WHAT IS YOUR TIMETABLE FOR DECIDING? "Before the season starts, actually I don’t want to go into the season and after a game, ‘Oh, I have to talk to this coach or this coach.’ I just want to get it off my back before the season and have fun."

Brey wants to play the Big East's Catholic-based institutions in nonconference home-and-home series, especially long-standing rivals Marquette and DePaul. Brey said he wants to add Villanova, St. John's and possibly Georgetown in the rotation of schools the Irish want to play. Brey said he wants to play at least two to three of those five schools every season.

"We're not in Philadelphia anymore so we definitely want Villanova, we want to go to New York with St. John's and keep DePaul and Marquette,'' Brey said. "We will be in the DC area with Maryland, but we'd still like to play Georgetown. Villanova, DePaul, Marquette, St. John's and possibly Georgetown are definitely the five I'd like to do.''

Not mentioned, however, was that ESPN is not an unbiased observer offering objective analysis. The network has a $3.6 billion long-term television contract with the ACC. Notre Dame enhances the value ESPN extracts from that deal. Moreover, losing Notre Dame detracts from the Big East which (a) turned down a previous extension from ESPN (b) has a negotiating window presently with ESPN and (c) may soon end up the asset of one of ESPN’s competitors.