NCAA Basketball Memphis Football

Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson is saying that the school is not discussing a move to the Big East conference ... hdespite reports saying that they are.

''No, absolutely not,'' Johnson said. ''I have had no meetings with the Big East.''

"We have no expansion plans and are speaking to no schools about expansion," Big East spokesman John) Paquette said.

However, that doesn't mean that he's not interested in leaving Conference USA. There are some rumblings that Memphis does want to move up into a BCS conference and believe they've set up their program to be an attractive addition somewhere.

The pros for staying in Conference USA is, well, domination in basketball and a shorter travel schedule. The cons are everything else (competition, mo' money, mo' exposure, etc). They'd also rejoin Louisville and Cincinnati as conference brethren.

The rumblings also have East Carolina also thinking about bolting C-USA for the Big East.

Has Memphis basketball coach John Calipari dramatically changed the college football recruiting landscape by convincing the top high school quarterback in the country to concentrate on basketball?

That's the suggestion of Phil Fritz of the Capital Times, who cites "very reliable sources in Memphis" who say that Terrelle Pryor, a Pennsylvania high schooler who has fans of Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State drooling at his ability to run the spread offense, may very well end up at Memphis. Fritz writes that Pryor, who is listed by Rivals as the third-best small forward in the country, is being recruited by Calipari to play basketball.

I don't know Phil Fritz and have no idea who his very reliable sources in Memphis are, but I'm skeptical of this report. Earlier this week, Pryor was asked if basketball would play a part in his college choice, and he said:

"No, it won't," Pryor said. "I really like playing basketball and I'm still considering playing both football and basketball in college, but I'm not sure. I'm leaning toward just football, but I haven't decided for sure."

So, I'll take the word of Pryor over the word of anonymous sources at Memphis, even if they are "very reliable." Having said that, though, if Pryor is interested mostly in his long-term earning potential, as Fritz's report suggests, I do think basketball might be a better sport for him. Until the spread offense catches on in the NFL, I'll have more confidence that a very good high school small forward will make it in the NBA some day than I will that a great high school spread option quarterback will make it in the NFL some day. Maybe that's what Calipari has been telling Pryor.