Reading Sunday Bracketology predictors, the Big East may only be getting 3 NCAA men's bids. Congrats to the teams (i.e., NC State, Oregon and Temple) that unexpectedly won their conference tournaments, but it is unfortunate for the league if none of St. Johns, Seton Hall and Providence gets invited to the Big Dance. St. Johns had a good late season run, Providence made some noise in the Big East Tournament and Seton Hall had a good regular season showing. Other than being members of more nationally favored conferences, why should teams like Oklahoma and Michigan State get invited ahead of these Big East teams? Oklahoma is 20-12 overall, but has a losing record at 8-10 in conference. At 19-14 overall (14 losses which are comparable to Villanova), Michigan State lost to James Madison at home and has no great out-of-conference wins, losing to Duke and Arizona. Those schools seem to benefit by being able to accumulate more regular season wins from conferences with more members.
Maybe the Big East should prioritize adding more schools? This might provide more in-conference games and allow for more opportunities for teams to separate themselves from the middle of the pack and lower teams in conference. While there aren't any no-brainer expansion candidates, schools like VCU, Dayton, Florida Atlantic and Loyola of Chicago (as a potential local rival for Depaul) might be able to improve their national standing from becoming part of the Big East, the way Creighton has done it. Or maybe something bold should be tried like merging some of the top West Coast Conference Schools (Gonzaga, St. Mary's, Univ. of San Francisco, etc.) into a new separate division with existing midwestern Big East schools? The University Presidents should consider pushing the Commissioner to expand now or starting to look for a new dynamic commissioner. This expansion might be leveraged in a way to create more conference revenue as well. Through aggressive expansion, Brett Yormark has rescued the Big 12 from a potential downward specter created by Texas and Oklahoma leaving.
Maybe the Big East should prioritize adding more schools? This might provide more in-conference games and allow for more opportunities for teams to separate themselves from the middle of the pack and lower teams in conference. While there aren't any no-brainer expansion candidates, schools like VCU, Dayton, Florida Atlantic and Loyola of Chicago (as a potential local rival for Depaul) might be able to improve their national standing from becoming part of the Big East, the way Creighton has done it. Or maybe something bold should be tried like merging some of the top West Coast Conference Schools (Gonzaga, St. Mary's, Univ. of San Francisco, etc.) into a new separate division with existing midwestern Big East schools? The University Presidents should consider pushing the Commissioner to expand now or starting to look for a new dynamic commissioner. This expansion might be leveraged in a way to create more conference revenue as well. Through aggressive expansion, Brett Yormark has rescued the Big 12 from a potential downward specter created by Texas and Oklahoma leaving.