Atlantic 10 Commissioner Bernadette McGlade pulled off a coup in bringing Butler and VCU aboard to create a powerhouse basketball conference this year.

Keeping the league intact, though, will take more than her powers of persuasion.

The breakaway schools from the Big East — known in some circles as the “Catholic 7” — sent representatives to begin negotiating with Fox Network for a long-term TV deal Wednesday and could launch a new league next season, according to SportsIllustrated.com’s Pete Thamel.

As SI.com reported earlier, the conference is still expected to include 12 teams, although it could start at 10 and grow to 12. A handful of A-10 schools are considered likely partners in the new venture.

“Obviously, you have to be cognizant with what’s happening with the Catholic 7, and we are totally focused on it,” said McGlade, who attended VCU’s 74-62 win over Dayton here Wednesday.

“We’re the best basketball-centric league, and it’s logical that if they’re going to create this new conference with a mega-media company behind them, then A-10 teams are going to be targets. We’re watching it very closely and trying to be very strategic.”

According to SI.com, Xavier and Butler are “heavy favorites” to join DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Villanova in a new league. Creighton and Dayton are also considered “strong candidates,” while Saint Louis looks poised to take the final spot.

However, VCU has become a hot name in the discussions. In addition to a 2011 Final Four appearance, the Rams played in the NCAA tourney four other times since 2004.

Creighton, a Missouri Valley Conference member, is the only non-A-10 team among that group.

“Right now, in all honesty, it’s all been speculation,” McGlade said. “Until we know for sure what they’re departure timing is from their current conference and then what they anticipate as their plan of action for a 10- or 12-team league, you really can’t do anything.

“It’s wasting energy to worry about it. You just have to be as strategic as you can in analyzing it.”

Ups and downs: The Flyers got a huge lift from sub wing Matt Derenbecker, who came off the bench to drill a pair of 3-pointers just 38 seconds apart in the first half. Back-up point guard Khari Price also hit two first-half 3’s.

Not everyone fared so well, though. UD guards Kevin Dillard and Vee Sanford had seven and six turnovers, respectively.

“I was really happy to see Matt and Khari get off to a pretty good start there in the first half. … I think those kids have been able to do that all year,” UD coach Archie Miller said. “But bottom line, in the second half, it became the battle of Kevin and Vee. We need those guys to step up.”

Smart view: VCU may have prevailed, but coach Shaka Smart knew his team was in a battle.

“Here we go, it’s Atlantic 10 play. And I think tonight is a great indication of how intense and hard-fought games are going to be in this conference,” he said. “I’m not sure what happened with the other games, but I know between us and Dayton, it was just such a higher level of intensity and urgency compared to non-conference games. And I’ve got a feeling a lot of them are going to be like that.”

Foul plagued: Three Flyer “bigs” had first-half trouble. Josh Benson, Jalen Robinson and Alex Gavrilovic all picked up two fouls and had to take a seat. Benson played 22 minutes and had two points and five rebounds.

Celebrating: VCU added some pizzazz to its first game as an A-10 member. All fans in a sellout crowd of 7,693 found a T-shirt in one of the school colors (either black or gold) draped on their seats when they arrived.