Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="DarthGrumpy, post: 2958000, member: 2141"] The old Big East's foundation was cracking almost right from the start in 1979 between the small urban Catholic colleges (Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Georgetown) whose focus was on basketball and the larger football sponsoring universities (Boston College and Syracuse). UConn and Villanova were the two in-between programs that were basketball first while also supporting football This divsiosn showed-up in a fatal way in 1982 when the Big East voted 5 for and 3 against to add Penn State where 6 votes (2/3 super majority) were needed to approve a new member. Via an interview in the Times with Gavitt, it is known that the 5 'yes' votes were BC, Syracuse, UConn, Providence, and Hall while St. John's, Georgetown, and Villanove voted 'no.' Pitt was added later on a 6-2 vote with Villanova flipping, likley as they saw Pitt as less of a threat than Penn St. Consider this, when the old Big East was formed in 1979, Holy Cross and Rutgers said no. It is up for debate if Holy Cross saying 'no' opened the door for UConn or was UConn already going to be be invited. Let's say both school said 'yes' instead and UConn was also invited. In that scenario, the vote goes 7 to 3 as both football friendly Holy Cross (arguably a stronger athletic power in basketball and football at that time than BC) and Rutgers vote 'yes' giving Penn St the super majority it needs as the 11th member. Pitt is then added the 12th member later in 1982. Then, 1991 rolls around and the Big East grabs U Miami (#13), which also pulls along Florida St (#14) as the Seminoles choose a more football 'friendly' Big East over tobacco road basketball in the ACC. Concurrently, Virginia Tech (#15) and West Virginia (#16) join to help fill in the geographic gap. So, by 1994, the old Big East looks like this: [LIST] [*]Football (Major): 1) BC, 2) Holy Cross, 3) Syracuse, 4) Rutgers, 5) Pitt, 6) Penn St, 7) West Virginia, 8) Virginia Tech, 9) Florida St, 10) U Miami [*]Basketball - North: 1) BC, 2) Holy Cross, 3) Providence, 4) UConn, 5) Syracuse, 6) St. John's, 7) Seton Hall, 8) Georgetown; South: 9) Rutgers, 10) Pitt, 11) Penn St, 12) Villanova, 13) West Virginia, 14) Virginia Tech, 15) Florida St, 16) U Miami [/LIST] So from 1979 to 1994, the old Big East has potential elected football national champions in Penn St ('82, '86, '94) U Miami ('91) and Florida St ('92, '93, '94). In basketball, Georgetown ('84) and Villanova ('85) collect titles while Georgetown ('82, '85), Syracuse ('87), and Hall ('89) all have near misses. In 1997 in an effort to get to a easier to manage 12 football teams, the old Big East asks UConn and Villanova to upgrade; but, Villanova declines, which allows the Catholic/Small School issue to fester. Nevertheless, from 1995 to 2005, the old Big East adds football championships with Florida St ('96, '99), and U Miami ('00, '01) plus basketball titles with UConn ('99, '04) and Syracuse ('03) and a near miss by Syracuse ('96). During the same time, the ACC has 0 national football championships and 3 basketball titles. So with football driving the bus, who raids who in 2005? The Catholics/Small Schools see the writing on the wall that football is king and do separate to form a new conference (maybe reviving the old Metro name in the process). But, even without those schools, the Big East is still in the driver's seat over the basketball-centric ACC and on nearly equal footing to the B1G. ND, which is football first and still has issues with the B1, forms an alliacne with the Biog East instead of the ACC. Shortly after, the football-first ACC schools see the same future and move in bulk from the ACC to the Big East to fill in the recenly vacataed spots and, which actually strengthens the league. Although now locked out of the NYC market, the B1G does well snatching-up the bigger Tobacco road schools that widen it's footprint and enahnces their basketball and academic cred. The Metro looks at Barlcay's, Comcast, and Verizon to host their basketbal galla while a the Big East Tournamnet stays at MSG and continues to be a big draw (the Orange Bowl hosts the Big East football championship game, which makes everyone happy). So, by 2018, the Big East and others lool like this: [LIST] [*]Big East - North: 1) BC, 2) Holy Cross, 3) UConn, 4) Syracuse, 5) Rutgers, 6) Penn St, 7) Pitt, 8) ND; South: 9) Virginia Tech, 10) West Virginia, 11) Louisville, 12) NC State, 13) Clemson, 14) Georgia Tech, 15) Florida St, 16) U Miami [*]B1G - East: 1) Duke, 2) UNC, 3) UVA, 4) Maryland, 5) Ohio St, 6) Michigan, 7) Michigan St, 8) Indiana; West: 9) Purdue, 10) Illinois, 11) Northwestern, 12) Wisconsin, 13) Minnesota, 14) Nebraska, 15) Kansas, 16) Missouri [*]ACC note: Wake Forest? [*]Metro - East: 1) Providence, 2) St. John's, 3) Fordham, 4) Seton Hall, 5) Villanova, 7) St. Joesph's, 7) Georgetown; West: 9) St. Bonnaventure, 10) Duquesne, 11) Dayton, 12) Xavier, 13) Butler, 14) DePaul, 15) Creighton, 16) St. Louis [/LIST] [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach