East Carolina University spent Valentine’s Day playing the role of spurned lover after its public and relentless overtures toward the Big East Conference went unrequited. Instead, it touted the merits of a rebound relationship — that with a new conference forged from the remnants of Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference, to begin competition for the 2013-14 school year.

An alliance of schools stretching from the island of Oahu in Hawaii to Greenville — a distance of nearly 5,000 miles — the new conference intends to pull together those left at the margins of realignment. Yet without natural rivalries, geographic proximity or access to the lucrative Bowl Championship Series, the agreement is far from ideal for East Carolina and its future.

Last week, the University of Memphis became the latest object of the Big East’s affections as the conference invited the Tigers to replace West Virginia University when that school departs for the Big XII Conference for the 2013-14 school year. If approved, Memphis would join Central Florida, Houston and Southern Methodist University as defectors from Conference USA, leaving East Carolina is a difficult predicament.

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