Posted Tuesday, Nov. 4, 7:08 p.m.

GW student-athletes will be playing in a bigger and likely more competitive Atlantic 10 conference in two years, when two schools will join the league. A University official told The Hatchet late Tuesday afternoon that the A-10 will announce its expansion plan on Thursday.

After the Big East conference added five schools from Conference USA Tuesday, the presidents of the A-10 met via conference call and requested “more information” from the two universities that will be invited, GW Director of Athletics Jack Kvancz said.

The three schools the A-10 had reportedly been considering were the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Saint Louis University and Boston University. Kvancz declined to comment on which two of the three would receive invitations.

The two schools will begin play in the A-10 for the 2005-06 academic year and should increase the competitive quality of the league in men’s basketball regardless of which schools are invited. All three potential members ranked higher than GW in Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) last year, a statistic the NCAA uses to measure a team’s relative competitiveness.

The A-10’s move comes after a long-expected decision by the Big East to extend invitations to Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, DePaul and Marquette, all of whom accepted on Tuesday. The musical chairs act leaves Conference USA in a state of flux while making both the Big East and A-10 stronger in men’s basketball.

GW is a charter member of the A-10, which will officially increase from 12 to 14 schools once nine out of 12 university presidents approve the measure. GW President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, who also heads the A-10 Presidents’ Council, is currently out of town but is expected to call in his vote.