NEW YORK -- Xavier, Butler and Creighton have officially joined the new Big East. The University of Dayton will not be joining them.
The three schools will join Georgetown, Marquette, Villanova, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and DePaul to form a new league for next season.
In the past few weeks, Dayton has been mentioned as possibly being included next season. There is also speculation that Dayton and St. Louis could be added as new teams to the Big East for the 2014-2015 season.
The University of Dayton released a statement, saying it "willl continue to aggressively pursue the best interests of the institution, our student-athletes, alumni, supporters and fans. The University is committed to being both a Catholic leader in higher education and fielding highly competitive athletic programs.
"The University of Dayton is committed to competing in a conference that provides a platform for success for all of our sports programs and, specifically, menâs basketball. University and athletics administration continue to make conference affiliation a top priority".