It has been a terribly-kept secret for more than a week now, and yesterday Towson State and UMBC finally made it official: They are the newest members of the Big South Conference.

The local schools will join the league with teams in both Carolinas and Virginia in September, 1992. They will compete for conference championships during 92-93, most significantly in men's basketball, which sends its champion to the NCAA tournament.

With 22 and 20 athletics teams, respectively, the Tigers and Retrievers will have the most broad-based programs in the Big South. Other conference members include Liberty, Radford, Campbell, UNC-Asheville, Charleston Soutehrn, Coastal Carolina and Winthrop.