Re: Fortune, has there been something recently indicating he would leave Boulder? This is from December;
http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt-josh-fortune-1218-20151218-story.html
And more recently;
http://www.denverpost.com/colleges/ci_29482833/josh-fortune-wesley-gordon-return
I'm told Fortune is a goner if Xavier Johnson, who is currently practicing with the team, takes a medical redshirt and returns for a 5th year, barring a surprise departure from someone else. It makes sense when you see that Colorado has two soph guards starting over him that both shoot near 50% from three--his most valuable skill--two junior forwards that play 21-26 mpg and a stud SG transfer redshirting this year. And he's only getting 22 mpg this year without Johnson and the transfer.
As for the intraconference transfer rule (if it was adopted) I'd imagine that the grad-transfer rule overrides it like it does with the long-standing one-year residency requirement. It would be interesting to see if Fortune would go back to Providence if he does transfer. I trust Matt A is well informed on the situation and probably that of several other potential transfers.
How could the grad-transfer rule supercede a conference rule? The grad transfer rule is an NCAA rule, which allows players who have graduated to transfer right away, if the school will have them. The intra conference rule is imposed by the Big East, so the Big East schools can't have him. This is, of course, if the old rule carried over to the new charter. If it wasn't, we would be free to recruit him.
The old Big East required all transfers to sit out one year before playing--no exceptions. The NCAA subsequently passed a rule allowing eligible grads to transfer and play immediately thereby superseding the Big East's (and that of other conferences) residency requirement. Regardless, I think a reasonable interpretation of the situation under the old rule (if adopted) is that he's washed his hands of Providence and forbidding him to play a year after graduating and being removed two years is not in the spirit of the rule.
No, the Big East forbade any player who "previously signed an LOI with a Big East school" to sign one with someone else. Period." No exceptions". It doesn't have anything to do with sitting a year, or where you eventually transfer from. The grad transfer rule has nothing to do with this intra conference restriction. And neither does the NCAA's (this is not a Big East rule) of sitting out one year for regular transfers.
The old Big East also had no exceptions to the residency requirement. It forbade every transfer from playing immediately. The NCAA has the power to override a conference rule. It's not really worthwhile to keep discussing this as we don't even know if the conference adopted the old rules and we don't know if Fortune or SJU have interest in the other. I'm sure if there is interest on SJU's part, Matt A is all over it and already has an answer regarding the rule.
The NCAA may have the power to override a conference rule, but they certainly did not do it with the grad transfer rule. The graduate transfer rule, as it is written, does not address intraconference transfer rules at all. So it only overrides the one year residency requirement for graduates who want a grad program that their current school does not offer. It doesn't address other transferring players. It says that in this case, the one year residency requirement is waived. There may be other reasons why you can't transfer somewhere that are not addressed here.
It says nothing about restrictions on players signing LOI's with two different conference teams. And the Big East will never let you have a scholarship with two different conference schools no matter how long you sit out. So the grad transfer rule has nothing to do with this situation with Josh Fortune signing with two different Big East teams.