New Big East

[nelsonmuntz]

The NBE really needed a Villanova win. They have the cache, the big city locations, the big fanbases, and the TV network support. They were definitely light in actual on-court success though. Butler had 2 final fours a few years ago, and Villanova's, Georgetown's and Marquette's Final Four appearances were getting a little long in the tooth. Xavier is dueling Gonzaga for best program to never make a Final Four. JTIII has been mailing it in for a while, and McDermott doesn't look so smart without his kid at Creighton. As much as I want Wojo to fail, he has been impressive at a Marquette program where the cupboard was very bare when he got there. Butler is a good program. Providence lost Dunn, although I think Cooley will keep them competitive.

Seton Hall, Depaul and St. Johns have had almost continually bad coaching since PJ, Ray and Louie left those programs. Leitao and Fraschilla were temporary reprieves, but those two hightailed it out as soon as they could. We will see how Leitao does in his encore. I think Willard was the worst coach in the tournament this year, and it says something about Seton Hall's program that it can win at all with someone as clueless as Willard running the show. I expect Mullin to follow in the footsteps of fellow Dream Teamer Clyde Drexler in realizing he is not a college basketball coach and bail on his first college job after a very short stint.

If you look at this league, Villanova, Butler and Xavier will have to carry it for a while until Wojo has his recruits in place. Maybe Depaul can step up to the level of Providence, Creighton and Georgetown, although my gut is that those last two are getting worse rather than better. I expect Seton Hall to suck most years unless their geographic advantages overwhelm Willard's incompetence like they did this year. St. Johns is going to be grim.

 

[MexicoHusky]

I'm just happy for our old rivals. Really happy UNC cheaters lost. Really happy that since BCS ruined our conference there have been 3 championships in basketball....two of which have been won by non BCS schools (US and NOVA). This is definitely Nova's day. Super happy for them.

 

[UChusky916]

goshdarn you're ' stupid.

Why are you still here?

 

[Devland]

This game was more a testament to how bad a coach Roy Williams is than anything. UNC had better players at all five positions and Roy proved again how overrated he is.

 

[superjohn]

Your typical weird Nelson post. He raves about the Big East and says UConn needs to go back to it. Villanova just wins the whole thing and he talks about how the conference is weak now. Kevin Willard wins Big East coach of the year and he says the guy is the worst coach in the country.

 

[Jerry1714]

People were not suddenly impressed with the AAC after UConn won it.

The NBE got 1 team into the second weekend, granted that is 1 more team then usual, but this win does make think anything more of the conference.

 

[SubbaBub]

The Big East just won it's first title from a current member since 1985. It's nice for Nova who now has three blips on the NCAA time line. Rollie, the Kittles years, and last night. They are the envy of every St. Johns, PC, and Butler fan.

 

[Husky25]

Butler was a member of the Horizon League when they went to two straight championship games. They haven't seen the second Thursday since 2011.

 

[SubbaBub]

They are a current member of the BE. Conferences don't win games or titles, programs do. One should be consistent.

 

[Jerry1714]

They are a current member of the BE. Conferences don't win games or titles, programs do. One should be consistent.

Do not tell PC fans that

 

[Shabazzkets]

The Big East just won it's first title from a current member since 1985. It's nice for Nova who now has three blips on the NCAA time line. Rollie, the Kittles years, and last night. They are the envy of every St. Johns, PC, and Butler fan.

They have two national titles. They are the envy of a whole hell of a lot of programs, not just those three mid to lower tier Big East teams. UConn is blessed to have four titles, but few can make that claim. Doesn't mean everyone else is chopped liver.

 

[Husky25]

They are a current member of the BE. Conferences don't win games or titles, programs do. One should be consistent.

Consistent about what? It's a point of fact. Butler's achievements came when they were a part of a league two conferences removed from the Big East. In fact, it's almost not the same program. Brad Stevens is pacing the coach's box on Causeway Street and Mack and Hayward are on the bench in Utah.

 

[August_West]

The national press is stupid.

 

[SubbaBub]

They have two national titles. They are the envy of a whole hell of a lot of programs, not just those three mid to lower tier Big East teams. UConn is blessed to have four titles, but few can make that claim. Doesn't mean everyone else is chopped liver.

I meant that Nova is not now or has ever been a national power. They have on a generational basis leveraged their geographic advantages for a nice run. Something that programs like StJ, PC, and Butler should be able to do.

As much fun as I wish for Nova fans taking 2>1 to the GTown and Cuse message boards, both have been better programs in the 64 team era.

There is another thread ranking the original BE programs as of today. The order hasn't changed from a week ago. It's still Uconn, GT, Cuse, and Nova in that order as the top 4, though Gtown is slipping fast.

 

[Devland]

The Big East just won it's first title from a current member since 1985. It's nice for Nova who now has three blips on the NCAA time line. Rollie, the Kittles years, and last night. They are the envy of every St. Johns, PC, and Butler fan.

