old BE vs nBE?

[NJRedman]

I would like to see 4 current BE teams and 4 former BE members play in 2 sessions of games in one day like a day of the BET. Two sessions of two games each.

A sample line up could be:

PC vs UConn

SJU vs Cuse

Nova vs Pitt

Marquette vs WVU

Didn't I get ridiculed for suggesting the BE/B12 challenge be hosted in a single weekend at MSG and/or somewhere in Texas?

Why would we give our former conference mates have the benefit of an invite to our home (that, per some other threads, we need to actively defend)? We are the Big East...we need to stop allowing other teams to play up the "new Big East" trope (even if the games are on campus vs. MSG). If we at some point have a conference challenge vs. the ACC (call it the battle for the East Coast), and Big East teams play against Syracuse, Pitt, Miami, BC, then we can't really complain when the TV networks play up the former affiliation (as I'm sure will happen with whomever plays West By God in the B12/BE challenge, or whenever we meet in March). But I don't think we should be the ones promoting it.

Well at least these teams would bring fans. I doubt many BXII fans would show up to a one weekend challenge at MSG.

[NJRedman]

There is no need for an "Old Big East" vs. "New Big East" event. There is no Old Big East...there is just the Big East. Schools left and schools joined as happened to many conferences. The Big East is not only alive, it is well and has come out of realignment in a better position they they were in when all those schools were here. We do not need an event with our former conference members. Syracuse wanted to keep St. John's on the schedule when they left...until they looked and suddenly they were 1-3 against the Johnnies. It's the schools that left that are looking to remain a part somehow of what they left and we continued to build on. They want to come to New York. They want the hype of playing at the Garden. They want to feel again like they are part of something they helped build, rather than an add on from an outlier of some conference footprint. What if we said we wanted to have the event outside of New York. Would they do that? What if it was at Barclays instead of the Garden? Would they do that? I doubt it. In just five years we produced two national champions, two #1 seeds in the same year, two national players of the year, had the best conference tournament average attendance out of every single conference in America including two that held theirs in the same city. Big East fans can watch their teams from anywhere in the country - Duke can't say that. We average half our teams in the dance every year. We are all good folks. We don't need any of the old schools, we don't need UConn to join to keep the Garden. We are Bulter, Creighton, Marquette, St. John's, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Providence, Xavier, DePaul and National Champion Villanova. This is the Big East. It's not old or new, it just is.

The issue is they are finding and creating ways to play at MSG anyway. So instead of letting Cuse and UComm play some OOC game there or Pitt and ND playing in some one off event we create our own event and make some money off of them instead of them making money without us.

[TheBasketballOpinion]

Honestly Georgetown plays Cuse already and outside of UConn I couldn't care less about the rest of them

[billyjack]

Program-wise, adding Rutgers and West Virginia in 1996 or whatever would be the equivalent today of adding like LaSalle or George Washington, and then adding Western Kentucky or East Tennessee State. Both mediocre, with one doubling up a market and the other out in the middle of nowhere. Then 20 years later having people surprised that we don't miss playing GW or ETSU.

[stever20]

There is no need for an "Old Big East" vs. "New Big East" event. There is no Old Big East...there is just the Big East. Schools left and schools joined as happened to many conferences. The Big East is not only alive, it is well and has come out of realignment in a better position they they were in when all those schools were here. We do not need an event with our former conference members. Syracuse wanted to keep St. John's on the schedule when they left...until they looked and suddenly they were 1-3 against the Johnnies. It's the schools that left that are looking to remain a part somehow of what they left and we continued to build on. They want to come to New York. They want the hype of playing at the Garden. They want to feel again like they are part of something they helped build, rather than an add on from an outlier of some conference footprint. What if we said we wanted to have the event outside of New York. Would they do that? What if it was at Barclays instead of the Garden? Would they do that? I doubt it. In just five years we produced two national champions, two #1 seeds in the same year, two national players of the year, had the best conference tournament average attendance out of every single conference in America including two that held theirs in the same city. Big East fans can watch their teams from anywhere in the country - Duke can't say that. We average half our teams in the dance every year. We are all good folks. We don't need any of the old schools, we don't need UConn to join to keep the Garden. We are Bulter, Creighton, Marquette, St. John's, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Providence, Xavier, DePaul and National Champion Villanova. This is the Big East. It's not old or new, it just is.

The issue is they are finding and creating ways to play at MSG anyway. So instead of letting Cuse and UComm play some OOC game there or Pitt and ND playing in some one off event we create our own event and make some money off of them instead of them making money without us.

Exactly. UConn and Syracuse both have played at MSG roughly 10 times since leaving the Big East. They play each other there 2 weeks from tonight in a tournament. UConn plays there 3 times this year. Syracuse twice.

[stever20]

Program-wise, adding Rutgers and West Virginia in 1996 or whatever would be the equivalent today of adding like LaSalle or George Washington, and then adding Western Kentucky or East Tennessee State. Both mediocre, with one doubling up a market and the other out in the middle of nowhere. Then 20 years later having people surprised that we don't miss playing GW or ETSU.

Well, WVU was at least a half hour or so away from Pitt- and the DC area has a LOT of WVU students from it. It made a lot more sense than you are making it out to be.

[ArmyVet]

The line of thinking that playing, adding, or even thinking about UCONN is in any way necessary or beneficial to anyone but UCONN is absurd. Times change. Both the Big East and UCONN have moved on and the desire of one party to be associated with the other does not need to be reciprocated.

[GumbyDamnit!]

The issue is they are finding and creating ways to play at MSG anyway. So instead of letting Cuse and UComm play some OOC game there or Pitt and ND playing in some one off event we create our own event and make some money off of them instead of them making money without us.

I agree. Schools like UConn, Pitt and Cuse used to fare very well recruiting in the 5 Boroughs, and Philly to DC. Suddenly they are not making multiple trips to the NYC to DC corridor and it has taken its toll. I miss some of the old rivalries for sure and I, for one, would welcome UConn back into the fold should the opportunity arise (they didn't actually screw any of us like Pitt and Cuse). But for the long term giving them reasons to come back into those areas certainly doesn't help the BE overall.

[Whitefriar]

I miss some of the old rivalries for sure and I, for one, would welcome UConn back into the fold should the opportunity arise (they didn't actually screw any of us like Pitt and Cuse).

It wasn't for a lack of trying.

[GumbyDamnit!]

I miss some of the old rivalries for sure and I, for one, would welcome UConn back into the fold should the opportunity arise (they didn't actually screw any of us like Pitt and Cuse).

It wasn't for a lack of trying.

They didn't leave us, we left them. And at the time EVERYONE was scurrying to try to make sure they had a seat when the music stopped. There were rumors of Nova moving it's FB up to make it more attractive to the P5 long term. There were rumors of G'town and Nova to the ACC to join ND as non-FB members. Everyone was in scramble mode and I certainly don't blame UConn for wanting to do what's best for them. Pitt and Cuse were the Fredos, not UConn and Cincy.

I think you've got to be cold and calculating with things like expansion. Don't hold grudges if adding a member makes sense. Does Dayton bring anything of value to the table? No. Next. SLU? Maybe location but the program is a mess. VCU? No thanks. Davidson? Maybe down the road if they can invest in hoops and start making noise. But UConn brings quite a history of success, and some long-term rivalries. Our NC banners go from 5 to 9 overnight if they were to join.IN the modern era we would only trail the ACC as most NC's by conference. That's the only reason. I don't like their fans and I'd prefer PC owned the NE region. But they're still a top program IMO and just need a better platform than the AAC to regain some of its swagger.