(Current) Big East & the FF

[butlerguy03]

"UNC championship... only 1 non-Duke-UNC team coming out of ACC has won a championship since NC State in 1983 (prior to Villanova and Hoya titles)... and that team is now in the Big Ten..."

Blue Bloods should be taken out of the equation, they'll be able to compete no matter what conference they reside:
Duke
North Carolina
Kentucky
Indiana
Michigan State
UCLA
Kansas
(if you get loose on the description "blue blood": Louisville, Syracuse, UConn, Georgetown, Arizona - maybe a few others)

Now who has the most final fours?

[Michael in Raleigh]

ESPN Tweets that we'll never see:

"Syracuse Final Four... first by a non-Duke-UNC school coming out of the ACC in 12 years".

or if the cheatin' Tarheels win the title next week:

"UNC championship... only 1 non-Duke-UNC team coming out of ACC has won a championship since NC State in 1983 (prior to Villanova and Hoya titles)... and that team is now in the Big Ten..."

or how about this:
"Virginia and Notre Dame were bounced in their Elite-8 games on Sunday...
"Virginia is in the midst of a 32 year Final Four drought... in this time, 70% of the current Big East has made a Final Four..."
"Notre Dame is in the midst of a 38 year Final Four drought... in this time, 80% of the current Big East has made a Final Four..."

This is all true.

It's also true that no Pac-10/12 team has won a national title since Arizona in 1997. There was also UCLA in 1995, and the next previous one was in the mid-70's.

It's also true that only Kentucky and Florida have won national titles out of the SEC going back, well, at least to the 70's.

It's also true that the Big Ten has had no championships since 2000 and had none in the 90's.

It's also true that Kansas is the only Big 12 school that has ever won a national title.

[Michael in Raleigh]

Blue Bloods should be taken out of the equation, they'll be able to compete no matter what conference they reside:
Duke
North Carolina
Kentucky
Indiana
Michigan State
UCLA
Kansas
(if you get loose on the description "blue blood": Louisville, Syracuse, UConn, Georgetown, Arizona - maybe a few others)

Now who has the most final fours?

Wikipedia says:

Ohio State (10)
Arkansas, Cincinnati, Oklahoma State (6)
Houston, Oklahoma, Michigan, Illinois, Florida (5)
*Plus one more vacated appearance for Ohio State and two more for Michigan.

[billyjack]

ESPN Tweets that we'll never see:

"Syracuse Final Four... first by a non-Duke-UNC school coming out of the ACC in 12 years".

or if the cheatin' Tarheels win the title next week:

"UNC championship... only 1 non-Duke-UNC team coming out of ACC has won a championship since NC State in 1983 (prior to Villanova and Hoya titles)... and that team is now in the Big Ten..."

or how about this:
"Virginia and Notre Dame were bounced in their Elite-8 games on Sunday...
"Virginia is in the midst of a 32 year Final Four drought... in this time, 70% of the current Big East has made a Final Four..."
"Notre Dame is in the midst of a 38 year Final Four drought... in this time, 80% of the current Big East has made a Final Four..."

This is all true.

It's also true that no Pac-10/12 team has won a national title since Arizona in 1997. There was also UCLA in 1995, and the next previous one was in the mid-70's.

It's also true that only Kentucky and Florida have won national titles out of the SEC going back, well, at least to the 70's.

It's also true that the Big Ten has had no championships since 2000 and had none in the 90's.

It's also true that Kansas is the only Big 12 school that has ever won a national title.

Good post Michael. Very good points.
I focused on the ACC because they're ESPN's baby. Also because of all those Syracuse cubs fornicating in the ESPN corridors in Bristol.

[stever20]

As far as the non Duke/UNC stuff- I say to that big deal. If Villanova and Georgetown have the success of Duke/UNC- and no one else makes a final 4- Big East won't get dinged for that at all. A conference being top heavy isn't that big of a deal quite frankly.

[ecasadoSBU]

"UNC championship... only 1 non-Duke-UNC team coming out of ACC has won a championship since NC State in 1983 (prior to Villanova and Hoya titles)... and that team is now in the Big Ten..."

Blue Bloods should be taken out of the equation, they'll be able to compete no matter what conference they reside:
Duke
North Carolina
Kentucky
Indiana
Michigan State
UCLA
Kansas
(if you get loose on the description "blue blood": Louisville, Syracuse, UConn, Georgetown, Arizona - maybe a few others)

Now who has the most final fours?

