Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article misstated the year NBC, TNT Sports could join Fox as broadcast partners for Big East basketball games. The deals, if completed, are expected to start before the 2025-26 season.

Big East men’s and women’s college basketball is on the verge of adding new television partners as NBC Sports and TNT Sports are expected to join Fox Sports in presenting games beginning in the 2025-26 season, sources briefed on the negotiations told The Athletic.

While Fox Sports will remain the top partner, both NBC, which will feature most of its games on Peacock, and TNT Sports, which operates the streaming service Max, are anticipated to add a large number of games.

The financial terms of the expected new agreements are not yet known. The agreement is not yet formalized and the other incumbent, CBS Sports — which does a smaller package of games — is still holding discussions.

NBC Sports, TNT Sports, Fox Sports and the Big East declined to comment.

The potential moves by NBC Sports and TNT Sports continue their buying sprees, that are centered around the competition over the rights to the NBA. NBC is joining ESPN and Amazon Prime Video in completing legal paperwork to make it partners with the NBA on 11-year deals.

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For a very long time now, DePaul’s men’s basketball has traded almost entirely on its past. Now the school will take a much-needed and overdue step to address the present and future.

An estimated $60 million project officially announced Thursday will include renovations to the current Sullivan Athletic Center and — most critically — the construction of a standalone basketball practice facility for DePaul’s men’s and women’s hoops programs. Here’s what you need to know:

• The school purchased property on the 2300 block of North Sheffield Avenue in Chicago, which is essentially on campus and directly across the street from the Sullivan Athletic Center. It plans to raze the buildings currently on the plot and replace them with the basketball practice facility.
• The Sullivan Athletic Center opened in 2000 and houses the athletic department offices and training facilities for all of DePaul’s 15 varsity sports. The women’s basketball and women’s volleyball teams play home games at McGrath Arena, which is located inside the Sullivan Center, while also serving as a main practice floor for multiple sports.
• DePaul’s men’s hoops team has played its home games at the 10,387-seat Wintrust Arena in downtown Chicago since 2018, with the women’s hoops team splitting…

Welcome to the new era of women’s college basketball, where the transfer portal has become the most valuable way — usurping even high school recruiting classes — to build and sustain a program. In the last month, we’ve seen the rich get richer, contenders plug in key (and formerly missing) components while other teams lost half of their main rotations.

Here’s a look at the clear winners and losers in the 2023 transfer portal.

Winners

LSU

Added: Hailey Van Lith (Louisville), Aneesah Morrow (DePaul)

The Tigers brought in an absolute haul from the transfer portal. They already entered 2023-24 as a top-three team with Angel Reese and Flau’jae Johnson returning as well as securing the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class. To then add players of the caliber of Van Lith and Morrow? Just ridiculous. Van Lith punches way over her weight on the court. The Tigers needed to add perimeter talent, and in Van Lith, they got a ballhandler, distributor, playmaker and scorer. She also brings a dose of experience and swagger that will fit in perfectly. Seeing how Morrow slots in beside Reese and what it means for the distribution of shot attempts for each will be interesting, but the flip side is that the Tigers have absolute backbreakers at every position who will be able to attack…

A lot can change over the course of a week in the world of women’s college basketball. Some teams that looked as though they might limp into the field last week have fallen completely out of the running for an NCAA Tournament bid. Other long shots, like West Virginia, have inched in.

There are only a few more days to go until Selection Sunday, which means there’s plenty of bubble drama to come. And with a handful of conference tournaments still left to play — including the Big 12 — more changes can happen.

Here’s our latest Bubble Watch:

Sitting pretty

Kansas (19-10, 9-9 Big 12; NET: 35, SOS: 47)

A stretch of three straight losses to West Virginia (NET: 61), Oklahoma (36) and Kansas State (67) looked dicey. But Kansas rebounded at just the right time with three consecutive wins, including a 98-93 win over Iowa State (14), to close out the regular season. Despite only two total wins against high-quality opponents, the Jayhawks’ strength of schedule has put them in a great position heading into the Big 12 tournament, where they will face TCU in the first round — an opponent they recently clobbered 84-61. Another win against the Horned Frogs, along with an upset or a solid game against Oklahoma in the second round, and Kansas can rest easy and prepare for the Big Dance.

