Monmouth bench goes all Sistine Chapel during win over Georgetown (VIDEO)

The only thing better than Monmouth College's unending string of high-major upsets this season has been the ever growing celebratory antics of the Hawks' bench during each victory.

And leave to the New Jersey school to come with a masterpiece during Tuesday's 83-68 win over Georgetown.

It's not often you see an homage to the Sistine Chapel on the sidelines of a college basketball game, but since it came against a Jesuit school, it seems apropos.

Monmouth's bench recreated Michelangelo's work on the Sistine Chapel tonight pic.twitter.com/uU55AfKRNo

— The Cauldron (@TheCauldron) December 16, 2015

Michelangelo himself would be proud.

Well, at least Michael Angelo Anzalone from Bayonne that is.

Source: Big East football schools to keep $100 million in split

After days of talks and negotiations, a person familiar with the discussions says the Big East football schools will get almost all of a $110 million pot in a deal that will allow seven departing basketball schools to keep the name Big East and start playing in their own conference next year.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the separation agreement has not been finalized.  That should happen by the end of the week.

According to the source, the basketball schools (aka The Catholic 7) — DePaul, Seton Hall, St. John's, Providence, Villanova, Marquette and Georgetown —will keep the Big East name and the right to play their conference tournament at Madison Square Garden.  They will likely receive about $10 million to divide amongst themselves.

Meanwhile the football schools, most of which will go to holdover members Connecticut, South Florida and Cincinnati, will get about $100 million in the deal.

The whole deal is rotten from top to bottom — or since football invaded the once-proud league.  The football schools came into the conference on the shoulders of the basketball schools — the sport that built the Big East brand name.

These so-called Big East football schools were mostly middling at best and jumped in and out of the ACC and Big Ten hoops like trained circus dogs who crapped in the middle of the big top which originally took the strays in.

The new Big East is looking to add two or three basketball schools and a TV deal could be announced as early as today with the new Fox Sports 1 cable channel, reports USAToday.

Good riddance to Big Least football.  Long live Big East basketball. It rose up once, it can do it again.

Big East non-football schools discuss forming new league

Looking at unstable future and the possibility of a drastically cut television deal, the seven remaining non-football schools in the Big East met Monday to discuss possibly breaking away from the league and forming their own separate conference.

The development comes less than a week after CBSSports.com reported that the Big East's next TV deal could be worth as little as $60 million annually — quite a drop from the $100 million contract the league was hoping for.

The reality of $40 million decrease could be an impetus for the non-football schools — St. John's, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Marquette, Villanova, DePaul and Providence —to leave the conference that basketball built.

Big East commissioner Mike Aresco reportedly attended the meeting.

The television money would only be a fraction of what was expected before Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Louisville, and Rutgers bolted from the Big East over the past 15 months.

St. John's Basketball Team Is Already On The Bubble

Nobody was rooting harder for 15th-ranked Notre Dame to upset #2 Pittsburgh on Monday night the the St. John's University's men's basketball team.  The players gathered in the home locker room Monday night, watching the Fighting Irish beat the Panthers and increase the Red Storm's own chances of getting an NCAA Tournament berth this year.

Although the 10 senior Red Storm players were encouraged by the upset, they still know it's a long and hard road to getting the school's first NCAA bid since 2002 and Saturday's disappointing loss to Cincinnati was a shocking reminder how tough life is in the Big East.

It's tough being a St. John's fan these days and very tiring.  The team flirts with a national ranking one week, only to be ranking the next.  A 15-point St. John's lead can slip away faster than a comb through head coach Steve Lavin's hair.  It's all or nothing with this squad.

St. John's (11-7, 4-4) is smack dab in the middle of the Big East schedule and still hanging around.  The senior-laden team is hungry to make their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the goal is realistically in sight.  They have waited four years for this opportunity.

The Big East conference is arguably the toughest in the nation and the Johnnies have a chance to make a huge statement against #21 Georgetown (14-5, 3-4) tonight.  St. John's is currently in ninth place in the 16-team conference.

The Red Storm have the 24th-ranked RPI in the nation and have quality wins against Georgetown, Notre Dame and West Viginia in their noisy arena.  If St. John's can finish in the top half of the Big East, chances are they will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.  Most mock tournament brackets currently have the Red Storm bubbling in.

It's all a big IF.  The Storm came out of the Big East gate on fire.  The team won their first three conference games then dropped four of five--including the disaster against the Bearcats.  There are still 12 games to go and their tight-rope chances sway with every resulting game.

Upcoming, the Red Storm face ranked conference teams Connecticut, Cincinnati, Pitt and solid teams like Marquette as well as stubborn ones like Jersey rivals Rutgers and Seton Hall.  Throw in non-conference foes like Duke and UCLA and the stretch-run looks harder than Gene Keady's stare.

The RPI boost from Notre Dame's upset win over Pitt is nice, but shooting 12-of-26 from the line against Cincy is beyond bad, it's horrific.  The poor free-throw shooting cost them a crucial win against a ranked opponent.  You get to the tournament by winning, not watching other teams get the 'W'.

It is only January and the Red Storm have to worry about 'must win' games.  If the team plans a second half surge, they have to get down to basics--making free throws and less turnovers.  These guys are seniors, they should know.

Lavin knows how to get teams into the Big Dance.  He took six of the seven teams he coached at UCLA to the NCAA's, including five to the Sweet 16 and another to the round of 8.

Lavin has acknowledged all the talk about bracketologies,  RPI's  and all the other factors swirling around his team; variables which get a team into the NCAA Tournament.  The head coach, after spending six years at a broadcast table until this season, is taking it one game at a time.

"We have eleven single-game seasons," said Lavin.  "Everyone wants to participate in the NCAA Tournament, but understanding how to get there is the important part."

Everyone is talking about next year's Red Storm recruiting class and how great a job Lavin did.  The coach can only play the hand he was dealt but the glory days start now.