Requiem for the Big East

[sdhusky]

Question for those who watched it already. I'm working from home today, but thought about putting it on as background noise while I work. Will watching this likely piss me off, or is it a solid production, as some pointed out, more about its founding and demise and less about any one or group of member teams? Of course we all want to see UConn prominently depicted here, but that might not fit in with the purpose of this piece.

Please advise! Thanks.

If you imagine the title being "The first 5 years of the Big East and its Forming" and that sounds good, you will really enjoy it.

If you expect to see a documentary on the entire history of the league, you will hate it.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Wow things must be pretty slow for you....lol.asking and answering your own questions ....kind of spooky.

Naw, just getting my Irish on a little early in honor of St. Pat's day. Of course, nowadays, seeing anything with the abbreviation ‘NCAA’ in it makes me want to show more than just a little of my Irish

 

[DogMania]

If you imagine the title being "The first 5 years of the Big East and its Forming" and that sounds good, you will really enjoy it.

If you expect to see a documentary on the entire history of the league, you will hate it.

I ended up watching it and it was interesting learning about how the BE was formed and what led to its demise, but it seems clear that they made an effort to leave UConn out of it. JC was barely in it compared to the other HOF BE coaches. I was listening more than watching, but I don't believe there was a single clip of a UConn team/player on the floor. Considering how often UConn was in the BET finals, it seems like a purposeful omission. It was a GT and SU Love fest.

 

[Taco]

I was expecting to hate it, but it was interesting as a Big East fan. There wasn't much mention of UCONN, but like other posters have written it's more about the beginning and the end, not the middle - though you'd thin GTown & Syracuse were the only teams in it.

My takeaway was that it was a very special time that won't happen again thanks to the money in football. The BE is for all intents and purposes dead and as upsetting as UCONN's situation is, I'd be much moe upset being a current BE member... B/c despite paying for the name, they got aren't the BE.

Really liked how they all think BC was slime, the way they left. Thought Boeheim was good - which I really hate to admit.

 

[peeps]

hard to really believe you'd rather be AAC than this version of BE. i don't buy it. uconn would jump ship to this version of BE in a heartbeat and be the dominant program. they'd never get the invite being a state school with a "football program"

 

[upstater]

hard to really believe you'd rather be AAC than this version of BE. i don't buy it. uconn would jump ship to this version of BE in a heartbeat and be the dominant program. they'd never get the invite being a state school with a "football program"

Huh? UConn "would jump" ship. Wha? UConn is here by choice.

 

[Taco]

It's not an option - no football... If UCONN was on the BE, we'd still on a constant search to get into one of the major conferences. The c7 knows that which is why the wouldn't allow the schools w FB teams.

UCONN may get into a major conference but the. C7 schools will always be In the mid-major category - not being a hater, I just don't see how anyone with perspective could say otherwise.

So, No I wouldn't rather be in this new BE.

 

[Tucker]

3x more ncaa championships than any other Big East team and no credit...sounds about par for the course. Before someone reminds me of Louisville, they brought a couple wins in with them.
Ps Happy St. Pats to all!

 

[Jaker]

ESPN is dead to me

 

[Jaker]

and the break up of the Big E has really hurt college hoops, imo

 

[Marty Jackson]

Aresco needs to get those cool conference t-shirts like they did for the Big East.
People need to get pumped up for this conference...

 

[peeps]

Huh? UConn "would jump" ship. Wha? UConn is here by choice.

uconn is in the AAC by lack of choice. they fell there without options. if this version of the BE were to invite uconn they definitely would join. it is a silly rhetorical because they can't give up football and would never be invited as already stated. but let's not pretend that uconn "chose" the AAC.

 

[peeps]

It's not an option - no football... If UCONN was on the BE, we'd still on a constant search to get into one of the major conferences. The c7 knows that which is why the wouldn't allow the schools w FB teams.

UCONN may get into a major conference but the. C7 schools will always be In the mid-major category - not being a hater, I just don't see how anyone with perspective could say otherwise.

