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On Wednesday, the University of Memphis formally agreed to join the Big East in 2013. The move will undoubtedly affect both Big East football and basketball, for entirely different reasons.

From a football perspective, Memphis' move to the Big East will hopefully ensure that the conference can build itself up to 12 teams by 2015, the threshold necessary for holding a conference championship. This desire for a conference championship has to be the motivation for Memphis football moving to the Big East. After all, Memphis' football program has been horrible recently, posting a 5-31 record over the past three years. And that was in Conference-USA.

Memphis' move to basketball will have larger ramifications on a competitive scale. In 2005, to Memphis' chagrin, the Tigers were passed over in the reassembly of Big East basketball that included the addition of Louisville, Memphis' long-time rival. Louisville and Memphis have only played once since 2005. Before this year's game, the last time they had met was C-USA's conference championship in 2005. You certainly remember the game as one of the most tragic finishes (unless you're a Cardinals fan) in college basketball history. Memphis down by two, Darius Washington is fouled from the arc at the buzzer. He sinks his first free throw, but proceeds to miss the next two, condemning Memphis to an NIT berth, rather than a NCAA Tournament bid. Having Memphis in the Big East will reignite this rivalry, enabling these teams to play a home and away every season, and possibly giving the potential for such heart-wrenching finishes as those endured by Washington. Get excited.

Jamie Rhodes-US PRESSWIRE

More importantly, Memphis' prestige rivals that of the teams leaving the Big East in the near future. Syracuse and Pitt are scheduled to leave the Big East in 2014, and pending litigation, West Virginia could be gone next year. Those are three of the conference's best programs. Along with Memphis, UCF, SMU and Houston are scheduled to flee Conference-USA and join Big East basketball in the near future. However, UCF, SMU and Houston simply seem like filler meant to indicate that the Big East is still, in fact, big and prospering. In reality, UCF, SMU and Houston have a grand total of three combined NCAA Tournament bids and zero NCAA Tournament wins in the last decade.

Memphis is the first sign that the Big East can continue to attract distinguished and talented basketball programs. Since 2003, Memphis has seven NCAA Tournament appearances, including four Sweet Sixteens and three Elite Eights. Of course, in 2008, the Tigers came within two minutes of a national title, relinquishing a nine-point lead to Kansas. And Memphis is from the East. Go figure that a team from the East can actually join the Big East.

Memphis' decision to join the Big East inspires hope that one day, Big East basketball can return to its old glory, those good ole days (approximately 365 days ago, to be exact) when a conference could push 11 teams into the NCAA tourney. Memphis is a beacon that perhaps all is not bleak in the Big East's future, that perhaps there will be a time when the Big East can live up to its name.

— Ben Gordon