Actually Nova's 1st NCAA title game was vacated. Interesting thing about that season. Penn had defeated Nova twice during the regular season. Nova then gave Penn its only loss of the season in the tourney. Because of Villanova's infractions their win was vacated. This made Penn the only NCAA team not under NCAA sanctions to go undefeated and not win a championship. NC State went undefeated without winning a championship but they were banned from the tournament due to NCAA sanctions that year.

 

[Fishy]

Villanova is the closest thing to a national program in the new Big East and they've actually benefited in a big way from the better programs leaving.

They had only won two regular season titles and one conference tournament since 1990 - since the breakup, they've won all three regular seasons and this year's conference tournament.

Long-term, though, the conference needs St. John's and Georgetown to straighten themselves out - you're just not going to get far touting Creighton and Butler as standard-bearers.

As for last night, it had nothing to do with Roy Williams - Nova shot 65% over two games in the Final Four and they ran a last second play to absolute perfection. Good luck beating that.

 

[UConnWingman]

Villanova may not be 'blue blood', but so what. They're in the conversation with every other 'non-blue blood' in the country.

 

[gtcam]

The NBE really needed a Villanova win. They have the cache, the big city locations, the big fanbases, and the TV network support. They were definitely light in actual on-court success though. Butler had 2 final fours a few years ago, and Villanova's, Georgetown's and Marquette's Final Four appearances were getting a little long in the tooth. Xavier is dueling Gonzaga for best program to never make a Final Four. JTIII has been mailing it in for a while, and McDermott doesn't look so smart without his kid at Creighton. As much as I want Wojo to fail, he has been impressive at a Marquette program where the cupboard was very bare when he got there. Butler is a good program. Providence lost Dunn, although I think Cooley will keep them competitive.

Seton Hall, Depaul and St. Johns have had almost continually bad coaching since PJ, Ray and Louie left those programs. Leitao and Fraschilla were temporary reprieves, but those two hightailed it out as soon as they could. We will see how Leitao does in his encore. I think Willard was the worst coach in the tournament this year, and it says something about Seton Hall's program that it can win at all with someone as clueless as Willard running the show. I expect Mullin to follow in the footsteps of fellow Dream Teamer Clyde Drexler in realizing he is not a college basketball coach and bail on his first college job after a very short stint.

If you look at this league, Villanova, Butler and Xavier will have to carry it for a while until Wojo has his recruits in place. Maybe Depaul can step up to the level of Providence, Creighton and Georgetown, although my gut is that those last two are getting worse rather than better. I expect Seton Hall to suck most years unless their geographic advantages overwhelm Willard's incompetence like they did this year. St. Johns is going to be grim.

There's a lot here - both correct and really wrong
Ralph Willard is far from a bad coach and the worst tournament coach - what Seton Hall did in the NBE was fantastic - who won the tournament at MSG?
Fraschilla was largely a train wreck and Leito struggled with recruitment before and will again - it was much easier when 'Ray" was there, all those years ago
Wojo hasn't proven squat yet - what ex Dukie coach has succeeded? His two best players will be gone and had a marginal recruiting class
McDermott has been around a long time with much success - sure his son brought added exposure but the guy can coach.
I wont discount GT until they crap the bed for the next 3 years - I don't think that will happen
I agree Mullin is an enigma BUT he is NBA pedigree that opens him up to so much more recruitment exposure vs the college only guys - the foreign market is the NBAs new breadbasket and all NBA coaches/execs have a direct line to that talent pool. Have you seen the Italian guard he had this year?

I would love to have Gtown, St Johns, Seton Hall, Creighton in the AAC rather than a few who currently dwell in the AAC basements

 

[Bobol]

Count me as someone who wishes UConn was still member of the New Big East.

I don't see the AAC going anywhere fast.

 

[A10 fan]

Villanova's not a blue blood, but you have to give them credit. They've been consistently good since Al Severance built the program back in the late 30s. Since then, they've never been truly down for an extended period of time. Think of all the similar programs during that stretch. Of non BE teams, you had the NYC teams that went down in flames after the betting scandal. You had Duquesne, which was a serious power from the mid 30s to the early 70s. Where are they now? Where is Holy Cross, another powerhouse from the postwar era? St. Bonaventure came and went. So did St, Joe's and LaSalle. You can't give all the credit to being in the BE either. After all, PC was probably the premier eastern Catholic in the 70s, they haven't done that much in the BE. St. John's was probably the most successful of all the eastern Catholics in the independent era. They faded away too. Seton Hall's history has been spotty. Georgetown wasn't one of the Catholic sisters back in the independent era. Other than the occasional good team, they didn't become a power until JT Jr. took over.
Want to look at other regions? San Francisco got shut down, and then de-emphasized. DePaul rose, fell, and then rose and fell again. Dayton's been mostly pretty good, but had a bad dry spell in the 90s. Loyola? LOL!
Nova has been there through all of that. Got to give them their props!

 

[huskyharry]

Count me as someone who wishes UConn was still member of the New Big East.

I don't see the AAC going anywhere fast.

For basketball, I absolutely agree...but most here will argue that the AAC helps our long-shot dream that a P5 conference will better like our football team

 

[Jerry1714]

Count me as someone who wishes UConn was still member of the New Big East.

I don't see the AAC going anywhere fast.

We have a football team