Is the Big East now a mid-major? Gottlieb thinks so

[DumpsterFireA10]

Tell Gottlieb to steal a few credit cards...oh wait...

[WaitingPatiently]

I'm a Gottlieb fan, but on this one it seems to me he's making a ratings grab. And at worst he's planting a seed of doubt against the main content of an upcoming competitor to the CBS Sports Network.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Gottleib always seemed to me to be an old Big East hater. As a Nova fan I have remembered him showing us no respect on several occasions. I remember one year in the tourney after one of the BE teams lost early (I think it was WV or GT), and Nova struggled in their Round 1 game, he called the BE soft and overrated. I believe that was the year we put 3 in the E8 and 2 in the FF, including Nova. Might have been 2009? Not sure exactly but I remember Seth Davis calling him out on it and Gottleib tried to back-peddle and say that he never said it. Not sure he's a fan of the Catholic Schools. Don't like him myself.

[NCWildcat]

The Big East is not one of the Big 5 Power Conferences (Pac 12, Big 12, Big 10, SEC, ACC)
It's true - Big East is a mid-major, but a good one, probably the best.

We'll see how this year goes. The other conferences will have #1 ranked teams and cut the nets down as NCAA champs.
Not sure the Big East has the ability to do either right out of the blocks (or in the next few years). But give it time, and we'll see if we really are a power-player or a true mid-major

[redmen9194]

No way this is a mid-major. This league will be better than the Pac-12, the SEC and possibly the Big -12. I see us as the third or fourth best league out there next season. Remember who Gottlieb works for - our competitor. Take it with a grain of salt. But the reality is, who cares? If we are successful both individually and as a group, they can call us whatever they want. There was always one thing about the Big East that was different than many other leagues - which people from Nova, G'Town, Providence and Seton Hall can certainly attest to. That is, when it was formed it was not given much credence from the powers that be, especially since the ACC was to our south and the Big Ten was to our west. The result of that was in some ways a real bond of being Big East. You hated Georgetown and Syracuse during the conference season, but when those teams played out of conference - you wanted them to smoke the opponents. Dave Gavitt told a story about being at an NCAA Tourny game watching BC (I think) in the early 80's when the score of another tourney game was posted in the arena in which the Big East team won. He said the crowd started chanting "Big East" and he knew at that point he had something special. It's been that way all through our history. I suspect it will continue forward as well.

[Natty]

I don't think the new Big East will be mid-major, but I do think there is something in that NYC Buckets article that's worth worrying about (article here: http://nycbuckets.com/2013/06/diving-in ... ings-game/ )

Not to oversimplify, but scroll down to the chart in the middle of the page. It basically highlights what I call the Jim Rome example. What happened with Jim Rome is he left ESPN for CBS Sports Net only to see his ratings plummet from roughly 400,000 daily viewers to 40,000. Then the show that replaced him on ESPN did roughly the same views Rome was doing (I think it was actually 10% less, but still way out-performed Rome), essentially pointing out the major difference the channel made towards viewership.

Actually, here's the chart:


Easy enough to understand. Basically more people watch if you're on the more popular network. I'll be curious to see where Fox Sports 1, or whatever it's called, ends up ranking on this chart. But make no mistake, the league will take a perception hit, even if they are making more money on Fox. Granted, you always get March to really make a name for yourself.

[Edrick]

There are 9 players in the ESPN Top 100 and 14 in the Rivals 150 for 2013 in the ten team Big East.

This isn't exactly brain surgery, its obviously going to be in the top handful of conferences in America going forward. Its already markedly better than some of the old football BCS leagues and that's before the benefit that the league is going to receive by being Fox Sports (1 and 2) main content vehicle in the winter.

[billyjack]

I don't think the new Big East will be mid-major, but I do think there is something in that NYC Buckets article that's worth worrying about (article here: http://nycbuckets.com/2013/06/diving-in ... ings-game/ )

Not to oversimplify, but scroll down to the chart in the middle of the page. It basically highlights what I call the Jim Rome example. What happened with Jim Rome is he left ESPN for CBS Sports Net only to see his ratings plummet...

Instead of Jim Rome, focus on The Daily Show and Colbert Report. Both shows' ratings have steadily improved even though Comedy Central is a wasteland. People will go to less popular channels if it has a good product. Hell, "Downton Abbey" is on PBS but got great ratings. The Big East has a great product. "The Jim Rome Example" is probably the exception and had jumped the shark.

[NCWildcat]

No way this is a mid-major. This league will be better than the Pac-12, the SEC and possibly the Big -12.

Major Conferences:
SEC - Big 10 - Big 12 - Pac 12 - ACC

Can the Big East get a #1 ranked team in the next 5 seasons or a national champion in the next 5 seasons?
Some tough competition out there ~

[ArmyVet]

Big East needs to win games in the non-conference scheduled and get teams ranked which will force other networks to discuss us. If McDermott could blow up and people tune in just to see him, that would help too.