Actually, if you read the article, I explain how the conference could “shrink by expanding.” With 17 teams, teams in the conference can only play rivals once, and must play teams which are completely alien to them. Going to divisional play would six of the seven original Big East members to play each other twice, the old CUSA teams to play each other twice, the football rivals to play each other twice, and avoid mismatches like Louisville v. Providence, or Marquette v. Connecticut altogether.
(Syracuse gets left out of the old Big East rivalries to some extent, but gets to play the core football rivals twice. And I bet they’d rather play South Florida than Providence, anyway.)