Crean decides to sell Marquette, not himself. (College Basketball).(Marquette University basketball coach Tom Crean)

It's possible Tom Crean still may be on the move this spring, but it won't be from Marquette to another coaching job. It'll be from one house in the Milwaukee suburbs to another. Crean and his wife, Joani, were house hunting last week, about the same time Illinois commenced its search for a candidate to replace Bill Self. Crean opted not to wait for Illini A.D. Ron Guenther's call. Instead, he accepted an extension from Marquette and vexed those who believed they had this spring's major coaching changes neatly scripted.

Crean's departure for a more prestigious job in a wealthier conference appeared inevitable after he led the Golden Eagles to the Final Four in just his fourth season. It seems fair to say most coaches in Crean's position would have used that Final Four appearance to sell themselves. He's going to take it and sell the Marquette program.

This is the challenge Crean embraced by exiting the Illinois derby. As coach of the Illini, he would have had one of the richest talent bases to harvest. Shaun Livingston, a 6-5 point guard and perhaps the nation's No. 1 junior, attends high school in Peoria, Ill. There are as many as 16 in-state major-conference prospects in Livingston's class. A majority have grown up wanting to play for Illinois--or at least in the Big Ten.

At Marquette, Crean has a seven-figure salary and soon will work in a practice facility that is the equal of any. The most significant remaining obstacle is the notion of some elite prospects that Conference USA is beneath them.

To continue pursuit of an NCAA championship with the Golden Eagles, Crean can afford to lose the occasional recruit who doesn't want an urban campus or plays a position in which the team already is loaded. But he can't lose great players simply because they don't see themselves playing against Southern Mississippi and TCU.

This happened to Marquette last fall. McDonald's All-American Brian Butch, a 6-11 shooter from Appleton, Wis., declared before signing at Wisconsin that the Golden Eagles' Conference USA membership was a significant detriment. The previous year, North Carolina big man Sean May declined a chance to play under Rick Pitino at Louisville in large part because he was not enamored of its league affiliation.

For some, Pitino's name recognition and past accomplishments more than compensate for C-USA's perceived lack of glamour. The cardinals are working to build a 2004 class that would shake any league. Other league members have pockets of strength, such as Memphis' sway with its homegrown talent and Cincinnati's allure among junior college stars.