Is UConn Now The Favorite To Win The Big East Tournament In its First Year Back In The Conference?

[OkaForPrez]

The Big East really had a few iterations. The last one was far and away the best followed by the one from roughly 1980-85 ish. To get where this one stands, in the last true version with Syracuse, WVU, UConn etc the Providences and Seton Halls of the league simply COULD NOT COMPETE. Now they are considered contenders every year.

They were considered contenders for the period where they were recruiting our territory while we languished in the American. They are already falling back as we ascend.

 

[Rocktheworld]

They were considered contenders for the period where they were recruiting our territory while we languished in the American. They are already falling back as we ascend.

Yeah let’s see how their recruiting goes over the next 5 years with DH winning in the BE

 

[tzznandrew]

Yeah let’s see how their recruiting goes over the next 5 years with DH winning in the BE

If they win the BET this year I suspect we're going to see the momentum in our recruiting tick up another notch.

 

[Umami Zen]

If they win the BET this year I suspect we're going to see the momentum in our recruiting tick up another notch.

Great PR for the UConn brand being relevant again

 

[gtcam]

NBE not BE. The original was NEVER a football conference, though.

It was made to be a basketball conference but it had some fine football programs in it's heyday and was considered a very strong football conference

 

[UConnDad]

From the Courant.
STORRS — There is a storm bearing down on New York City. There won’t be snow, or dangerous lightning or destructive winds associated with it. There’s no danger to property or power lines, but necessary precautions should be taken against bruised feelings and battered egos.
It has been a decade since the city’s forecast has had a March storm from the Northeast as torrential as this one. The UConn men’s basketball team is moving with high velocity toward Madison Square Garden, poised not just to rejoin old rivals at the Big East Tournament, but to reclaim it.

 

[Hoophound]

From the Courant.
STORRS — There is a storm bearing down on New York City. There won’t be snow, or dangerous lightning or destructive winds associated with it. There’s no danger to property or power lines, but necessary precautions should be taken against bruised feelings and battered egos.
It has been a decade since the city’s forecast has had a March storm from the Northeast as torrential as this one. The UConn men’s basketball team is moving with high velocity toward Madison Square Garden, poised not just to rejoin old rivals at the Big East Tournament, but to reclaim it.

IMO, this is all a little premature and ballsy. Let’s win something first. We aren’t waltzing into MSG and taking the title with ease. Never have, never will. It is fought for.

 

[HooperScooper]

From the Courant.
STORRS — There is a storm bearing down on New York City. There won’t be snow, or dangerous lightning or destructive winds associated with it. There’s no danger to property or power lines, but necessary precautions should be taken against bruised feelings and battered egos.
It has been a decade since the city’s forecast has had a March storm from the Northeast as torrential as this one. The UConn men’s basketball team is moving with high velocity toward Madison Square Garden, poised not just to rejoin old rivals at the Big East Tournament, but to reclaim it.

Dom being a little over dramatic. I laughed reading the article this morning.

Dom Amore: Beware, New York, UConn men bringing old-time fury and firepower back to the Big East tournament at the Garden

There is a storm bearing down on New York City. There won’t be snow, or dangerous lightning or destructive winds associated with it. There’s no danger to property or power lines, but ne…

www.courant.com

 

[freescooter]

Yeah sure. They won 6 of 7 regular season titles and tied 1 and 4 of seven tournament titles. Got to the finals and lost another time. Let’s not pretend they aren’t the dominant program because every now and then the Lilliputians win a game.

 

[tzznandrew]

Yeah sure. They won 6 of 7 regular season titles and tied 1 and 4 of seven tournament titles. Got to the finals and lost another time. Let’s not pretend they aren’t the dominant program because every now and then the Lilliputians win a game.

Over a period from 1994-1999 (6 years)

UConn won the regular season BE regular season title 5 out of 6 years, and they won the BET 3 out of 6 years, appearing in another championship game.

UConn and a bunch of Lilliputians.

See how easy this is when you have a very good team?

 

[freescooter]

IMO, this is all a little premature and ballsy. Let’s win something first. We aren’t waltzing into MSG and taking the title with ease. Never have, never will. It is fought for.

The really funny thing is we likely wouldn’t win the AAC this year. Plus let’s not over value the victory a pretty weak Georgetown too much. That game really played out the way I thought it would. We dominated a team a good team should dominate.

 

[freescooter]

Over a period from 1994-1999 (6 years)

UConn won the regular season BE regular season title 5 out of 6 years, and they won the BET 3 out of 6 years, appearing in another championship game.

UConn and a bunch of Lilliputians.

See how easy this is when you have a very good team?

Yup. And at the time people were talking about how UConn was carrying the once proud Big East. The addition of Louisville, Cincinatti and Marquette in the early 2000s reinvigorated the league. Plus Syracuse recovered. We’ll see what happens now. But honestly few of the current group have the resources to be true national programs.

 

[Kolumbo]

Not for nothing, but is SJU #4 in the best situation right now, or is Nova still better even with the injuries?

 

[tzznandrew]

Yup. And at the time people were talking about how UConn was carrying the once proud Big East. The addition of Louisville, Cincinatti and Marquette in the early 2000s reinvigorated the league. Plus Syracuse recovered. We’ll see what happens now. But honestly few of the current group have the resources to be true national programs.

Syracuse went to the Finals in the period I mentioned. The Big East was fine. It's tournament performance wasn't great, but it was putting a decent number of teams into the tournament and performing fine enough. The year the BE did worst in terms of teams in the NCAA was 2003 when Syracuse won it. 1999-2004 had three champions from the league.

The other teams joined in 2006, and from 2008-2013 we're talking about the greatest conference ever.

But the period I mentioned was a very good conference.

