The Big East Tournament is thriving | Page 3 | The Boneyard

The Big East Tournament is thriving

Dooley said:
The premise that sold-out venues being any sort of indication that a conference is "thriving" is absolutely comical and completely misplaced. You can just as easily find 19,000 New Yorkers to go to Madison Square Garden to watch a championship high school basketball game.
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The 1/2 empty A10 tournament disproves your theory.
 
Zissou said:
The 1/2 empty A10 tournament disproves your theory.
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When the formerly "must watch" Big East Final has fallen to the level where more folks watched the MWC Final...and the awful PAC 12 Final....well, it is not the Big East we all once knew.

The FOX broadcast network scored a 0.7 rating and 1.13 million viewers for Saturday’s Villanova-Seton Hall Big East Tournament final, down 22% in ratings and 24% in viewership from last year (Villanova-Providence: 0.9, 1.49M).

The BE Final has become a local event, a nice night out in New York...but is no longer the national must watch basketball event of the year.
 
Young folks (and some of us old folks with senior moments) forget about how the old Big East did capture the national interest in basketball.

Even a southern (primarily football) fan like me watched the old Big East.

The last title game of the original conference, Louisville-Syracuse on ESPN in 2013, had a 2.1 and 3.4 million rating. Double this year's.

UConn and Pitt, in the 2000's had one of the better rivalries in basketball...

Like the 2002 final which had Talik Brown hitting a three as UConn won in double OT....the teams met again in the 2003 and 2004 Finals (both won one).

The 1996 BE Championship game where UConn took on Georgetown's Allen Iverson and won with Ray Allen's shot as the clock ticked down (the Battle of the Allen's).

And yes, I remember when Georgetown and Nova faced off in the National Champiionship game..

And John Thompson and his Hoyas playing UNC in the national title game...with Patrick Ewing, Sleepy Floyd, Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, and Anthony Jones from that game all going in the first round.


No...for those of us who remember...the New Big East is not the BIG EAST.
 
billybud said:
Young folks (and some of us old folks with senior moments) forget about how the old Big East did capture the national interest in basketball.

Even a southern (primarily football) fan like me watched the old Big East.

The last title game of the original conference, Louisville-Syracuse on ESPN in 2013, had a 2.1 and 3.4 million rating. Double this year's.

UConn and Pitt, in the 2000's had one of the better rivalries in basketball...

Like the 2002 final which had Talik Brown hitting a three as UConn won in double OT....the teams met again in the 2003 and 2004 Finals (both won one).

The 1996 BE Championship game where UConn took on Georgetown's Allen Iverson and won with Ray Allen's shot as the clock ticked down (the Battle of the Allen's).

And yes, I remember when Georgetown and Nova faced off in the National Champiionship game..

And John Thompson and his Hoyas playing UNC in the national title game...with Patrick Ewing, Sleepy Floyd, Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, and Anthony Jones from that game all going in the first round.


No...for those of us who remember...the New Big East is not the BIG EAST.
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Do you (did you) go to any of these games (AAC or Big East Tournaments) first hand?
 
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Zissou said:
Do you (did you) go to any of these games (AAC or Big East Tournaments) first hand?
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Why would I?

I was one of the millions who watched on TV....
 
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billybud said:
Why would I?
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Because you are a college basketball fan, I assume. So I take it you don't.

Couch jockeying sports is fine, but I think a perspective is missing when one doesn't actually go to the games. It's a different experience to not only see the games first hand and be in the building, but to tailgate, pre-game and post-game in the pubs, have the comradery of your friends (both from your team and the other team(s)), and live it.

You can catch some of the vibe from the TV, but you are not really living it.

I have been to a lot of games, including most of the Big East Tournaments. Also ACC games, SEC games, Big 10 games and a lot of NCAA games in addition to all of the major pro sports. Both basketball and football. I can tell you something is missing if the building is half empty. It's not all about TV, what network you are on, your lead-in, your time slot, your ratings, etc.

The Big East Tournament of old was great. UConn fans strongly represented, as did Cuse fans. The Cuse fans were probably the worst in the conference. I know Pitt had some good teams, but I don't really miss Pitt. (Screw them and West Virginia). Having it all surrounding MSG in NYC is phenomenal. I was concerned we would lose the Big East vibe after the restructure, but I'm pleasantly surprised. Fans from Creighton have swarmed NYC! We've replaced obnoxious Orange fans with polite Midwesterners in light blue who only say nice things about everyone! Seton Hall fans are now the worst of the conference. Things have changed, but the BET still has a great vibe with loud sold-out games, and not just the finals.

I'd love to see UConn come home to the Big East. Regional rivalries are important for sports, even in 2019. If you focus too much on money and TV ratings, you might miss how good the games are, actually. Sold-out arenas with screaming fans matter. I don't miss Pitt, Rutgers, or WV at all.

Maybe we don't have as much national appeal. Maybe our nationally televised games aren't between other ESPN broadcast games. The Big East is still thriving, when many of you believed the Requiem for the Big East had already been written.

