I caught a question on Twitter as to who, exactly, will be in Conference USA next season and beyond. Unlike the Big East - errr, whatever legal entity currently exists as the league/runs its website/etc. - which has a nice breakdown of changes, Conference USA doesn't seem to clarify that.

Instead, C-USA still has a big ol' map of what the deceased conference looks like.

So this article will clarify what C-USA will look like for the next two seasons, and I hope you find it helpful. Please note, my visitors from the future... this only reflects the league up to 3/25/2013. I have no clue if the NCAA will devolve into a Walking Dead-eque zombie world in April.

First thing's first. Here is where we are today.

Conference USA 2012-2013 All Sports Lineup: 

1. East Carolina
2. Houston
3. Marshall
4. Memphis
5. Rice
6. Southern Methodist
7. Southern Miss
8. Tulane
9. Tulsa
10. UAB
11. UCF
12. UTEP

Next, on July 1, 2013, several schools have already dissolved their contractual ties to C-USA and depart for the Big East** (meaning, the conference that won't ever be called the Big East that also doesn't have the Catholic 7 basketball schools).

Departing for 2013-2014: 

1. Houston
2. Memphis
3. SMU
4. UCF

The membership will look like this in 2013-2014. It's split among the two football divisions that will be created for next year.

C-USA 2013-2014: 

East Division 

1. East Carolina
2. Florida Atlantic
3. Florida International
4. Marshall
5. Middle Tennessee State
6. Southern Mississippi
7. UAB

West Division 

1. Louisiana Tech
2. North Texas
3. Rice
4. Tulane
5. Tulsa
6. UTEP
7. Texas at San Antonio

AND THEN. In the grand finale, Conference USA will lose two schools, at this point.

Departing for 2014-2015 

1. East Carolina (Football Only to Big East)
2. Tulane

Thus, C-USA will lose six football teams and five basketball teams under the current realignment scenario.

There you have it. That's what Conference USA will transform into over the next couple of seasons.

Two weeks ago, President Cowen lifted a Big East flag as the Green Wave prepared to join a major conference, following the trend of bigger Conference USA teams including Memphis and UCF. For the Tulane faithful, this was likely the biggest announcement in some years for a fairly stagnant sports program.

But what a two weeks it has been since then. Yesterday, as we all know, the seven Catholic schools of the Big East... well, let's call it the Big East BT (Before Tulane), for clarity... announced they are collectively on their way out. Whether they will dissolve the league (they have the power to do that with seven votes) or allow it to exist is still up in the air.

Anyway you slice it, this is a huge blow to the momentum Tulane gained from what once looked like a major upgrade. The chance to play Villanova, Georgetown, etc. in basketball pretty much instantly gave our basketball program more credibility, which likely would have translated to a whole new recruiting landscape. Unfortunately, it seems like that is no more.

What's worse, the ESPN-storyline places the blame on Tulane. Marquette's Athletic Director (and an anonymous power player as well) cited the Tulane invitation as the final straw. They could make do with solid Memphis and UCF teams, as well as a new-look SMU Mustangs program led by Larry Brown, but the Green Wave was their sticking point.

Here's Larry Williams of Marquette on the move:

“I was not pleased that we issued an invitation to Tulane without any diligence to what effect that would have on our basketball product, the draw on our RPI and other such things. I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to participate as a member of the conference in the deliberation that went into adding that."

Ehhh. Not a show of confidence in Tulane, obviously, but (as ESPN later blogged), a big part of this is that the bread-and-butter Big East teams were apparently not really consulted about the Tulane addition rather than being angry that Tulane had a chance to join. I can imagine that adding Tulane without any consultation seemed like a pretty desperate move on the league's part, especially in light of the conference's success riding on the shoulders of the non-basketball bunch like Marquette. Not good.

The future of the Big East isn't clear. This is especially true on the football side, where teams like Boise State and East Carolina are also coming into the picture. That said, Tulane released its statement yesterday saying it will remain committed to the Big East in 2014. Whatever Big East that is...