30 for 30....Requiem for the Big East

[MattMang23]

I only have one problem with this. The Big East hasn't fallen. Actually I think it was saved from falling by actually going back to its roots: Basketball. I think the Big East has a very bright future under its new configuration and if ever needs to reload, it has plenty of teams it can take from the Atlantic-10. ESPN continue to create the perception (for business reasons, revenge against FS1, or whatever it is) that the Big East is gone from the earth. Seven basketball-oriented members remain and three modern basketball program joined the league.

The Big East has 10 members and at-least five members with legitimate chances of making the NCAA tourney this year. Is ranked fourth in RPI and has two out of 10 teams in the top 25. Give this league a few more years, raid the A-10 and the league is back getting six-eight bids under a more stable situation without King Football messing things up.

ESPN is fcking dirty. I still don't understand how some folks here have such a loyalty to that network after seeing how they almost destroyed Connecticut with all this CR crap

Only problem with your argument: That conference masquerading as the Big East is not the Big East. Buying the name doesn't make you the conference.

 

[specialisthusky]

"The film is told primarily through the lens of famed Big East coaches such as Jim Boeheim, Lou Carnesecca, Rick Pitino and John Thompson, former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, and some of its most iconic players like Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin and Ed Pinckney. It chronicles the rivalries and successes that led many of them to become household names."

http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-r...nces-next-30-30-documentary-requiem-big-east/

Does anyone know whether Calhoun was asked to be a part of it or did he decline?

Borges responded, to of all people, HFD on twitter that JC was interviewed for the program.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Only problem with your argument: That conference masquerading as the Big East is not the Big East. Buying the name doesn't make you the conference.

I don't get the hostility towards the basketball schools. They stuck it out as long as anyone could have reasonably expected. UConn got stabbed in the back by Syracuse, TCU, Pitt, Rutgers and WVU, who would have picked up buckets of money if they had just stuck together. They still ended up getting paid, but left USF, Cincinnati and UConn to die.

 

[whaler11]

The funny thing about all you guys who claim "it was just business" is that you fail to recognize that it would have been a lot cheaper for ESPN to pay the Big East market than do what happened. ESPN ended up paying almost $300MM a year for Louisville, Pitt and Syracuse, and Notre Dame's basketball program, and about half the games of TCU and WVU. That doesn't count the uptick they will have to pay the Big 10 for Rutgers. It was about as bad a business decision as ESPN could have made, and they apparently did it to teach the Big East a lesson. Every Big East school but UConn, USF and Cincinnati doubled their revenue by telling ESPN to buzz off.

Which is sort of evidence they aren't the evil mastermind they are portrayed to be.... Since they paid more for less in the end.

 

[Husky25]

At the end of it, John Swofford bursts into the Big East's offices and hits Mike Tranghese in the knee with a crowbar.

Cut to Tranghese rolling around on the floor yelling in a whiny voice, "WHY?!?!?!?!?! WHY?!?!?!?!," as Swofford jumps head first through a plate glass door.

 

[John Greene]

Which is sort of evidence they aren't the evil mastermind they are portrayed to be.... Since they paid more for less in the end.

Is there a rule that one cannot be an evil mastermind and stupid at the same time? I think not, some posters here prove the compatibility of the two all the time.

 

[metsfan2323]

Only problem with your argument: That conference masquerading as the Big East is not the Big East. Buying the name doesn't make you the conference.

actually the current "Big East" does very much resemble the conference of the 80's minus Syracuse. The 80's was dominated by Georgetown, St John's, Villanova, Syracuse and Seton Hall and Providence made it to the final four in the late 80's. The C5 and Syracuse were the big guns in the 80's.

Big East basketball is alive and well, Big East football no longer exists. ESPN is interviewing the wrong group of people, Paul Pasqualoni is the coach they should have interviewed for their requiem and the show should be airing in August prior to football season.

 

[UConn9604]

My prediction for the show: extensive interviews with Boeheim and Pitino talking about their programs' success and how they will carry it into the ACC and tons of 80s coverage to remind us that St John's and Providence used to good. I'd be shocked if UCONN's 90s dominance and 2000s championship records are even mentioned.

My guess is that the video will emphasize the 1980s, ignore the 1990s or 2000s, and describe the downfall of the 2010s as entirely inevitable and no one's fault. Their press release failed to even reference the team that had as many national championships as Georgetown, Syracuse, St. John's, Pittsburgh, Villanova and Seton Hall combined.