And oh, by the way, 2 of the last 3 championships. I'm not sure how those looked on TV, but they were awesome from inside the arena.
 
Zissou....

I was a southern guy living in Tallahassee during the old BE period.

I like sports...and watched basketball primarily in big games or tournaments.

The northeast is a long way from home.

Just curious...I have been to the Rose, Fiesta, Orange, Sugar, Emerald ( San Francisco), Peach, Cotton, Gator, and Champs Bowls....

...as well as to Columbus, South Bend, Lincoln, Baton Rouge, Charlottesville, Roanoke, Ann Arbor, Pittsburgh, etc for football games.

I guess you must have gone, at least, to the Pinstripe Bowl?
 
I've been to Yankee Stadium for baseball of course, and actually a pro football game there, but never been to the Pin Stripe Bowl. I've been to bowls, even though they are a long way from the Big East. Football games at Clemson and Georgia and others in the south. Cameron and the Phog for hoops. Wake, UNC, Clemson, Virginia (old and new), Pitt, GTown, etc. Of course the Palestra. Fenway, XL, the Dunk. South Bend. Happy Valley. US Opens. NBA playoffs. NFL. NHL. November tournament basketball. Nova Championships in Lexington, Houston, and San Antonio. A Final Four in Detroit. Regional NCAAs. I saw UConn beat Nova in Buffalo on the way to UConn's last title. I was at the game in Hartford last year. Etc, etc, etc.

If you have never breathed the air outside the Garden or felt the pulse of a game inside it, I think it's hard for you to get it. UConn fans know. It's hard to go to Memphis when you've lived tournament life in the Mecca.
 
Zissou said:
The 1/2 empty A10 tournament disproves your theory.
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Watch the NCAA tourney games today and tomorrow. Count how many of the games are sold out. Then come back here and continue to bang your head against the wall about the importance of sold-out arenas.
 
billybud said:
When the formerly "must watch" Big East Final has fallen to the level where more folks watched the MWC Final...and the awful PAC 12 Final....well, it is not the Big East we all once knew.

The FOX broadcast network scored a 0.7 rating and 1.13 million viewers for Saturday’s Villanova-Seton Hall Big East Tournament final, down 22% in ratings and 24% in viewership from last year (Villanova-Providence: 0.9, 1.49M).

The BE Final has become a local event, a nice night out in New York...but is no longer the national must watch basketball event of the year.
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Sums it up perfectly. Like I said somewhere, you can just as easily find 19,000 New Yorkers to go to MSG to watch a high school championship game. Big East hoops ratings are horrific and there just isn't any indication that it will get any better any time soon. FOX is trying to use B10 football to pump up BE ratings but it can't. There just isn't the amount of demand for it anymore now that the conference consists of nothing but small, private schools. All of the huge fanbases of the public schools are gone and they took their huge viewership eyeballs with them. And most casual fans don't begin to watch college hoops until March.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Big East next media deal comes at a significant discount. Especially with yesterday's news of Disney buying FOX. Disney (ESPN) passed on the Big East before FOX inked them to that $5M/yr/school deal. I'm sure Disney/ESPN would bring back the Big East to their platform but they would likely want to pay the conference more on par with the MWC (around $1M/yr/school). Will be very interesting to see how that shakes out. And guess where most of those Big East games will air?? Yup, ESPN+. Oh the irony of that for OP.
 
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Dooley said:
you can just as easily find 19,000 New Yorkers to go to MSG to watch a high school championship game.
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A10 half empty in NYC.

It's the Big East. 2 of the last 3 NCAA Championships.
 
Big East History. Phil Booth this year is an all time great on the list of great MVPs. Only 4 MVPs are from teams that didn't win the BET - the Pearl, Alonzo, Victor Page, and Jonny Flynn.

There are legends that are not on this list. A.I. and Ray Allen are first to come to mind.

Only 3 two-time winners - Josh Hart, Peyton Silva, and Patrick

Craig Shelton, GU
Leo Rautins, SU
Eric Floyd, GU
Chris Mullin, St. John's
Patrick Ewing, GU
Patrick Ewing, GU
Dwayne Washington, SU
Reggie Williams, GU
Sherman Douglas, SU
Charles Smith, GU
Chris Smith, UConn
Oliver Taylor, SH
Alonzo Mourning, GU
Terry Dehere, SH
Michael Smith, PC
Kerry Kittles, VU
Victor Page, GU
Scoonie Penn, BC
Khalid El-Amin, UConn
Kevin Freeman, UConn
Bootsy Thornton, SJU
Troy Bell, BC
Caron Butler, UConn
Julius Page, Pitt
Ben Gordon, UConn
Hakim Warrick, SU
Gerry McNamara, SU
Jeff Green, GU
Sam Young, Pitt
Jonny Flynn, SU
Da'Sean Butler, West Virginia
Kemba Walker, UConn
Peyton Siva, Louisville
Peyton Siva, Louisville
Bryce Cotton, Providence
Josh Hart, Villanova
Isaiah Whitehead, SH
Josh Hart, Villanova
Mikal Bridges, Villanova
Phil Booth, Villanova
 
