Three Years Later

[milksteak]

I can only laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxu-a3Y1vXQ

Replace "Batman" with "Stever." Totally works.

[stever20]

This league is a home run. No doubt about it. On selection Sunday, we should have 5 bids which means we average half the league every year. We have had every team ranked at some point in each of the last three seasons except DePaul (90%). On Sunday, we will have placed 8 different teams in the NCAA tourney in three years (No DePaul or Quette) for 80%. We are developing rivalries to supplement the ones that already exist. We are also 4-0 against Syracuse for the last two seasons (had to add that). It's all good.

did you see Syracuse now has lost last 5 to Pitt as well?? The ole Cuse machine falling apart...... have got to love that.

[marquette]

I couldn't be more happy with the league. We really made the right decision with the split and I think we will continue to get better.

I am really happy that the NCAA didn't change the rule about football championship games back then. My guess is that if that had happened I think it would be much harder for the C7 to split and we would still be in a hybrid league with (likely):

Originals: UConn, Cincinnati, USF.
Additions: Temple, Memphis, Houston, Tulsa, SMU.
FB Only: ECU, Navy.
BB Schools: MU, G'town, Nova, Hall, SJ, PC, DePaul.

I think that really could have been a disaster for our basketball schools in comparison to how things actually turned out. Thankfully we are here with the BE brand, the great tv contract, and a really bright future.

Interesting thought there. Would guess Butler probably would have been offered still as #16. With UConn, Cincy, Temple, Houston, Tulsa, SMU, Nova, Seton Hall, PC, and Butler as top 100 teams, and then Marquette and Georgetown close- that's a pretty good conference.... really only USF, Memphis(even there, only at 150), St John's, and DePaul down.... That conference would be looking at least at 7 bids, and quite possibly 8. You say you have 2 more bad teams. That's true- but you would have only seen St John's and DePaul once instead of 2x, and there was no difference between St John's/DePaul and Memphis/USF. That conference would be at least where the Big East is this year, if not closer to #3. I mean think about it- the ACC could only have 5 teams make it this year.

It would be a reasonably good league, probably even considered a semi-power conference. With the BE brand it might have even been able to negotiate a contract in the neighborhood of $8-10 million for all-sports members if they were willing to talk to Fox. Unfortunately, that probably means us basketball schools only get around $2-3 million and have far fewer games on tv. We would also still be at the mercy of football schools and be second class citizens.

[marquette]

Mentioning the AAC is like the bat signal for stever.

My bad.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Meanwhile, here's a stadium shot of Syracuse/Pitt. With a straight face, tell me that they don't miss playing at MSG for the BE Tournament...

[billyjack]

There was little doubt in my mind that the "new" Big East would be a success, because it seemed like any variables or intangibles favored us. It gets back to the "possibility/ probability" thing.

For example, it was very probable that Pitt and West Virginia would lose their NYC recruiting grounds, because those schools' conferences aren't based around New York anymore. And it was probable that Big East teams like Seton Hall and St John's would fill the void.

If i had any concern, it was that we needed to get out to a hot start as a conference over the first couple of years. That was our vulnerable time. I thought if the ACC had grabbed UConn in 2013, then MSG and northeast eyeballs would've been under threat. Luckily the ACC was too stupid to make that move.

But now that in 3 years we've entrenched ourselves amongst the top conferences, and 9 of us have been ranked, and 8 of us will have made the NCAA's, and each of our programs are growing stronger each year,

So we are way, way beyond the danger zone, and just can enjoy the ride as we keep improving. I'm expecting a nice NCAA Tourney for the Big East, but no matter how it plays out, we are in outstanding shape.

And not only have we had a successful first 3 years, but in the coming years we have other key pieces that also favor us:

- once St John's and DePaul turn the corner, the media explosion and fan interest will go through the roof. We're sitting on this gold mine, the mother lode, and we haven't even yet take one nugget from it yet. Holy cow, once New York and Chicago get a piece of this, i can't even imagine the heights we can climb... it'll be like the freakin Saturn V rocket.

- the ACC is packed with old coaches, the faces of their programs and the league. K, Boeheim, Roy, Pitino, Larranaga... One by one they'll retire, and it's a difficult task to replace them successfully. Mike Hopkins comes to mind. Can you imagine a sub 500 Syracuse team that plays freakin zone? Their non-alum non-local fanbase will vanish within a few years... and they'll easily slide over to Mullin, or Seton Hall.