Like the stock market, predicting what happens in women’s college basketball from week to week isn’t an easy endeavor. Upsets lurk around every corner. A top team or player could have an off night. A lower-ranked team could play at a higher level. Unexpected injuries arise. All you can do is take the information you have at your disposal and make educated decisions based on the facts in front of you. Whatever happens from there happens. Which means sometimes those predictions go right out the window. But that’s what makes it so much fun.

So, let’s crack open those wallets of fandom. For the next few weeks leading up to the NCAA Tournament, I’ll give you my best advice for rising and falling teams, ones to hold on to and ride out the storm with and some that are just too volatile to trust.

Rising

South Carolina (25-0 overall, 12-0 in conference; first SEC, NET: 1, AP: 1)

South Carolina’s stock was already high, and the Gamecocks were looking to be a lock for the No. 1 seed before Sunday’s game against No. 3 LSU. And yet somehow their reputation is even more solid after a dominating 88-64 win over the Tigers. The Gamecocks were on another level from the start, going up 18-2 on LSU midway through the first quarter. Aliyah Boston (14 points, nine rebounds and three…

The wait is finally over. Women’s college basketball fans, rejoice. The 2022-2023 season tips off tonight, and we’ll have plenty of basketball to watch, discuss, enjoy and marvel at for the next six glorious months. Preseason polls, predictions and rankings are out. And I thought I’d join the fun by throwing a preseason 12 Questions column into the mix, before all the action begins.

So, let’s get into it. You know the drill for my 12 Questions column: I address questions about the women’s college basketball landscape, teams and individual players while providing the best possible answers based on stats, game results, individual and team play, and gut feelings. Agree. Disagree. Discuss. That’s what makes talking about women’s college basketball so much fun. If you have questions you’d like me to address in the next column, drop them in the comments.

1. Will South Carolina repeat as national champions?

Winning back-to-back NCAA titles is no easy feat. Since 1982, only USC, Tennessee and UConn have done it. But No. 1 South Carolina has the talent, the deep bench, and the coach to get it done. Dawn Staley not only has a stacked roster, she has the best player in the country dominating both ends of the floor in Aliyah Boston. Though the lack of a true point guard…

NEW YORK — Big East commissioner Val Ackerman acknowledged Tuesday that her conference isn’t likely to be immune to conference realignment.

“I don’t think the Big East will stay at 11 forever,” Ackerman told The Athletic during the league’s media day at Madison Square Garden. “I can’t quantify when, but there’s too much going on around us. Maybe it’s proactive, or it could be reactive expansion. You’d rather be proactive, but maybe other things helping elsewhere and certain opportunities are presented to us that we didn’t see and then we act on those. Either way, it’s fine.”

Odds are if the league does act it will do so before February 2024. That’s when the Big East’s negotiation window with Fox opens, and with the network already shelling out billions for college football, the conference will want to present the best product to make it enticing.

But the league is in a unique position to be choosy. Now in its 10th year since its reconfiguration, one made necessary by the last major wave of realignment, the Big East is no longer susceptible to being picked apart. It has no football — save UConn — to steal, and thereby can seek teams rather than fend off the power conferences. Ackerman said the league will consider a number of factors if and…

Summer is over. Fall is almost here. And the 2022-2023 women’s college basketball season is just around the corner. Before the ball officially tips on Nov. 8, The Athletic is listing the top 25 most intriguing players for the upcoming season.

Before we jump in, it’s important to note this list is entirely subjective. It’s comprised of players who are in unique situations on their respective teams, have transferred to another program, might take that next step in their games, are ready for a breakout year or need to overcome certain challenges that have hindered their overall play in past seasons.

Though some familiar names appear on this list because of their exceptional talent, dominance and impact on their team, it’s not a recap or ranking of the best college players. We already know who the top players are. That’s why we included players who aren’t always in the spotlight but deserve some attention. As the season unfolds, we’ll learn a lot more about all of them along the way.

When Felisha Legette-Jack left Buffalo to coach Syracuse, it was only a matter of time before Dyaisha Fair followed. Though she ranked fourth nationally last season with 23.4 points per game, Fair is relatively unknown on the national scene. Going from a mid-major to the ACC is sure to…