The video will probably treat Carnesecca and Carlesimo as peers, or even superiors, to Calhoun, which is as utterly stupid as it sounds.

 

[whaler11]

Is there a rule that one cannot be an evil mastermind and stupid at the same time? I think not, some posters here prove the compatibility of the two all the time.

Evil and stupid sure. Mastermind seems a bit contradictory.

 

[whaler11]

Based on everyone predicting it will be terrible I'm assuming it's going to be excellent.

 

[Carl Spackler]

actually the current "Big East" does very much resemble the conference of the 80's minus Syracuse. The 80's was dominated by Georgetown, St John's, Villanova, Syracuse and Seton Hall and Providence made it to the final four in the late 80's. The C5 and Syracuse were the big guns in the 80's.

Big East basketball is alive and well, Big East football no longer exists. ESPN is interviewing the wrong group of people, Paul Pasqualoni is the coach they should have interviewed for their requiem and the show should be airing in August prior to football season.

Exactly. i'll either watch the entire thing, or turn it off after the first 30 seconds. If it's a basketball thing, then it's wrong and I'll turn it off. The coaches and administrators that matter in a subject called "Requiem for the Big East" are Pasqualoni, Don Nehlen, Butch Davis, Lou Holtz, the most important being Frank Beamer......administrators - the likes of Lew Perkins, Donna Shalala, Father Donohue - because it was Villanova that put the final nail coffin. If it's "Nostalgia for 1980's Big East basketball" - then they should call it that.

Last I checked, I agree with the metsfan - the Big East is still playing basketball, and has a couple of teams that will make it to the national championships tournament. Big East football, very unceremoniously folded up shop and lost it's place in the national championship system that existed for the Big EAst......had it taken away by ESPN's involvement in funding broadcasting intercollegiate football.

I doubt that will be part of the broadcast though. I think Fishy is right - a story about Peter Cottontail would make it into the narrative before that would happen.

 

[whaler11]

The title is quite specific as to what the content is going to be. Of course it's going to be nostalgic for the early days of the basketball league. No one but UConn, Cincinnati and USF fans are mourning the end of the football league.

 

[Carl Spackler]

The title is quite specific as to what the content is going to be. Of course it's going to be nostalgic for the early days of the basketball league. No one but UConn, Cincinnati and USF fans are mourning the end of the football league.

Oh come on whaler, I take you for more astute as a writer than that. If the piece is titled "Requiem for the Big East", and it's not entirely about football played by members of the conference labeled as Big East at one time or another from 1991-2012, as well as the Big East's role in the development of the organizations currently controlling to college football post season, then the title is wrong. Perhaps you don't know what requiem means.

Big East basketball is not dead, big east football is, and the priests at Villanova are the ones that should be holding the mass, if you ask me.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Exactly. i'll either watch the entire thing, or turn it off after the first 30 seconds. If it's a basketball thing, then it's wrong and I'll turn it off. The coaches and administrators that matter in a subject called "Requiem for the Big East" are Pasqualoni, Don Nehlen, Butch Davis, Lou Holtz, the most important being Frank Beamer.administrators - the likes of Lew Perkins, Donna Shalala, Father Donohue - because it was Villanova that put the final nail coffin. If it's "Nostalgia for 1980's Big East basketball" - then they should call it that.

Last I checked, I agree with the metsfan - the Big East is still playing basketball, and has a couple of teams that will make it to the national championships tournament. Big East football, very unceremoniously folded up shop and lost it's place in the national championship system that existed for the Big EAst.had it taken away by ESPN's involvement in funding broadcasting intercollegiate football.

That's not quite true. The BCS no longer exists . It was replaced by a 4 team playoff system in which membership of the P5 is 99% mandatory.
Technically the conference formerly known as the Big East was not dropped.
It's kind of like having a club and rather than expelling a perceived unworthy member,you disband that club and start a new on sans that member.
Much more Genteel.
I doubt that will be part of the broadcast though. I think Fishy is right - a story about Peter Cottontail would make it into the narrative before that would happen.

