Big East street cred

[selles]

The Big East was widely regarded as the best conference in the country for the last decade of its existence. How much of that were we directly responsible for with our tourney performances? I think a legit argument can be made that it's not far shy of 50 percent. With the occasional exception, most of these other jokers haven't been able to get out of their own way in March. Without our runs, there's no way the Big East would have had its dominant reputation.

 

[Jimdish255]

Yes and... what we've accomplished will become more appreciated as time goes by. What we will accomplish is sure to be recognized similarly because of the situation we are currently in. Here we go again as the underdog and it suits our stubbornness well.

 

[UCFBfan]

So the Big East has Marquette, Creighton, and Butler left (ND has yet to play but I'm chalking up a loss already). Whatever we call ourselves has Memphis and Temple. Yet we've only had Cincy bow out and they've had 'Nova, G-Town, and possibly ND? Plus Marquette barely won and should have lost. It will definitely be interesting to see how perception changes, if it does, of the new version of the Big East.

 

[selles]

Yes and... what we've accomplished will become more appreciated as time goes by. What we will accomplish is sure to be recognized similarly because of the situation we are currently in. Here we go again as the underdog and it suits our stubbornness well.

Completely agree.

 

[prankster]

So the Big East has Marquette, Creighton, and Butler left (ND has yet to play but I'm chalking up a loss already). Whatever we call ourselves has Memphis and Temple. Yet we've only had Cincy bow out and they've had 'Nova, G-Town, and possibly ND? Plus Marquette barely won and should have lost. It will definitely be interesting to see how perception changes, if it does, of the new version of the Big East.

Just two years ago it was, in Charles Barkley's estimation, "The Big Least". Had UConn not won it all, his characterization would have been validated.

Today........

 

[superjohn]

Without us the Big East performances in the tourny over the years would be a joke, we have carried this conference.

 

[amory]

The Catholic schools got it in their heads that they were somehow the lifeblood of Big East basketball because the rest of us were too busy worrying about football. They're going to learn (quickly) that that wasn't the case.

I still don't blame them for packing up and leaving. I wish nothing but the worst for each of them, mind you, but it was the smart move for them given the situation.

 

[Inyatkin]

It helps prove how little conference matters. As long as you've got a basically credible situation and you're not struggling to break out in the MAAC or whatever, it's about the team. UConn more than carried its weight for years, with no help from its more storied conference mates.
2011 is a good example. It was almost a historic flameout -- 11 teams and 9 out in the first weekend. But we won the title, so who cares?

 

[msgordon]

its not a coincidence that all of these Big East teams struggle in the NCAAs. its actually the opposite. Gtown and their Princenton offense, Cuse and their zone, Notre Dame and their burn, Pitt and their clutch-and-hold muck up the game D. there are obviously benefits to all of these things, but these teams have no idea how to adjust and get completely thrown off their game way too often in the one-and-done format.

 

[RS9999X]

So the Big East has Marquette, Creighton, and Butler left (ND has yet to play but I'm chalking up a loss already). t.

Good call on Notre Dame. Simply a killing going on.

 

[husky91]

Big East blows this years, awful. Breaking into 20 pieces, so who cares, but bad year. Only legit team is Ville.

 

[mauconnfan]

duckk them all..........wish Cincy pulled it out and while I hope LVille keeps winning, I don't really care!

They wish they had UConn to carry that banner as usual again, to keep the league from the embarrassment it has brought upon itself yet again!! LOL.......Cuse next!

 

[amory]

Deuces, Irish. Another one bites the dust,

 

[upstater]

its not a coincidence that all of these Big East teams struggle in the NCAAs. its actually the opposite. Gtown and their Princenton offense, Cuse and their zone, Notre Dame and their burn, Pitt and their clutch-and-hold muck up the game D. there are obviously benefits to all of these things, but these teams have no idea how to adjust and get completely thrown off their game way too often in the one-and-done format.

