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"I have a theory about the new Big East. No, it doesn’t have a single dominant team that will be a guaranteed top-10 mainstay in the national polls throughout conference play (though you’d be silly to think Villanova doesn’t have a shot). But I think the Big East is the deepest conference in the nation, and it would surprise me if fewer than six of the 10 Big East teams are playing in the NCAA tournament."

"I can feel the heads spinning along the eastern seaboard, where the Atlantic Coast Conference entered this season billing itself as perhaps the best basketball conference ever. So just one stat to make the heads of Tobacco Road and environs spin a bit faster: The Big East is third in conference RPI. The ACC is fifth. (RPI is an obviously imperfect metric. But still.)"

"Tops in conference RPI is the Big 12, and while I think the upper echelon of the Big 12 is the toughest in the nation, the lower reaches of the conference reach pretty low (looking at you, Texas Tech, TCU and Kansas State). I will not argue with anyone saying the Big Ten is the nation’s deepest conference, but I will point out that the bottom of the Big Ten still has a long way to go."

"Want to argue? Hit me up on Twitter @reidforgrave, and I’ll further explain why my grade is an A and yours isn’t."

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/story/reid-forgrave%3A-big-east-might-be-deepest-conference-in-nation-121613

TheHall wrote:Fox's Reid Forgrave hits back at the early critics to offer some context to the first seasp of the nBE.

"I have a theory about the new Big East. No, it doesn’t have a single dominant team that will be a guaranteed top-10 mainstay in the national polls throughout conference play (though you’d be silly to think Villanova doesn’t have a shot). But I think the Big East is the deepest conference in the nation, and it would surprise me if fewer than six of the 10 Big East teams are playing in the NCAA tournament."

"I can feel the heads spinning along the eastern seaboard, where the Atlantic Coast Conference entered this season billing itself as perhaps the best basketball conference ever. So just one stat to make the heads of Tobacco Road and environs spin a bit faster: The Big East is third in conference RPI. The ACC is fifth. (RPI is an obviously imperfect metric. But still.)"

"Tops in conference RPI is the Big 12, and while I think the upper echelon of the Big 12 is the toughest in the nation, the lower reaches of the conference reach pretty low (looking at you, Texas Tech, TCU and Kansas State). I will not argue with anyone saying the Big Ten is the nation’s deepest conference, but I will point out that the bottom of the Big Ten still has a long way to go."

"Want to argue? Hit me up on Twitter @reidforgrave, and I’ll further explain why my grade is an A and yours isn’t."

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/story/reid-forgrave%3A-big-east-might-be-deepest-conference-in-nation-121613

ESPN does this all the time (Wiggins) good to see Fox playing hardball & stating their case about their interests too.

marq wrote:The Big East is really good. Other than Nova who has sort of come out of nowhere, we didn't have a team publicized as a national title contender so it became easier for naysayers to diminish the league. When you look at how good the Big East is from 1-8 (with Seton Hall and DePaul faltering some), there isn't an easy win when playing anyone in that group.