Not that long ago, it seems, Notre Dame might have been closer than many believed to joining the Big Ten.

This, from basketball coach Mike Brey at the Big East media day Tuesday:

 "Five years ago when all this was going, my athletic director at the time, Kevin White, told me at breakfast one morning before practice, 'We're going to the Big Ten. I want you to get mentally ready.' I was like, 'Wow, you hit me with a ton of bricks. All right, how do we recruit?' In the eleventh hour, we held back and decided we were going to stay independent (in football) and stay in the Big East the last time we rebuilt.”

For that, and for things I don't get and things I do, check out my column in the Daily Times Sunday and as always on delcotimes.com