The Big East heyday was in the 80's as a great top to bottom league. That was a 5 year period.
It went through a stretch without a NC until 1999. There were many stories about its demise until UConn, Syracuse, UConn, UConn,and Louisville won in the last 15 years. That's actually more success than the 80's but that story won't be told for 20 years. By that time the planned destruction of UConn will be a sad historical footnote. The very people who orchestrated that plan will say how sad it is.

 

[CL82]

Odds of it containing some information not previously discussed to death in this forum: 4:1 sound about right?

Odds of it containing anything about ESPN's financing the dismemberment of the league 100,000 to 1 against.

 

[Husky25]

Odds of it containing anything about ESPN's financing the dismemberment of the league 100,000 to 1 against.

Way to go out on a limb.
Lets see...An ESPN production uncovering possibly nefarious actions of their own doing to destroy a league that they once championed for their own benefit and thereby raising evidence to support potential anti-trust proceedings?

I'd say that bet is off the board.

 

[freescooter]

It will also denigrate the basketball schools and blame them for the conference demise, since they are on Fox now.

the demise of the Big East was almost guaranteed when the decision was made to have a football league. Had the Big East football schools been able to maintain independence in football, even in some form of scheduling alliance, the Big East would have continued. But when you had basketball schools that had significantly different agendas it was bound to fail. And being a great basketball conference in the era of big football is comparable to being a great provider of typewriters today.

 

[whaler11]

Oh come on whaler, I take you for more astute as a writer than that. If the piece is titled "Requiem for the Big East", and it's not entirely about football played by members of the conference labeled as Big East at one time or another from 1991-2012, as well as the Big East's role in the development of the organizations currently controlling to college football post season, then the title is wrong. Perhaps you don't know what requiem means.

Big East basketball is not dead, big east football is, and the priests at Villanova are the ones that should be holding the mass, if you ask me.

I know what it means that's how I can predict the content. Almost no one is mouring the end of Big East football. They are mourning the difference between the old Big East basketball league and the current Big East basketball league.

Why would someone program a football documentary to run after the basketball tournament shows? Are you really debating what the subject matter is going to be? Or does one word in the title really bother you because they are interpreting it differently than you?

 

[SubbaBub]

I only have one problem with this. The Big East hasn't fallen. Actually I think it was saved from falling by actually going back to its roots: Basketball. I think the Big East has a very bright future under its new configuration and if ever needs to reload, it has plenty of teams it can take from the Atlantic-10. ESPN continue to create the perception (for business reasons, revenge against FS1, or whatever it is) that the Big East is gone from the earth. Seven basketball-oriented members remain and three modern basketball program joined the league.

The Big East has 10 members and at-least five members with legitimate chances of making the NCAA tourney this year. Is ranked fourth in RPI and has two out of 10 teams in the top 25. Give this league a few more years, raid the A-10 and the league is back getting six-eight bids under a more stable situation without King Football messing things up.

ESPN is fcking dirty. I still don't understand how some folks here have such a loyalty to that network after seeing how they almost destroyed Connecticut with all this CR crap

The BE roots are derived from having multiple teams consistently competing for FF's and winning championships. Which of the NBE teams fit that mold?

Answer? None. (Butler was a nice story in 2010)

 

[Carl Spackler]

I know what it means that's how I can predict the content. Almost no one is mouring the end of Big East football. They are mourning the difference between the old Big East basketball league and the current Big East basketball league.

Why would someone program a football documentary to run after the basketball tournament shows? Are you really debating what the subject matter is going to be? Or does one word in the title really bother you because they are interpreting it differently than you?

The one word in the title really bothers me because they are interpreting it differently than me, and if it means what you say it mean, then it should be "Requiem for the original Big East conference."

 

[Carl Spackler]

The BE roots are derived from having multiple teams consistently competing for FF's and winning championships. Which of the NBE teams fit that mold?

Answer? None. (Butler was a nice story in 2010)

I'm not disagreeing with your overall point, but this is revisionist history. It's already been touched on, that without the likes of UCONN, Louisville, Syracuse, West Virginia, the nostalgia of the Big East in the 1980s basically revolves around early 1980's Georgetown basketball, and the spring of 1985. The year the Big East put 3 teams in the final four. After 1985, Syracuse and Providence made it to the final four in 1987, Seton Hall in 1989, and then no team made it again to the final four until Syracuse in 1996 and UCONN in 1999 - and we all know what happened in 1999, and know the history of who carried the league in the current century.