So, No I wouldn't rather be in this new BE.

so if your hopes don't come true and no one comes calling... you're legitimately pleased with where you ended up (and what it will be next year without louisville)? it is certainly a possibility that no one comes calling.

 

[Taco]

No, it would s$ck - would also but no more than being in the NBE. I don't recall anyone being happy in the BE last year & Louisville & continue we're in it.

 

[peeps]

to each his own i suppose. i just find in a bit insincere that fans of what is a premier basketball school are more pleased with next year and beyond's version of AAC as opposed to the current version of the BE. cinci, uconn, and memphis going forward... and without louisville you'll need the whole conference to start improving OOC scheduling and actually win those games. the bottom of that league is really a drag.

 

[junglehusky]

to each his own i suppose. i just find in a bit insincere that fans of what is a premier basketball school are more pleased with next year and beyond's version of AAC as opposed to the current version of the BE. cinci, uconn, and memphis going forward... and without louisville you'll need the whole conference to start improving OOC scheduling and actually win those games. the bottom of that league is really a drag.

Honestly, both leagues suck. There is no way Providence would make a conference tournament final in a league with decent depth. The only reason they are in the dance is they never had to face UConn, UL, Cuse, Pitt, Cinci, or for that matter Memphis. Yeah, the bottom of the AAC suuuucks, but so does the NNNBE's bottom. I want nothing to do with any of those schools, aside from taking Nova out of the tournament. We have to tough it out in the AAC for a few years, keep both bball programs successful, get the football program to a reasonably high level and hope to God the ACC or Big Ten come calling before the athletic department runs out of money.

 

[peeps]

i mean... the bottom of the BE is below average, but if we are being honest the bottom of AAC is atrocious. it's not really close. "hoping to god" seems like a sound plan. probably would have better luck with 7 catholic schools around you.

 

[specialisthusky]

i mean... the bottom of the BE is below average, but if we are being honest the bottom of AAC is atrocious. it's not really close. "hoping to god" seems like a sound plan. probably would have better luck with 7 catholic schools around you.

Why don't you take your opinions to the conference realignment board, and stop trying to pump either conference as better than the other....they both suck.

 

[peeps]

well... my opinions are pretty on topic for this thread so i'll just keep them here. i'm being pretty fair. neither conference sucks... yet. it just isn't so.

 

[upstater]

uconn is in the AAC by lack of choice. they fell there without options. if this version of the BE were to invite uconn they definitely would join. it is a silly rhetorical because they can't give up football and would never be invited as already stated. but let's not pretend that uconn "chose" the AAC.

Uh,no. You're absolutely wrong. UConn would not choose to end its chances of joining a real conference by giving up football. That's just dumb. time may run out on UConn and we may get frozen out when the big changes come, but UConn isn't going to deliberately decide to destroy the program by joining the BE.

 

[peeps]

Uh,no. You're absolutely wrong. UConn would not choose to end its chances of joining a real conference by giving up football. That's just dumb. time may run out on UConn and we may get frozen out when the big changes come, but UConn isn't going to deliberately decide to destroy the program by joining the BE.

i'm not terribly surprised that you didn't understand me.

 

[NotreDameJoe]

I don't think they could have made the 30430 on realignment that I wanted to see. The decision makers are still in positions of power and have their own reputations to guard. Also ESPN's lawyers would heavily censor Mickey's role in all of this.

 

[BlueDogs]

Biggest irony is that the Big East made ESPN what it is and ESPN tore it apart. It's a real tragedy. Things would be totally different if 3 basketball schools didn't block PSU. I'm guessing it was Villanova, whose trustees killed 1A football on 81, Saint Johns and Georgetown.

 

[BugsyCT]

AAC needs Temple to get better again. They were supposed to be one of the upper-level hoops programs in this conference and they were a no-show this year.

 

[Fishy]

Biggest irony is that the Big East made ESPN what it is and ESPN tore it apart. It's a real tragedy. Things would be totally different if 3 basketball schools didn't block PSU. I'm guessing it was Villanova, whose trustees killed 1A football on 81, Saint Johns and Georgetown.

