.
The fleeting rumor that the Catholic 7 might join the Atlantic 10 en masse was too good to be true - literally.
Can you imagine the athletic director at Georgetown saying, "you're telling me we have to play at St. Bonaventure?''
The C-7 is looking at A-10 schools Xavier, Butler and possibly Dayton and Saint Louis to join them. Butler is the only secular school, but if this were about Catholicism, the mix would include Saint Joseph's, La Salle and St. Bonaventure.
It is not about religion, but about non-football schools with a marketable reputation in basketball.
In the worst case (or from the Catholic 7's view, best case), raiding four A-10 schools and Creighton of the Missouri Valley Conference creates a 12-team league. The Atlantic 10 would actually have 10 teams, making its stationery accurate and its league lousy.
How is this for a lineup: UMass, Duquesne, Fordham, George Washington, La Salle, Richmond, Rhode Island, Saint Joseph's, St. Bonaventure and Virginia Commonwealth? Think that will get ESPN on Line 1 and CBS on Line 2?
If the Catholic 7 leaves Saint Louis out but adds Creighton, the Billikens might be tempted to fill the MVC spot rather than stay in the distant, decimated A-10.
If the Catholic 7 guts the A-10 of its best team (Xavier), its largest fan base (Dayton) and its best addition (Butler), the A-10 might have to look at raiding other leagues, including the MAC. That would leave UMass in the middle, as a proud member of two warring conferences.
The Catholic 7 has rightly been getting overwhelmingly positive press. They are the underdog darlings, a cluster of quality universities finally standing up for the same college sports traditions being trampled on by the BCS schools and TV.
But the Christians are about to become the lions, willing to scoop up new partners to enhance their new product. That makes them no worse than the schools that drove them away, but perhaps not much better.
The Atlantic 10 is their prime target. Chuckle now at the idea of UMass playing basketball in the MAC, but it may not be so laughable before long.