From 1986-1998 - 12 years - The big east produced 3 final four teams - Cuse twice in 87 & 96, Providence in 87 and Seton Hall in 89. The Big East was a much stronger basketball conference when it comes to the NCAA tournament in the past decade, than it was anytime between 1985 and 2003.

.

 

[Fishy]

The Big East is gone - that Catholic 7 deal is no more the Big East than you're the Queen of England.

 

[Carl Spackler]

The Big East is quite dead to me, which is ironic for discussion purposes here so far, because in that case, for me individually, a Requiem would be linguistically and vocabulary fitting. I assume that comment Fishy, was directed to me. The current Big East, is actually still the Big East conference, as much as the Colonial Athletic would still be the Yankee Conference, if they hadn't muddled everything up around basketball and football to start with,, regardless of how you feel about it, , so technically the statement is not correct.

I could be the Queen of England. So I take no umbrage, in such statement, but had you said "Mary, Queen of Scots", there may have been an issue.

 

[dsturdy5]

BSPN admits that the Big East is gone.

Syracuse joined the ACC in basketball this season, coming over from the now-defunct Big East.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...ll-syracuse-orange-charge-vs-duke-blue-devils

 

[whaler11]

The one word in the title really bothers me because they are interpreting it differently than me, and if it means what you say it mean, then it should be "Requiem for the original Big East conference."

I'm fairly easily annoyed, but even my threshold is higher than the use of a word in the title of a documentary.

 

[whaler11]

The Big East is quite dead to me, which is ironic for discussion purposes here so far, because in that case, for me individually, a Requiem would be linguistically and vocabulary fitting. I assume that comment Fishy, was directed to me. The current Big East, is actually still the Big East conference, as much as the Colonial Athletic would still be the Yankee Conference, if they hadn't muddled everything up around basketball and football to start with,, regardless of how you feel about it, , so technically the statement is not correct.

I could be the Queen of England. So I take no umbrage, in such statement, but had you said "Mary, Queen of Scots", there may have been an issue.

Has it occurred to you yet that whoever made the documentary may feel the same way and therefore the word fits for them?

Being named the Big East and being The Big East are not the same thing.

 

[MattMang23]

I don't get the hostility towards the basketball schools. They stuck it out as long as anyone could have reasonably expected. UConn got stabbed in the back by Syracuse, TCU, Pitt, Rutgers and WVU, who would have picked up buckets of money if they had just stuck together. They still ended up getting paid, but left USF, Cincinnati and UConn to die.

I don't have hostility toward the basketball schools. I just pointed out that the league that calls itself the "Big East" purchased the name.

Why did they have to purchase it? Because they weren't the Big East and didn't have the rights to use the name without buying it.

I wasn't attempting to convey anything hostile.

 

[MattMang23]

actually the current "Big East" does very much resemble the conference of the 80's minus Syracuse. The 80's was dominated by Georgetown, St John's, Villanova, Syracuse and Seton Hall and Providence made it to the final four in the late 80's. The C5 and Syracuse were the big guns in the 80's.

Big East basketball is alive and well, Big East football no longer exists. ESPN is interviewing the wrong group of people, Paul Pasqualoni is the coach they should have interviewed for their requiem and the show should be airing in August prior to football season.

Yes, you're correct regarding the substance of the league.

You're legally incorrect, though. They had to buy the name from the original Big East, the AAC. They had to buy it because they had no rights to the name unless they did, which means the AAC, not the current "Big East" is the legally recognized successor to the original Big East.

 

[Samoo]

This is probably a pretty good idea for a documentary. Unfortunately, the chances of ESPN airing an accurate documentary on the subject rather than revisionist propoganda are slime and none.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Which is sort of evidence they aren't the evil mastermind they are portrayed to be.... Since they paid more for less in the end.

The tough thing about thinking you are in control is that you often are not. ESPN started tipping over dominoes without thinking about other dominoes that would get tipped over next. I firmly believe they though that they would raid Pitt and Syracuse and get the rest for the price of the contract they ultimately signed with the AAC. Fox took the opportunity to pick ESPN's pocket for a ton of content that would have been happy to stay at ESPN for less money as part of the Big East.

By the time the feeding frenzy was done, ESPN had a worthless property in the AAC and had wildly overpaid for the ACC, while losing a ton of content in the process. Nice work.