Rise and Fall of ESPN

[DudeAnon]

Not to derail this thread or anything...

But unsurprisingly, ESPN's Jeff Borzello predicts only 4 Big East teams will make the tournament.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... ll-preview

Man, the Big East has been riding such positive momentum since Nova's championship that I forgot what it was like to see an ESPN hit-job. Good memories of when the NBE first formed and ESPN immediately relegated us to mid-major status.

Dude...I am guessing I must be in your parent's generation but I would say that the hate seems much more widespread than just a generation. And I would say that I am as equally disgusted with the widespread hate and the ignorance of history. It's stunning to read comments to articles and the display of hate and ignorance. Just stunning.

Yea, I shouldn't have generalized an entire generation. I guess it goes like this. Most of my life I presumed most conflicts and disagreements were simply a matter of perspective and that both sides were still decent people. I don't know if things just changed or they are showing their true colors, but it is shocking to see how many people are driven by hate more than anything else.

[X-man]

Not to derail this thread or anything...

But unsurprisingly, ESPN's Jeff Borzello predicts only 4 Big East teams will make the tournament.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... ll-preview

Of course, ESPN disses the Big East...that's what they do. But SI just released their predicted bracket, and 7 Big East teams make it. They are Villanova (2-seed), Xavier (4), Seton Hall (7), Providence (9), Creighton (9), Butler (10), and Marquette (11). SI is too high on the number of teams (5-6 teams is more likely IMHO), but also seeds SH and Providence too low.

[NJRedman]

ESPN seems kind of high on SJU so i'll take it!

I don't think we get 7 in most likely 5-6.

[Irishdawg]

Not to derail this thread or anything...

But unsurprisingly, ESPN's Jeff Borzello predicts only 4 Big East teams will make the tournament.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... ll-preview

Clearly Jeff missed the Big East coaches poll where Butler was ranked 8th, saying that they'll be the team to disappoint you. Not exactly far to fall.

[Hall2012]

I guess I could see a scenario where the top 4 turn out to be so good that they effectively shut the rest of the league out of any bids, but I doubt it. I think ESPN is massively underestimating the quality of 5-8 in the Big East. The way I see it, if 1-4 are as good as advertised, that gives the rest of the league 8 chances each for top 25 wins. Needless to say, they'll get a few. If we dominate OOC play the way we have the past couple years (and I fully expect us to), the league should be set up for at least 5 bids and I don't think 6-7 again is unrealistic at all.

In terms of conference strength, I see it as.

Tier 1.
Big East
Big XII
ACC

Tier 2.
B1G
PAC
SEC

Tier 3.
A10
American

Tier 4.
Everyone else

And honestly, the ACC seems down this year- I'm tempted to drop them into tier 2.