2016-17 Season: The Most Important Yet

[SJUBBALL]

First I wanna say congrats to nova on the national championship. They deserved it and were the better team last night and they were the best team in the entire tournament. That shot will be cherished forever.


For the rest of us, welcome to the offseason leading up to the most important season of the new big east. I can see the ESPN and the gottileb narrative now. In fact Doug already tweeted this once. The narrative is going to be is the big east a complete conference, or just Villanova? We all know what this conference has, and that's 10 great programs, but the perception of the new big east, while so much better than what it was before the tournament, still needs work. There's work to be done. Nova has done their part. They have more than done their part. They did their part when they beat Kansas, the rest was icing on the cake.

But now, eyes will be on the big east for real. The lights will be brighter next year. And we need to show up. In non conference, conference, conference tournament, and the NCAAs, this is the most important season in the new big east. Good luck to all

[stever20]

dude, even stever thinks it's too early for a thread like that. Lets stop and enjoy the coffee for 24 hours at least!!!!

[Hall2012]

I agree we need to start getting multiple teams into the second weekend, but this was still a huge step. A major point of criticism directed at the BE this year was the suggestion that Villanova's overrated and nobody else in the league can beat them, so the league is terrible and Nova's just fattening their record against bad teams. Well, this national championship completely disproves that theory and the result should be more respect for the rest of the league next year- especially anyone who beats the wildcats. Even with their lofty ranking, most people who didn't follow this league didn't truly consider Villanova to be a true title contender. With everyone now knowing what we have all season- Nova should have been a 1 seed, maybe Xavier too, and Seton Hall and Providence both deserved more respect from the committee as well.

[SJUBBALL]

We have a thread discussing 2016-17 preseason rankings so I didn't think there'd be a problem with this thread

[Michael in Raleigh]

The idea that the Big East still has to prove something is unfortunate. It certainly doesn't have to prove anything to me. I'm sold.

Any analyst like Gottlieb who doesn't think the Big East, as a whole, is a power conference by now is stupid. The Pac 12 and SEC cannot possibly be power conferences in basketball if the Big East isn't.

Maybe the comparisons are just to the ACC, Big Ten, or Big 12. I think those comparisons are nitpicky. It is still a great league.

Maybe the comparisons are to the old Big East, whether it was the 80s version or the 16-team version. Whatever.

It's a power conference for basketball. Period. It would be great for the league to get two teams in the Final Four, or more teams in the Elite 8 or Sweet Sixteen, but that shouldn't be a requirement.

Consider: In 2014, Virginia was the only ACC team in a 15-team conference to survive the first weekend, and they didn't make it past the Round of 16. No one questioned whether the ACC was a power league. There were no FF teams between 2011 and 2014. It was still considered a great league.

The Pac 12 hasn't had a FF since 2008. It doesn't matter. That's still a power conference with good basketball.

The SEC has basically no depth, over time, beyond Kentucky and Florida. It is still a power conference.

The Big 12 has had two of its teams win three national championships ever: Kansas, three times spread out over 50 years. It's still a power conference.

And so on.

It is almost as though some believe the Big East has to have 8 tournament teams in a ten team conference, six in the Sweet 16, 4 in the Elite 8, and 3 in the FF. That's ridiculous.

Some years BE teams will get upset early. That's okay. This conference is built to stand the test of time. The Big East doesn't have to prove anything. It's secure.

[DudeAnon]

The idea that the Big East still has to prove something is unfortunate. It certainly doesn't have to prove anything to me. I'm sold.

Any analyst like Gottlieb who doesn't think the Big East, as a whole, is a power conference by now is stupid. The Pac 12 and SEC cannot possibly be power conferences in basketball if the Big East isn't.

Maybe the comparisons are just to the ACC, Big Ten, or Big 12. I think those comparisons are nitpicky. It is still a great league.

Maybe the comparisons are to the old Big East, whether it was the 80s version or the 16-team version. Whatever.

It's a power conference for basketball. Period. It would be great for the league to get two teams in the Final Four, or more teams in the Elite 8 or Sweet Sixteen, but that shouldn't be a requirement.

Consider: In 2014, Virginia was the only ACC team in a 15-team conference to survive the first weekend, and they didn't make it past the Round of 16. No one questioned whether the ACC was a power league. There were no FF teams between 2011 and 2014. It was still considered a great league.

