Louisville has been told it's a lock to join the Big East when the conference loses Miami, Boston College and Syracuse, sources close to the process told ESPN.com.

But that's assuming the three schools leave whenever the ACC gets around to actually inviting the three Big East members.

The ACC met via conference call Wednesday without a decision for the second straight day, prolonging what had seemed like the inevitable for possibly another week.

"Louisville is ready to act now," said one source close to the process. "Louisville brings a lot to the Big East with the football program and Rick Pitino and the basketball team."

The ACC needs to act soon, or else the Big East and its potential additions such as Louisville could face precarious positions. If the Big East loses the three schools to the ACC, it would behoove the conference to be rid of the trio by June 30. If the situation drags out into July, the Big East will have a hard time adding members without schools suffering major penalties.

Conference USA's bylaws demand a school pay $500,000 if it departs by June 30 of the previous year. The money goes up or down depending on the notice. The other penalty in the bylaws states that a departing school owes money if the television revenue decreases because of the departure. Conference USA has five years left on a television contract with ABC/ESPN/CBS. A source close to the process said Louisville would fight the TV clause in the contract.

Louisville wants out of Conference USA if the Big East is looking to expand, and the Big East will be desperate to add the Cardinals if all three schools leave. The consensus backup plan by the Big East is the Dave Gavitt/Mike Tranghese confederation of two eight-team divisions under a Big East umbrella.

Under that plan, the five remaining football members -- Connecticut, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Rutgers and Virginia Tech -- would add three football-playing schools. Louisville would be the lock. The five schools would then choose two among a list of four schools -- East Carolina (C-USA), Cincinnati (C-USA), South Florida (C-USA) and Central Florida (MAC in football/Atlantic Sun in hoops). Talk about Temple (outgoing Big East member in football, A-10 in basketball), Memphis (C-USA), Army (C-USA in football/Patriot League in hoops), Navy (independent in football/Patriot League in hoops) and Marshall (MAC) has cooled.

The Big East's remaining basketball members -- Providence, Georgetown, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova and Notre Dame -- would add two schools. The likely consensus is Marquette of Conference USA and Xavier out of the Atlantic 10. The Atlantic 10 has a penalty in the "hundreds of thousands of dollars," according to the source, with a June 30 withdrawal deadline for the following season.

The Big East's football schedule would consist of seven league games. And there is talk that the football side might keep the revenue generated by that sport. One source close to the process was confident the Bowl Championship Series would continue to give the Big East a bid.

But the Big East's basketball divisions wouldn't have to be set along the same guidelines. Divisions could be mixed for men's and women's basketball, in an effort to create more balance. The schedule would call for 14 games against the teams in one division and then either two or four crossover games against the other division. The Big East postseason tournament still would be held in New York. If this scenario plays out, then a school such as Connecticut could still be in the same division as Providence, 90 minutes away, in basketball.

The three potential departing Big East members want to bolt for the 2004-05 season. None wants to be a Big East lame duck for two years. But leaving by '04-05 probably would mean they wouldn't share in the final year of television deals in the ACC, while the Big East deal for that season could be split 11 ways instead of 14.

If all of these dominoes fall, Conference USA might have to replace two to three teams -- or as many as four. A bidding war could ensue with C-USA trying to lure Tulsa and SMU, while the WAC attempts to snatch TCU and Houston. The Mountain West also could look to add a few teams out of C-USA.

The confederation of 16 teams has wide support within the Big East and with potential new members. The key is whether the ACC expansion goes through and when.

The lawsuit filed against the ACC, Boston College and Miami by the five remaining Big East football members probably would go away if the ACC decided to expand to 14 and grab Virginia Tech and Connecticut. One source close to the process said those two schools would jump at the chance, but there so far has been no talk of bringing in more than three teams.

The last 16-team league was the WAC. But it split apart in 1998 after too many differences between schools. Today's WAC is a 10-team league after expanding by two; the MWC was formed by the eight teams that broke away from the WAC.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.