2016-17 Season: The Most Important Yet

[scoscox]

They tweeted something about the Big East winning it's last 6 consecutive title game appearances this morning. Relax. The Big East is getting it's due respect. The battle for relevancy and exposure on ESPN is constantly being waged. They get bombarded by alumni groups claims of bias every day. Our small schools don't always have the alumni firepower to keep up sometimes that's just the way it is. Still, I don't think they've shown any bias towards the Big East at all.

[DudeAnon]

They tweeted something about the Big East winning it's last 6 consecutive title game appearances this morning. Relax. The Big East is getting it's due respect. The battle for relevancy and exposure on ESPN is constantly being waged. They get bombarded by alumni groups claims of bias every day. Our small schools don't always have the alumni firepower to keep up sometimes that's just the way it is. Still, I don't think they've shown any bias towards the Big East at all.

Front page of ESPN.com is not a picture of the National Championship winners of possibly the great NC game ever. But rather a picture of Duke.



I used to think ESPN was way too big to take any kind of petty stance against the Big East. I have been proven wrong multiple times since then.

[scoscox]

They tweeted something about the Big East winning it's last 6 consecutive title game appearances this morning. Relax. The Big East is getting it's due respect. The battle for relevancy and exposure on ESPN is constantly being waged. They get bombarded by alumni groups claims of bias every day. Our small schools don't always have the alumni firepower to keep up sometimes that's just the way it is. Still, I don't think they've shown any bias towards the Big East at all.

Front page of ESPN.com is not a picture of the National Championship winners of possibly the great NC game ever. But rather a picture of Duke.



I used to think ESPN was way too big to take any kind of petty stance against the Big East. I have been proven wrong multiple times since then.

Fair, but they've been publishing this article every year for a few years now right after the final. Every other article is all Nova. I'll admit, the one thing that irks me is Skip Bayless saying there should be co-champs. North Carolina in no way earned that. That diminishes the hell out of what Nova just did. UNC was the darling all year for nothing that they earned, people just kept saying they were the best team regardless of how they performed, while Nova was actually busy being the best team and came in and proved it unequivocally every game in the tournament. Nova played, while everybody else played around. They made a statement. They told everybody that they could take their predictions and shove it. A team that went out and earned it every night. Absurd comment. In no way do I feel for North Carolina.

That being said, I still don't think they're actively trying to keep the Big East down. Besides, it doesn't matter if you win.

[anXUfan]

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.

Kickass post.

[bluejayfanatic]

All we've heard for the last 3 years is how the Big East is a good, but not great, league. It's deep and balanced but it just doesn't have that "elite" team or 2 capable of winning a national championship. That myth, and that narrative, is now dead. Thank you, Villanova! Now it's somebody else's turn to step up to the plate. We need to get multiple teams to the FF over the next 3-5 years while we're still a relatively "new" league to crush any lingering chatter questioning what is undoubtedly a Top-3 basketball power conference in the Big East.

[stever20]

All we've heard for the last 3 years is how the Big East is a good, but not great, league. It's deep and balanced but it just doesn't have that "elite" team or 2 capable of winning a national championship. That myth, and that narrative, is now dead. Thank you, Villanova! Now it's somebody else's turn to step up to the plate. We need to get multiple teams to the FF over the next 3-5 years while we're still a relatively "new" league to crush any lingering chatter questioning what is undoubtedly a Top-3 basketball power conference in the Big East.

I'd say it's really a top 4. ACC, Big East, Big 12, and Big Ten.

[milksteak]

All we've heard for the last 3 years is how the Big East is a good, but not great, league. It's deep and balanced but it just doesn't have that "elite" team or 2 capable of winning a national championship. That myth, and that narrative, is now dead. Thank you, Villanova! Now it's somebody else's turn to step up to the plate. We need to get multiple teams to the FF over the next 3-5 years while we're still a relatively "new" league to crush any lingering chatter questioning what is undoubtedly a Top-3 basketball power conference in the Big East.

I'd say it's really a top 4. ACC, Big East, Big 12, and Big Ten.

The "New" Big East and the Big 12 have the same number of titles form formation to present (Kansas 2008). The Big 12 formed in 1994.

The "New" Big East and the Big Ten have the same number of titles since 1990. Maryland was a member of the ACC in 2002.

I don't necessarily disagree that it is a top four league, though.

[MackNova]

Duke is on the front page because they're #1 in the rankings.... What's the problem? (Duke also gets more clicks than Villanova).

And the reason why the rest of the country talks more about Villanova than the rest of the league is because Villanova has been significantly better than the rest of the league. Xavier will begin to get more attention if they back up 2015-16 with a great year next year. Providence got attention with Dunn and Creighton got attention with McDermott.

You have to earn respect to get respect. The league deserves to be up there with some of the "Power 5" leagues. We'll never have the depth of elite teams that some of the other schools have, but we'll have a bunch of solid teams every year, and hopefully we can keep growing from there.

[SJUBBALL]

Duke is on the front page because they're #1 in the rankings.... What's the problem? (Duke also gets more clicks than Villanova).

And the reason why the rest of the country talks more about Villanova than the rest of the league is because Villanova has been significantly better than the rest of the league. Xavier will begin to get more attention if they back up 2015-16 with a great year next year. Providence got attention with Dunn and Creighton got attention with McDermott.

You have to earn respect to get respect. The league deserves to be up there with some of the "Power 5" leagues. We'll never have the depth of elite teams that some of the other schools have, but we'll have a bunch of solid teams every year, and hopefully we can keep growing from there.

Exactly. Which is why this next year is so huge. If our conference follows up a national championship with 3-4 teams in the sweet sixteen, it'd be a helluva statement to the nation

[Masterofreality]

Part of the importance is for everyone to come out strong early and do a solid job in the Non Con. X needs to win the Puerto Rico Tourney and league teams can't afford losses to people like Radford, UNC Asheville or Belmont. Also need to do a good job- at least split- in the Gavitt Challenge.
We won't win them all but avoid face blotches.