Those Big 5 teams exposed Nova by playing zone against them. Nova has since adapted and the zone doesn't bother them as much. It's better to have your weaknesses exposed during the regular season than to find out in the post season. I remember an interview with Hurley where he said Xavier exposed a weakness in our offense that put us in the January swoon. The offense was adjusted and the rest is history.If Nova didn't tank the Big5 series they would already be safely in the tourney