Conference realignment is all the rage; unless you're the Pac-12, which has yet to make a move in the past two years and seems content not to. But the harsh (or fantastic, depending on how you view all this) reality is that most conferences are looking to make big moves or already have. It's all driven by the money and TV angles, which makes sense in the kind of media-driven world we live in today. And I guess now it's the Big East's move, because they'll be making a big one in the coming year. Seven schools (DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova) from the current Big East Conference will be making the jump to a new group known as the 'Catholic Seven.' Except, now Xavier and Butler want in. Which means the conference's new new name is the 'Catholic Nine.' Except, now these schools are going to retain the name 'Big East Conference.'

But the latest piece of information to break on this intriguing and confusing story is that Notre Dame is interested in being the tenth team. About now the conference realignment geek in you says, "but the Fighting Irish are headed to ACC!" That appears to be up for debate as of now. Below is a quote from ND athletic director Jack Swarbrick:

"If the Catholic 7 is leaving and forming its own conference for next year, they could certainly call us to want to explore our options. And if they were interested in accommodating us, it would certainly be a viable option. We have a lot of respect for those schools and know them well."

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/9003784/notre-dame-athletic-director-jack-swarbrick-open-joining-catholic-7-league-one-season

Swarbrick went on to say that there was "no hard deadline for joining the ACC" and that the Catholic 7/Catholic 9/Big East was "a viable option." So what appeared to be seven Big East teams left for dead and starting their own small conference is now still the Big East and might have 10 or more teams, including Butler, Xavier, and Notre Dame. But this isn't only making an impact on the basketball and football world. The new Big East would also start up a lacrosse conference. Now some of you might be saying, "big whoop, it's lacrosse," but the following statistics show just how popular lacrosse is becoming nation-wide.

These numbers aren't even within two years of being accurate, so you can only imagine how big the sport is now. Point is, this new Big East conference looks to be a powerful one, and growing stronger every day. Who knows when or where the next piece of the puzzle will be formed, but for know it's more of a waiting game than anything else.