Will you use Crayon next time?
I am not making this up. We (UConn ... Jim Calhoun) are the best example. But Providence & Seton Hall & St. John's have had high-water marks in this conference. When they aren't good (and that generally means they can beat 11 Atlantic 10 schools), they get embarassed in the Big East. Marquette, I would argue, has been far better since their 2004 inclusion than the previous 8 years. (Cream & Buzz Williams are pretty good). This Conference just forces Programs to play at the Nation's highest level in Hoop. Football? Cincinnati, Louisville, USF, Rutgers & UConn are all better Programs than in 2003.
So ... you need to argue that it won't happen in the future? OK ... because the historical evidence is not convincing. (and I don't give a frig about Hot Rod Hundley in 1959 ... that's not nearly as relevant as the Phi Slamma Jamma. Yes, suddenly schools had Black players.)
The point is that Marquette was a good team
before they joined the Big East. They've been a good team since joining the Big East. Cincinnati was a good team
before joining the Big East. They had
14 consecutive NCAA tournament trips before joining the Big East. Louisville went to the final four the year
before joining the big East and had 7 trips in the previous 10 years including an Elite 8 as well as the Final Four. They were the top programs not in a major conference. That was the very reason they were brought into the Big East..You could make a case that UConn and UConn alone was the one program that really moved to the next level as a result of the Big East. All the others either were or had been good to very good before the Big East. On the other hand, programs that were nothing when they joined, Rutgers, USF, have moved up marginally. USF's first NCAA bid in its Big East history hardly demonstrates they are ready to become an elite program. Wake me when Rutgers actually wins something, ok? And you dismiss the decline of Providence, Seton Hall, St Johns (yes, the johnnies are no where near what they were a decade ago). Not sure that any of them have their high water marks in the Big East. Hell, St Johns was the eastern power forever. Providence was New England basketball from the middle 1950s through the 80s. Programs like BC, UConn, Holy Cross, UMass had moments, but it was the Friars who played and won on a national level for most of that period. West Virginia improved but it wasn't like they were starting at ground zero either. They had NCAA tournament appearances and conference Championships in the late 80s and early 90s before coming in in 1995.
Somehow, Pudge, you have this idea that all these programs were barely playing above the NESCAC. It smply isn't the case. Most of them were good to excellent programs that remained good to excellent programs.