If you want to find the center of every fatal decision the Big East ever made, you'll find Pitt.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

Honestly, both leagues suck. There is no way Providence would make a conference tournament final in a league with decent depth. The only reason they are in the dance is they never had to face UConn, UL, Cuse, Pitt, Cinci, or for that matter Memphis. Yeah, the bottom of the AAC suuuucks, but so does the NNNBE's bottom. I want nothing to do with any of those schools, aside from taking Nova out of the tournament. We have to tough it out in the AAC for a few years, keep both bball programs successful, get the football program to a reasonably high level and hope to God the ACC or Big Ten come calling before the athletic department runs out of money.

I dont get it though. How is a league that according to Warren Nolan has the 4th best Conference RPI can be compared to the other that has the eight best RPI. How is that close. You have the ACC, Atlantic-10, and SEC sandwiched in between them. To say that the present Big East is the same as the American Athletic is dishonest. The problem with the Big East is that it had two great teams in the regular season (both which had better seeding in the NCAA than the top AAC teams) and then several teams in them middle of the pack. But the bottom of the Big East is absolutely way better than the AAC. Lets no lie to ourselves here. I don't see the reason why we should deny the undeniable.

Granted, this means nothing because at the end of the day we have to see the results in the next few days. But the Big East has demonstrated that it is a better RPI conference in the regular season. Lets get over this silly argument. We will support Connecticut wherever it goes, but no need to lie about the current situation of the league. When Louisville leaves, its only getting worst. The AAC will never enjoy stability because no one really wants to be here, the Big East has positioned it self in a situation in which it can guarantee stability and growth for its teams for at least the next 12 years, not bad if you tell me. It will never be what it was, but whatever it has left its guaranteed till the mid 2020's

Top of Big East

1 Villanova 5
2 Creighton 10


Top of AAC:

1 Louisville 19
2 Cincy 21

Bottom of Big East:

8 Seton Hall 128
9 Butler 150
10 DePaul 154



Bottom of AAC (RPI):

8 UCF 220
8 Temple 175
10 South Florida 231

 

[Fishy]

Long term, both conferences are mid-majors.

AAC, Mountain West, Big East, Atlantic 10 are all heading towards expensive irrelevance.

It's written in stone - the power 5 conferences have consolidated so much in such a short time. They'll never stop coming - cost of attendance is just the first stone they'll tie around the lesser conferences' necks.

The only salvation is escape to a power 5 conference.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

Biggest irony is that the Big East made ESPN what it is and ESPN tore it apart. It's a real tragedy. Things would be totally different if 3 basketball schools didn't block PSU. I'm guessing it was Villanova, whose trustees killed 1A football on 81, Saint Johns and Georgetown.

It really sucks. I'm fairly young, only 23, so I learned that yesterday. It would have made a HUGE difference to have PennState in the conference. I had no idea this was ever considered so it was a fun fact to know. How in the world did the league administrators choose Pitt and not PSU. That would've been a huge add. Its crazy how one bad move can make or break a business.

Penn State, Pitt, Syracuse, Boston College, Rutgers, Connecticut, Temple could've been the perfect Northeast league that I still hope to see under my lifetime ( I have a strong sense of Northeast pride, sorry boys if ya hate BCU and CUse). what a shame though

 

[ecasadoSBU]

Long term, both conferences are mid-majors.

AAC, Mountain West, Big East, Atlantic 10 are all heading towards expensive irrelevance.

It's written in stone - the power 5 conferences have consolidated so much in such a short time. They'll never stop coming - cost of attendance is just the first stone they'll tie around the lesser conferences' necks.

The only salvation is escape to a power 5 conference.

Fishy, what do you think is the future of the non-football conferences? do you think they will eventually break away entirely? or just a wait around until they slowly fade away?

 

[NotreDameJoe]

If you want to find the center of every fatal decision the Big East ever made, you'll find Pitt.

This is what I've been searching for, for years; on the internet anyway. I want to know who's bright idea it was to reject the proposed ESPN contract that would have a Grant of Rights and stabilized the Big East for a decade.

I suspect that man was rejecting the Big East more than the net $.