(NOTE: The real Doomsday Clock is run by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. It is a conveyance of how close mankind is to wiping itself out in the Bulletin's estimation, and it constantly reviews the ways in which it could happen. This Doomsday Clock is much, much less serious.)
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The events of this week have demonstrated that perhaps more than ever before, the Big East is an unstable mix of individual agendas that do not mesh well together. In our opinion, the runaround given to Villanova University proves that basketball is no longer the main engine that drives league decisions. The schools that do not play football may well feel betrayed at having to add Texas Christian University (which has never had a dominant men's basketball program) to the league and then seeing one of their own possibly rejected at the last minute, using issues that had been known for months, if not years.
These events have once again exposed the Big East's commissioner, John Marinatto, as weak and unable to get his members united behind a single purpose. This adds to the general instability of the league. On top of that, the Big East's apparent weakness may eventually lead to other leagues (like the Big Ten) revisiting their expansion strategies and aiming for the low-hanging fruit currently available in the Big East. Such a move would likely spell the demise of the league.
It seems painfully clear that the best solution for everyone will be for the league to split along football lines. Basketball schools can make more money on a per-school basis even with a smaller contract, because it will be split fewer ways. Football schools can make decisions that are in the best interest of football, instead of having to kowtow to basketball schools (one of which has historically made up the Big East's entire management team). The time on the Big East Doomsday Clock is set to four minutes to midnight as both an indication of this fact, and a guess of how long it will take the Big East's member institutions to come to the same conclusion and start action towards that end.
(Yes I know the real Doomsday Clock is not digital. But on the other hand, they trademarked the thing, so there you have it.)