The Big East Tournament is now gone. It's dead. MSG is no more.

[zls44]

Well, we joked for years that Pitt never made an impact in March...so they only took away the best thing we had.

It's gone. Five days at The Garden. That week. All the fans from the other teams. The little school bars all around it. The surprising upset you'd always get on Tue/Wed/Thurs. The other cheerleaders and bands. Grabbing a train in, seeing all the other UConn fans on it, running up the steps from Penn Station into MSG. Grabbing tickets for the next round off the disappointed fans from the schools that get upset. Seeing the crowd get behind teams like Rutgers and South Florida. Moving down into better seats if you had to bum cheap ones and picking a random team to root for in a game like Seton Hall-Marquette.

Now everything spreads out. Pitt and SU go one way, Louisville and WVU could go another. UConn might go with two of them, might not. Could have Kansas...but Iowa State, too. There will still be great teams in conference, good wins, tough losses. But I know damn well, that the first week of every March, no matter what happens, no matter what arena, in whatever city, in who knows what state that UConn/SU/Pitt/GTown fans walk into, they're going to think of something else.

They're going to think of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden. They're going to think of how special it was. About the crowds, the electricity, the high level of intensity/skill in every game, even involving the BAD teams.

They'll/we'll probably think about it during their first round game, on a Tuesday afternoon, in some nondescript arena in front of 4,500. When they realize that, with all the money, they also turned into everyone else, too. Just another conference tournament game that happens for the sake of happening. An existence, but nothing more. Think of Ray Liotta's final lines from Goodfellas, and you'll understand what I'm getting at.

I don't give a damn how sappy this sounds/is. It was the most amazing thing in the world, as a fan, to be a part of. Nothing else can be the same.

It's amazing how it only seemed to get better with age/more teams, too. Anyone really want to ever complain about how teams on Tuesday have no business being there? After what UConn did? After watching Villanova's piece-du-resistance collapse against USF? Did you see how happy USF was to win that game? You think the 13 seed upsetting the 9 seed in Greensboro is going to care like that? Nothing like it. Not even close. Not even in the same zip code.

And it makes me incredibly sad. Dave Gavitt gave us all something wonderful, something truly special. Part of me is happy that he didn't have to suffer seeing it destroyed in such a cowardly way.

 

[Fishy]

Don't get dramatic, skippy.

Let's keep the estrogen under wraps for a lil while.

 

[Dann]

i just cried.

if uconn and ruty or wvu goto the acc. the acc would be stupid not to put that 16team conf in MSG as soon as they can contract wise. they would control nyc with those teams and the tney....espn down the street etc etc
all the acc schools that matter on the bball side duke/unc/md would travel well to msg with uconn/pitt/cuse/ruty as well traveling well. would make one heck of a week. almost as good as the BET...

 

[champs99and04]

The whole situation blows. I hate to see the conference falling apart like this. You're right-The BE tourny at the Garden is one of the best and most underrated events in sports. Even in years UConn isn't in it the basketball is so intense and exciting and really defines what college sports is all about.

 

[SlicinNDyson11]

totally agree last year was my first trip to the Big East Tournament by far the best sporting experience of my life, the atmosphere at the Garden is just crazy. If the Big East doesn't add Big XII teams i see the ACC taking the Garden for their conference tournament

 

[Stinger92860]

No way the folks on tobacco road move the tournament to nyc....

 

[intlzncster]

Ladies and Gentlemen......

...MakersMuppet.

 

[zls44]

Ladies and Gentlemen......

...MakersMuppet.

Wasn't me. Have Fishy check the IP's.

 

[willie99]

it may be there on some sort of rotating basis, or it may still be there every year

it will be there in 2012, 2013 and 2014 after they give their 27 month notice

I'm going to enjoy the ride

 

[intlzncster]

Wasn't me. Have Fishy check the IP's.

Ha, as if Fishy's gonna tell me. Nah, I was just making fun of you being so maudlin.

Now I'm going to cry in my soup while I contemplate our future with new conference mates Fairfield, Quinnipiac, and Manchester Community College.

 

[zls44]

Ha, as if Fishy's gonna tell me. Nah, I was just making fun of you being so maudlin.

Now I'm going to cry in my soup while I contemplate our future with new conference mates Fairfield, Quinnipiac, and Manchester Community College.

You down with MCC? YEAH YOU KNOW ME

 

[Stinger92860]

Ha, as if Fishy's gonna tell me. Nah, I was just making fun of you being so maudlin.

Now I'm going to cry in my soup while I contemplate our future with new conference mates Fairfield, Quinnipiac, and Manchester Community College.

Don't forget CCSU.....

 

[Chief00]

Whoever was responsibile for nor making it happen - the schools/The Big East Office - if we had the new TV contract and higher defection fees that went with that - this probably would not be happening. Yes, indeed a ball was dropped big time.

 

[UCHuskies08]

Worst part of this all is it's going to make some athletic departments more money and not improve the product on the field/court. Rivalries are up in smoke, geographic situations will be a mess. I hate to see it happen too, even if we end up in the ACC.