The Pac 12 hasn't had a FF since 2008. It doesn't matter. That's still a power conference with good basketball.

The SEC has basically no depth, over time, beyond Kentucky and Florida. It is still a power conference.

The Big 12 has had two of its teams win three national championships ever: Kansas, three times spread out over 50 years. It's still a power conference.

And so on.

It is almost as though some believe the Big East has to have 8 tournament teams in a ten team conference, six in the Sweet 16, 4 in the Elite 8, and 3 in the FF. That's ridiculous.

Some years BE teams will get upset early. That's okay. This conference is built to stand the test of time. The Big East doesn't have to prove anything. It's secure.

This guy is my favorite poster.

[ecasadoSBU]

The conference has nothing to prove at this point. It's basically up there with the ACC/BIG/B12. The problem is that ESPN will continue to harass and diminish the Big East every chance they get. They will ignore, not hype it up, and will try their best keep that wall up between the major football leagues and the Big East basketball. The wall has collapsed, but they will start rebuilding it tomorrow. It's for their best interest to diminish the Big East. Is for our league's best interests to continue to be successful and to unified with the "US against the world" mentality that has been so successful so far among coaches, fans, and league administrators. Reality is that no one wants to lose viewers to Fox Sports 1 or CBSSN, or to any one. This is a dirty business and when you are ESPN and have basically owned College Basketball and College Football for so long - it's painful for them to have to cover a Villanova Championship knowing that Fox not Disney will reap the benefits.

[stever20]

The conference has nothing to prove at this point. It's basically up there with the ACC/BIG/B12. The problem is that ESPN will continue to harass and diminish the Big East every chance they get. They will ignore, not hype it up, and will try their best keep that wall up between the major football leagues and the Big East basketball. The wall has collapsed, but they will start rebuilding it tomorrow. It's for the best interest. No one wants to lose viewers to Fox Sports 1 or CBSSN, or to any one. This is a dirty business and when you are ESPN and have basically owned College Basketball and College Football for so long - it's painful for them to have to cover a Villanova Championship knowing that Fox not Disney will reap the benefits.

Nova will be on ESPN though at least 3 times with the Charleston tournament, and probably the Gavitt game will be on the road(given they were home this year). So 4 of their first 5 or 6 games will be on ESPN next year. And might have a game with Notre Dame that could be on ESPN as well.... Just looking at the site with the future schedules- Nova's home games- Temple, St Joe's, Virginia(in Feb think I heard), and then most likely buy games.

[ecasadoSBU]

The conference has nothing to prove at this point. It's basically up there with the ACC/BIG/B12. The problem is that ESPN will continue to harass and diminish the Big East every chance they get. They will ignore, not hype it up, and will try their best keep that wall up between the major football leagues and the Big East basketball. The wall has collapsed, but they will start rebuilding it tomorrow. It's for the best interest. No one wants to lose viewers to Fox Sports 1 or CBSSN, or to any one. This is a dirty business and when you are ESPN and have basically owned College Basketball and College Football for so long - it's painful for them to have to cover a Villanova Championship knowing that Fox not Disney will reap the benefits.

Nova will be on ESPN though at least 3 times with the Charleston tournament, and probably the Gavitt game will be on the road(given they were home this year). So 4 of their first 5 or 6 games will be on ESPN next year. And might have a game with Notre Dame that could be on ESPN as well.... Just looking at the site with the future schedules- Nova's home games- Temple, St Joe's, Virginia(in Feb think I heard), and then most likely buy games.

Yes but notice how ESPN focuses on NOVA! It's all about Nova or the particular Big East team playing on their channel that night (I think only one announcer mentioned how this win is a testament of how great the Big East is). When Nova wins, its only Nova, etc. When any ACC team wins its all about how good that league is and how dominant that league is. I'm not saying that ESPN won't give airtime to the best teams in our league. What I'm saying is that they avoid hyping the Big East like they do with other conferences and we know that in this business when there is no hype, people don't hear about you

[stever20]

you notice though look at the tournaments.....
Georgetown in Maui invitational.
Marquette- 2k sports classic
Seton Hall- Advocare classic
St John's- Battle 4 Atlantis
Xavier- Puerto Rico Tip Off

So Xavier, Nova, Seton Hall all in ESPN tournaments. That's the top 3 teams with the 1st big games of the year. Also the 4 road Gavitt games all will get big air(Nova big there).