The reason UConn goes 9-9 in the BE regular season, and 23-0 out of conference against the best teams in America, is because of the style a play in the BE and because the refs never called a foul on players hacking Kemba. Is it just coincidence that Kemba was a 50% FG shooter outside BE regular season play, and 40% in season? Hansbrough, for heaven's sake, was Big East Player of then Year!!! One coach didn't even vote Kemba for first team!!!!

 

[BFieldHusky]

Love Brey after the game. Didn't they sign him to a 10 year contract recently? Like Pitt he will get 20 wins, do nothing in the BET, and then lose 1st round in the NCAAs. And apparently that is worth a 10 year extension.

But the bedeviling wasn't in the details. It was in a fifth NCAA tournament loss in six games dating back to 2008, and continued aggravation at postseason flameouts that seem as routine as the NCAA invites.
"I think about it all the time," Brey said. "I thought about it at halftime: How do you take the next step? We've maxed it out in all other areas.
"It's a hard one to swallow. It'll bother everyone for a while, and it should."

 

[prankster]

The reason UConn goes 9-9 in the BE regular season, and 23-0 out of conference against the best teams in America, is because of the style a play in the BE and because the refs never called a foul on players hacking Kemba. Is it just coincidence that Kemba was a 50% FG shooter outside BE regular season play, and 40% in season? Hansbrough, for heaven's sake, was Big East Player of then Year!!! One coach didn't even vote Kemba for first team!!!!

Looking ahead, this scares me a bit, about our new league....

UConn plays through all of the gauntlet of Big East play....and get better for learning from it, practicing harder and getting better, because of it.

So many of our (former) Big East foes have come to rely on that style of play for their "success". (Witness Georgetown reverting to "physical" play as their day started to fall apart.)

Our new league might not present those same challenges, going forward.

 

[upstater]

Looking ahead, this scares me a bit, about our new league....

UConn plays through all of the gauntlet of Big East play....and get better for learning from it, practicing harder and getting better, because of it.

So many of our (former) Big East foes have come to rely on that style of play for their "success". (Witness Georgetown reverting to "physical" play as their day started to fall apart.)

Our new league might not present those same challenges, going forward.

A great point, if subtle.

 

[freescooter]

It has been my view for a while that the Big East has generally been overrated especially over the past decade. In 2009 it was very good and in 2011 UConn saved the day by winning it all after everyone else flamed out. But for the most part its reputation is far better than its performance. Part of it is depth. there were lots of good teams, but few really elite one. 2004 UConn might have been the last truly elite Big East team. The 2001 team was good, had the best player in the country and faced a year where there were no truly elite teams. So things like RPI and similar ranking systems which overvalue strength of schedule caused people to over-rate the league. When Big East teams get into the Tournament, against other good teams they get shown up as no better than anyone else. that has been the case for a while now.

 

[Robertelamin]

No one cares about your views freescooter.

 

[freescooter]

No one cares about your views freescooter.

Nor yours, bobbo...

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Without us the Big East performances in the tourny over the years would be a joke, we have carried this conference.

I'll take this one step further (from a thought I had from last week's SI cover photo). Take away the 1981 BE recruiting class (Ewing, Mullin, Pinckney) and the BE is basically us for the past two decades and a stray good season here or there by a few other schools (and one Cuse title). To avoid the "aside from that Mrs Lincoln how did you enjoy the play?" response, you can take away any one recruiting class from us and we'd still have two national titles and plenty of BE regular season and tournament titles.

 

[UConn76]

The Catholic schools got it in their heads that they were somehow the lifeblood of Big East basketball because the rest of us were too busy worrying about football. They're going to learn (quickly) that that wasn't the case.

I still don't blame them for packing up and leaving. I wish nothing but the worst for each of them, mind you, but it was the smart move for them given the situation.

Reality is that the better teams that are left (Hoyas, Nova, Marquette) should have better records as they won't have to face UConn, Syracuse, Louisville...

 

[freescooter]

I do agree though that really since the early 1990s UConn has been carrying the water for the Big East. Others occasionally have good teams but the one everyone depended on year in year out to represent was the big Dog from Storrs. As I said, the league had a bunch of good teams, though in part that was a function of having 16 while everyone else had 10-12. But few of them were capable of going deep most years.