Are you following the Big East blog on Twitter? I’m planning on stepping up the content there in the coming weeks. Make sure to check it out.

OK, enough self-promotion. We’ve got a long holiday weekend coming up, so let’s answer some e-mails before the grilling and pool time start.

Danny from Louisville writes: I wonder why the Big East is not being proactive and extending invitations to what appears to be the obvious four teams that will be used as replacements in the event of a Big Ten raid. ECU, UCF, Memphis, Temple all bring enough to the conference to invite if not two, then all four to the conference and go to the 12/20 setup. Is this not being done partially because the Big East doesn’t think they are the replacement teams?

Brian Bennett: Here’s why the Big East isn’t making pre-emptive expansion bids: it doesn’t have to. If a team were to leave the Big East for the Big Ten, it couldn’t exit for 27 months, giving the league plenty of time to work on replacements. There’s no reason to add a team now when the Big East doesn’t even know what the composition of the league will look like. And there might be certain schools that current members lobby to have included, but then those same backers might not even be in the Big East when the new schools come on board. The teams you mentioned are still going to be there in a year or two, and it makes little sense to add to the 16-member basketball alignment if the league isn’t forced to do so.

Jamie C. from Silver Spring, Md., writes: I’ve read that you’re confident WVU will be fine once this expansion bomb drops. I have a hard time sharing your confidence. What happens if the Big Ten takes two or three from the Big East and the ACC takes only one, two or none at all? The SEC doesnt have much incentive to expand either in my opinion. WVU could get left out to dry. A Big East including ECU, UCF, Memphis, Temple, USF, Cinci, Louisville, and WVU wouldnt hold a BCS automatic bid very long. Please instill some of your confidence in me!

Brian Bennett: While it’s true that West Virginia or some other Big East schools could be left out in the cold after the initial round of expansion dominoes fall, I wouldn’t expect that to last very long. The Mountaineers are too successful and have too large and loyal of a fan base to not be attractive to a major conference. Someone will look at them and correctly see dollar signs.

Source: Brian Bennett, ESPN.com. Visit Friday Big East Mailbag for full story.