 

[UConn5]

It's funny the first thing I thought of when I heard about Syracuse and Pitt and realized that the BE was going to cease to exist as we know it was that the Big East Tournament is going to be ruined. I am glad I got to enjoy a lot of them, but am sad that there are only so many more to enjoy.

 

[RuffRuff]

If Uconn can grab a spot in the ACC and that tourney is held in MSG, I will enjoy that tournament just as much as I did the BE. The question is whether the ACC would ever hold that tourney there, so far away from the heart of the founding schools. There would be quite a bit to be made up for in dollars/buzz. What we lose in tradition in that possible move, we'll make up for in goliaths like Duke/UNC, a true hated rival in BC and we keep our best old BE rivals in Syracuse/Pitt. Say a few Hail Mary's.

 

[CL82]

Don't get dramatic, skippy.

Let's keep the estrogen under wraps for a lil while.

Hey Fishy I thought were in prison or dead or something.

 

[CL82]

If Uconn can grab a spot in the ACC and that tourney is held in MSG, I will enjoy that tournament just as much as I did the BE. The question is whether the ACC would ever hold that tourney there, so far away from the heart of the founding schools. There would be quite a bit to be made up for in dollars/buzz. What we lose in tradition in that possible move, we'll make up for in goliaths like Duke/UNC, a true hated rival in BC and we keep our best old BE rivals in Syracuse/Pitt. Say a few Hail Mary's.

Ya know, I wouldn't want an ACC tourny in the Garden. Feels wrong.

 

[Ts5034]

Well said. Kind if ironic this all comes down the day dave gavitt dies

 

[UConn5]

Yea having the ACC tournament at MSG wouldn't feel quite right, but its something no UConn fan will have to worry about because it just won't happen. NC is pretty much in the middle given the locations of the schools now in the ACC. New members have no leverage...just this past March Louisville fans were talking about how they wish the BET location would be rotated.

 

[geordi]

Well, speaking totally selfishly... With a 16 team All Cash Conference and everyone making the tournament, the first two days would have to involve all 16 teams, so hold them at a campus arena or a north and south arena, say Atlanta and New York (MSG or the Meadowlands). Then the next three days (after a day off for travel), needs to be in Washington. Central, large enough, accessible, and most of all close...to me.

 

[willie99]

the ACC Tourney as been played in NC, Atl, DC & Tampa

If we were in that conference, I think it's plausible MSG becomes part of that rotation

I'm holding out hope that we can survive and be solid. However, if the ACC comes looking for two more and/or the B10 expands, that's not happening. The BE as we know it would be dead

 

[ddminct]

Some probably think this is a good idea but they don't sell beer at the ACC tournry

 

[willie99]

Some probably think this is a good idea but they don't sell beer at the ACC tournry

well then, we'll just have to go to the B10

 

[sinkhole]

Well, we joked for years that Pitt never made an impact in March...so they only took away the best thing we had.

It's gone. Five days at The Garden. That week. All the fans from the other teams. The little school bars all around it. The surprising upset you'd always get on Tue/Wed/Thurs. The other cheerleaders and bands. Grabbing a train in, seeing all the other UConn fans on it, running up the steps from Penn Station into MSG. Grabbing tickets for the next round off the disappointed fans from the schools that get upset. Seeing the crowd get behind teams like Rutgers and South Florida. Moving down into better seats if you had to bum cheap ones and picking a random team to root for in a game like Seton Hall-Marquette.

Now everything spreads out. Pitt and SU go one way, Louisville and WVU could go another. UConn might go with two of them, might not. Could have Kansas...but Iowa State, too. There will still be great teams in conference, good wins, tough losses. But I know damn well, that the first week of every March, no matter what happens, no matter what arena, in whatever city, in who knows what state that UConn/SU/Pitt/GTown fans walk into, they're going to think of something else.

They're going to think of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden. They're going to think of how special it was. About the crowds, the electricity, the high level of intensity/skill in every game, even involving the BAD teams.

They'll/we'll probably think about it during their first round game, on a Tuesday afternoon, in some nondescript arena in front of 4,500. When they realize that, with all the money, they also turned into everyone else, too. Just another conference tournament game that happens for the sake of happening. An existence, but nothing more. Think of Ray Liotta's final lines from Goodfellas, and you'll understand what I'm getting at.

I don't give a damn how sappy this sounds/is. It was the most amazing thing in the world, as a fan, to be a part of. Nothing else can be the same.

It's amazing how it only seemed to get better with age/more teams, too. Anyone really want to ever complain about how teams on Tuesday have no business being there? After what UConn did? After watching Villanova's piece-du-resistance collapse against USF? Did you see how happy USF was to win that game? You think the 13 seed upsetting the 9 seed in Greensboro is going to care like that? Nothing like it. Not even close. Not even in the same zip code.

And it makes me incredibly sad. Dave Gavitt gave us all something wonderful, something truly special. Part of me is happy that he didn't have to suffer seeing it destroyed in such a cowardly way.

Nice job Zls