[stever20]

Big East has had some good luck the first 3 years I would say, which has really helped things out....

2 years ago Xavier and PC were both 1 game away from missing the tourney. But as fate would have it, they got those wins...

this year- PC and Butler would look incredibly different with 1 fewer win. Imagine Creighton beating PC in that 50-48 game, and Georgetown beating Butler in the game 2 weeks ago.

I'm not saying it to disparage the league at all. Luck is a part of the game. I think billyjack nailed it when he said that we needed to get out to a hot start as a conference over the first few years- remember me saying on the other board- you don't get a 2nd chance to make a first impression. year 1 was scary. The league was real close to only having 3 teams in. But bounces fell our way. I think what will go down as the biggest week was the Thanksgiving week year 2. Doing as well as we did there was just HUGE, and the league hasn't been the same ever since then....

This year has to pay off in the NCAA tourney though. We need those questions to stop. I'm not saying final 4's or even elite 8's quite frankly. But Nova and Xavier have got to get to the 2nd weekend. They do that- even if they crap out, and things are so different next year IMO perception wise.

[gosports1]

Big East has had some good luck the first 3 years I would say, which has really helped things out....

2 years ago Xavier and PC were both 1 game away from missing the tourney. But as fate would have it, they got those wins...

this year- PC and Butler would look incredibly different with 1 fewer win. Imagine Creighton beating PC in that 50-48 game, and Georgetown beating Butler in the game 2 weeks ago.

I'm not saying it to disparage the league at all. Luck is a part of the game. I think billyjack nailed it when he said that we needed to get out to a hot start as a conference over the first few years- remember me saying on the other board- you don't get a 2nd chance to make a first impression. year 1 was scary. The league was real close to only having 3 teams in. But bounces fell our way. I think what will go down as the biggest week was the Thanksgiving week year 2. Doing as well as we did there was just HUGE, and the league hasn't been the same ever since then....

This year has to pay off in the NCAA tourney though. We need those questions to stop. I'm not saying final 4's or even elite 8's quite frankly. But Nova and Xavier have got to get to the 2nd weekend. They do that- even if they crap out, and things are so different next year IMO perception wise.

What if Butler won the 5 point loss game to nova? What if PC won the one point loss to Marquette? they'd both be 11- 7

[stever20]

Big East has had some good luck the first 3 years I would say, which has really helped things out....

2 years ago Xavier and PC were both 1 game away from missing the tourney. But as fate would have it, they got those wins...

this year- PC and Butler would look incredibly different with 1 fewer win. Imagine Creighton beating PC in that 50-48 game, and Georgetown beating Butler in the game 2 weeks ago.

I'm not saying it to disparage the league at all. Luck is a part of the game. I think billyjack nailed it when he said that we needed to get out to a hot start as a conference over the first few years- remember me saying on the other board- you don't get a 2nd chance to make a first impression. year 1 was scary. The league was real close to only having 3 teams in. But bounces fell our way. I think what will go down as the biggest week was the Thanksgiving week year 2. Doing as well as we did there was just HUGE, and the league hasn't been the same ever since then....

This year has to pay off in the NCAA tourney though. We need those questions to stop. I'm not saying final 4's or even elite 8's quite frankly. But Nova and Xavier have got to get to the 2nd weekend. They do that- even if they crap out, and things are so different next year IMO perception wise.

What if Butler won the 5 point loss game to nova? What if PC won the one point loss to Marquette? they'd both be 11- 7

I agree with you the what if game can go both ways.. In your scenarios- PC and Butler would be obviously a lot more comfortable- away from the possible 8/9 line and closer to a 6. But there again- Nova would likely need to win the BET to have any shot at a 1 seed- so not a zero sum situation with that one. It's a lot more dire if those wins had gone the other way.

[anXUfan]

I'm sorry - why are we playing these "if" games again? What's the point? Seems like you could go on and on for ever, with any team, with any conference.

I agree with the original poster. Three years in, the Big East is a fantastic league. To me, with its emphasis on basketball, its northeast geography, its institutional alignment, its true round robin schedule, and it's rock solid financials, the Big East is a model for the college basketball world. I'm ecstatic my team's a part of it.