The UConn addition

[ChestRockwell85]

Adama Sanogo to UConn. Big pickup.

https://247sports.com/Player/Adama-Sanogo-46058762/

[jfan]

Great pickup by UCONN. They should be very good this year. Should be considered for Top 25.

[Husky_U]

[GumbyDamnit!]

What we really needed was another shade of blue in this conference. I mean even SJU broke out the blue unis last year. C’mon PC, the Friar would look great in a nice Carolina blue jersey.

[Xudash]

That is a pretty picture.

[sju88grad]

What we really needed was another shade of blue in this conference. I mean even SJU broke out the blue unis last year. C’mon PC, the Friar would look great in a nice Carolina blue jersey.

I hate those SJU blue jerseys!!! Enough with the blue....we’re the only predominantly red team in the league. Stick with that! Although our gray unis were pretty cool....

[redmen9194]

In the hallway of the Atheltics offices at St. John's, there is a display on the wall for the Big East conference with the Big East logos. They added UConn to it in the fall. Got an early jump on it.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Thought I'd give our new Husky fans a bit of a quick tutorial on the new conference, and how it's changed since the last time your were with us. In no particular order, just some basic observations:

- The conference is BB 24/7/365. The way it should be.
- Fox Sports coverage is terrific. Rob Stone, Lavin, Jimmy Jackson, Casey Jacobson, D. Marshall and of course Gus and Raff. Excellent production value and high def for 90% of all BE games. Can't beat it!
- You'll see your ESPN coverage drop considerably. They promote their own assets only. Only way to overcome that is to make sure they can't ignore us by the play on the court.
- This nBE has adopted an "us against the world" mentality, or more aptly us against the Football P5. The old vitriole of the former BE conference was left at the door and we all genuinely pull for each other OOC. I know I didn't do that for Cuse back when. But it's actually nice. Come tourney time you will see this board rally behind any teams left playing. Even the fans have adopted the we are family approach.
- I think the coaches really set the tone for that Brothers in Arms mentality. The ones that have been around a while (JW, Cooley, Big Mac, Willard) genuinely seem to like each other. That's also kind of nice.
- The new programs--X, Butler and Creighton--are GREAT additions. All 3 programs and fan bases bleed college hoops. The 3 home courts they offer are probably the 3 best in the conference; no lie. Hinkle--iconic/Hooisers. A Saturday afternoon away game there, with the sunlight streaming in through those windows, is about a cool as it comes. Cintas is a really tough place to play; very passionate fans. And the hidden gem is in Omaha (I'll give you time to get look it up on Google Maps, as we all did when they joined). Omaha loves their Jays and they pack that place with close to 20K every night. Hope you don't play your away game there during $1 beer nights. Don't expect to come in and just dominate these programs. They're really good and have been consistently so.
- SHU and PC aren't what you remember them to be. Both still play that hard nosed, northeast, physical BE style of play. But their talent levels have increased significantly. They have had some great talents playing for them for the past 6 years. The new conference re-energized them both. Tough, tough outs.
- Wish I could say the same for G'town… hoping they can figure things out but they've probably been the biggest disappointment over the past 6 years. Just can't get things going. Same with SJU and Marq. to a lesser degree. DePaul has been...well, DePaul.
- Jay Wright gets every call in the books and is a key reason why we've had so much success in conference. I say that with a large scooping of hyperbole but refs seem to give Jay all the calls according to many, and it has less to do with his ability to coach up his team.
- Stever20 is an AAC fan. That's fine. But he is good for some ridiculous statements that can be easily disproved by actual data, etc. As a point of reference, UConn was one the reasons that the AAC was a legit conference, until you guys decided to come home. Now...no big loss over there.
- Fieldhouse Flyer so desperately wants to be part of this great new college BB experiment that we call the BE. He's a good poster albeit provides War & Peace-like submissions. He just wants an invite to the party someday...
- The SJU fans are great because they fight with themselves as often as they fight with other fan bases. Gotta love NYers. It's "must see" HLOH posts if things start going south for them.
- I predict a lot of dust-ups between Husky and X fans--both seem to be cut from the same cloth in many ways. Bothvery passionate about their squads.
- The BET is still the BET. It's the best conference tourney in the land (as you remember). Even the early rounds are highly attended. But Saturday night in the Big Apple, in a packed and raucous MSG for the finals, is about as good as it gets. Interestingly none of the newer additions have been able to capture a BET Title yet. Just the old guard to this point--PC, Nova and SHU.

If anyone else wants to add to this list, have at it.

[billyjack]

Awesome summary Gumby!

[GoldenWarrior11]

I'd also add:

The BE has a vastly superior commissioner in Val Ackerman that actually helps provide value to all of the league's membership. She has managed to maintain the Big East's reputation as a power basketball conference without a single marketing campaign, a silly hashtag, or constant pouting in media interviews demanding that we should belong with the big boys because we want to. She wonderfully allows our programs' successes on the court to do all the talking for us, without unnecessarily hosting a comical annual clam bake. She also doesn't torpedo our future exposure and viewership by relegating a mass amount of contests to a streaming platform for pennies on the dollar.

Cannot wait to see what our next TV deal ends up looking like.