1994: Boston College E8
1994: Syracuse S16
1994: UConn S16
1995: UConn E8
1995: Georgetown S16
1996: Syracuse Runner-up
1995: Georgetown E8
1996: UConn S16
1997: Providence E8
1998: UConn E8
1998: West Virginia S16
1998 Syracuse S16
1999: UConn, National Champion
1999: St. John's, E8

That's not a bad run for the conference. 14 teams in the second weekend. In the first two years of this there were only 10 teams.

7 out of 13 different teams making the S16, and 6 of them making the E8. Only 2 FF and 1 NC—and some flameouts to be sure—but the BE underperforming was largely myth. UConn's tournament performances were obviously the best of the bunch, but it was a good deep conference.

And UConn dominated the regular season.

 

[tzznandrew]

1994: Duke, Runner up
1995: UNC, FF
1995: Virginia, E8
1995: Wake Forest, S16
1995: Maryland, S16
1996: Wake Forest, S16
1996: Georgia Tech, S16
1997: UNC, FF
1997: Clemson, S16
1998: UNC, FF
1998: Duke, E8
1998: Maryland, S16
1999: Duke, Runner-up
1999: Maryland, S16

Just for reference, same time period from a conference considered better. No titles, to the BE's one. 5 to the BE's 2. A little more diversity (7/9 schools made the second weekend, with only FSU and NC State missing). But same number of teams making the second weekend and the same number of title game participants.

And again, this was generally considered the best conference in this time. So it's not like the BE was doing all that poorly.

 

[alexd]

Latest Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook.

Creighton (+200; bet $100 to win $200)

UConn (+235)

Villanova (+400)

Xavier (+470)

Seton Hall (+775)

St. John's (+2000)

Providence (+3000)

Georgetown (+6000)

Marquette (+6000)

Butler (+8000)

DePaul (+30000)

 

[Icehawk]

Put it all on DePaul

 

[HooperScooper]

We are so dooooomed. Check out the CBSSports.com predictions for the winner of the BET. Clean sweep.

College basketball conference tournaments 2021: Storylines, schedule, predictions, bubble teams in action

Previewing the major conference tournaments headlining the week as Selection Sunday fast approaches

www.cbssports.com

 

[JB75]

Latest Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook.

Creighton (+200; bet $100 to win $200)

UConn (+235)

Villanova (+400)

Xavier (+470)

Seton Hall (+775)

St. John's (+2000)

Providence (+3000)

Georgetown (+6000)

Marquette (+6000)

Butler (+8000)

DePaul (+30000)

Interesting money line disparity between St. John’s and seton hall. Wonder why? Two even teams placed in same bracket. Plus St. John’s just beat them by 10 Saturday and playing pretty much at home. Must be a mistake. Good value there with St. John’s. Might take UConn and them fir 100 each

 

[Kolumbo]

We are so dooooomed. Check out the CBSSports.com predictions for the winner of the BET. Clean sweep.

College basketball conference tournaments 2021: Storylines, schedule, predictions, bubble teams in action

Previewing the major conference tournaments headlining the week as Selection Sunday fast approaches

www.cbssports.com

I was just posting the same thing. Creighton is still the our nemesis.

Big East
When: March 10-13 (Big East Tournament schedule)
Where: New York City
Jerry Palm's Bracketology: Villanova (3), Creighton (6), UConn (7), Xavier (Last Four In)
What to watch: Oddsmakers would tell you that the Big East Tournament is not wide open and that Villanova and Creighton are deserved favorites, but it just feels wide open because of the way things unfolded for both programs over the past week. Villanova lost Collin Gillespie to a season-ending knee injury in a win over Creighton, and then its backcourt took another hit with Justin Moore suffering an ankle injury in a loss to Providence. Creighton beat Butler handily in its regular-season finale over the weekend after losing two straight, but did so with coach Greg McDermott suspended because of racially-insensitive language. The obvious candidate for a third option is a UConn team that has won six of its last seven with the only loss coming by eight at Villanova. James Bouknight has raised the ceiling for Dan Hurley's Huskies, without a doubt, but I wouldn't be surprised if this a year that produces a deep run from Seton Hall, Providence or another team from the middle of the standings. Like the ACC, the league has pretty well-defined tiers and a decent number of NCAA Tournament teams but no juggernaut that is out ahead of everyone else.

 

[olehead]

I was just posting the same thing. Creighton is still the our nemesis.

Big East
When: March 10-13 (Big East Tournament schedule)
Where: New York City
Jerry Palm's Bracketology: Villanova (3), Creighton (6), UConn (7), Xavier (Last Four In)
What to watch: Oddsmakers would tell you that the Big East Tournament is not wide open and that Villanova and Creighton are deserved favorites, but it just feels wide open because of the way things unfolded for both programs over the past week. Villanova lost Collin Gillespie to a season-ending knee injury in a win over Creighton, and then its backcourt took another hit with Justin Moore suffering an ankle injury in a loss to Providence. Creighton beat Butler handily in its regular-season finale over the weekend after losing two straight, but did so with coach Greg McDermott suspended because of racially-insensitive language. The obvious candidate for a third option is a UConn team that has won six of its last seven with the only loss coming by eight at Villanova. James Bouknight has raised the ceiling for Dan Hurley's Huskies, without a doubt, but I wouldn't be surprised if this a year that produces a deep run from Seton Hall, Providence or another team from the middle of the standings. Like the ACC, the league has pretty well-defined tiers and a decent number of NCAA Tournament teams but no juggernaut that is out ahead of everyone else.

I notice Chip Patterson also gave a nod to G. Tech winning the ACC, and who Palm has us going against in the 7-10 matchup.

 

[Scot-e]

DOOMED!!!