Wait... Connecticut not a blue blood?

[JohnW22]

At least 99% of the board can enjoy Nova being in the final 4

[Bill Marsh]

I think there's 2 parts...
1- They don't really count Butler as being Big East when they did it....
2- even with that- a recency bias...
SEC had even if you include Butler with BE- 4 teams making FF since 2011
B10 5 teams since 2011
B12 1 team since 2011
ACC 4 teams since 2011

Until this season the new Big East hadn't been taken seriously. Hadn't done anything in the tournament. You know it because look at the threads on here with folks complaining that the media wasn't taking the Big East seriously.

So now if you look at last 5 years.... Which is a lot more how the media views things.
ACC 6 teams
B10 5 teams
SEC 4 teams
B12 2 teams
BE 1 team
MVC 1 team
AAC 1 team

You are seeing just as much negativity with the Pac 12 vs the Big East. Maybe the only difference is that the Pac 12 has had more than 1 top dog, while Big East has only had Nova. And so the pressure fell far more on Nova than anyone in the P12.

Before this year, the NBE was just that a middling conference. You can bring up 6-10 years ago all you want, but that's not how things are viewed. George Mason feels ages ago now....

If 5 years is how the media views things, then they're idiots. You can prove almost anything if you vi things only in 5 year increments:

SEC - 1 team in 2000-05
B1G - 1 team in 2002-06
ACC - 1 teams in 2010-14

These things run in cycles. Leagues have their ups and downs. Strengths are better seen over time than in short Windows.

[MUBoxer]

ESPN Tweets that we'll never see:

"Syracuse Final Four... first by a non-Duke-UNC school coming out of the ACC in 12 years".

or if the cheatin' Tarheels win the title next week:

"UNC championship... only 1 non-Duke-UNC team coming out of ACC has won a championship since NC State in 1983 (prior to Villanova and Hoya titles)... and that team is now in the Big Ten..."

or how about this:
"Virginia and Notre Dame were bounced in their Elite-8 games on Sunday...
"Virginia is in the midst of a 32 year Final Four drought... in this time, 70% of the current Big East has made a Final Four..."
"Notre Dame is in the midst of a 38 year Final Four drought... in this time, 80% of the current Big East has made a Final Four..."

This is all true.

It's also true that no Pac-10/12 team has won a national title since Arizona in 1997. There was also UCLA in 1995, and the next previous one was in the mid-70's.

It's also true that only Kentucky and Florida have won national titles out of the SEC going back, well, at least to the 70's.

It's also true that the Big Ten has had no championships since 2000 and had none in the 90's.

It's also true that Kansas is the only Big 12 school that has ever won a national title.

I believe that youre forgetting about Arkansas in the first half of the 90s. Title in 94, runner up in 95, final four in 90

[whiteandblue77]

ESPN Tweets that we'll never see:

"Syracuse Final Four... first by a non-Duke-UNC school coming out of the ACC in 12 years".

or if the cheatin' Tarheels win the title next week:

"UNC championship... only 1 non-Duke-UNC team coming out of ACC has won a championship since NC State in 1983 (prior to Villanova and Hoya titles)... and that team is now in the Big Ten..."

or how about this:
"Virginia and Notre Dame were bounced in their Elite-8 games on Sunday...
"Virginia is in the midst of a 32 year Final Four drought... in this time, 70% of the current Big East has made a Final Four..."
"Notre Dame is in the midst of a 38 year Final Four drought... in this time, 80% of the current Big East has made a Final Four..."

This is all true.

It's also true that no Pac-10/12 team has won a national title since Arizona in 1997. There was also UCLA in 1995, and the next previous one was in the mid-70's.

It's also true that only Kentucky and Florida have won national titles out of the SEC going back, well, at least to the 70's.

It's also true that the Big Ten has had no championships since 2000 and had none in the 90's.

It's also true that Kansas is the only Big 12 school that has ever won a national title.

I believe that youre forgetting about Arkansas in the first half of the 90s. Title in 94, runner up in 95, final four in 90

He just subconsciously did to the SEC what he's complaining about ESPN doing to us, lol, as Arkansas was in the SOUTHWEST conference until 1996