LoyalFanCT said:
That is great for the Big East. This is not what we need to focus on, now!! We need to encourage the new president and governor to start the process of rebuilding UConn men's BB and FB programs. If necessary start with a task force that includes Jim Calhoun and some college football bigwig, maybe who works for ESPN or NBC Sports and lives in the state, and others -- I like the idea of Lou Holtz and Kevin Gilbride. Another member may be former President John Casteen who was also UVA president. The task force should issue a report soon with specific goals and a plan how to get there. It should get the governor's and Republican's blessings and explain why the success of UConn sports is essential to the success of the state's economy. The rebirth of UConn sports needs to start soon, as we also support the new president's plan to double federal research dollars. (I would hope for triple.) Ned Lamont mentioned he would like to see UConn in ACC -- during the campaign. Let's hold him to his campaign promise!!!
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You seem to have your priorities way out of whack. The Governor and the rest of CT state government should be focusing on the local economy, transportation, education, and state budget issues. The success of UConn athletics should not be their concern. Improving athletics at UConn is the responsibility of the administrators in Storrs.
 
TJT said:
You seem to have your priorities way out of whack. The Governor and the rest of CT state government should be focusing on the local economy, transportation, education, and state budget issues. The success of UConn athletics should not be their concern. Improving athletics at UConn is the responsibility of the administrators in Storrs.
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I assume you know Virginia Tech got into the ACC after pressure from then Gov. Mark Warner. Virginia Tech's unique journey to the ACC :: WRALSportsFan.com And Baylor Texas Tech got into B12 after then Gov. Ann Richards "made it clear that UT-Austin and A&M would face dire consequences if they didn’t take Baylor and Tech with them to their new conference." Inside UH's Political Push to Join the Big 12
 
Zissou said:
Big East History. Phil Booth this year is an all time great on the list of great MVPs. Only 4 MVPs are from teams that didn't win the BET - the Pearl, Alonzo, Victor Page, and Jonny Flynn.

There are legends that are not on this list. A.I. and Ray Allen are first to come to mind.

Only 3 two-time winners - Josh Hart, Peyton Silva, and Patrick

Craig Shelton, GU
Leo Rautins, SU
Eric Floyd, GU
Chris Mullin, St. John's
Patrick Ewing, GU
Patrick Ewing, GU
Dwayne Washington, SU
Reggie Williams, GU
Sherman Douglas, SU
Charles Smith, GU
Chris Smith, UConn
Oliver Taylor, SH
Alonzo Mourning, GU
Terry Dehere, SH
Michael Smith, PC
Kerry Kittles, VU
Victor Page, GU
Scoonie Penn, BC
Khalid El-Amin, UConn
Kevin Freeman, UConn
Bootsy Thornton, SJU
Troy Bell, BC
Caron Butler, UConn
Julius Page, Pitt
Ben Gordon, UConn
Hakim Warrick, SU
Gerry McNamara, SU
Jeff Green, GU
Sam Young, Pitt
Jonny Flynn, SU
Da'Sean Butler, West Virginia
Kemba Walker, UConn
Peyton Siva, Louisville
Peyton Siva, Louisville
Bryce Cotton, Providence
Josh Hart, Villanova
Isaiah Whitehead, SH
Josh Hart, Villanova
Mikal Bridges, Villanova
Phil Booth, Villanova
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So what’s your point. Surely you’re not suggesting that today’s BE comes close to the OBE? Look, we get it. Nova’s now the big fish in the smaller pond NBE. But again, the vacuum that was created lifted you guys over the top & somewhat resurrected PC, SJU, & the Hall. If the OBE was still intact, i seriously doubt that would be the case.
In any case, i guarantee you, the OBE would dominate both ratings and attendance. Nationally.
 
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Zissou said:
Maybe we don't have as much national appeal. Maybe our nationally televised games aren't between other ESPN broadcast games. The Big East is still thriving, when many of you believed the Requiem for the Big East had already been written.
.
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The Big East hasn’t been seeded this poorly in the NCAA tournament in 30 years.

The headwinds are start to take their toll. It really is just Nova, Georgetown’s corpse and then a bunch of mid-majory programs.
 
Fishy said:
The Big East hasn’t been seeded this poorly in the NCAA tournament in 30 years.

The headwinds are start to take their toll. It really is just Nova, Georgetown’s corpse and then a bunch of mid-majory programs.
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Fans of the Big East and the AAC are passengers on board the Lusitania and Hindenburg
 
Guapo said:
Fans of the Big East and the AAC are passengers on board the Lusitania and Hindenburg
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Life outside of the P5 is a terminal illness.

The Big East's future looks a lot like the Atlantic 10 back in the day.

The entire Big East should take out a life insurance policy on Jay Wright because he has been the only thing between them and the abyss.
 
Dean Wormer said:
Nova’s now the big fish in the smaller pond NBE. But again, the vacuum that was created lifted you guys over the top
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We have done well in the smaller conference pond, and in the NCAA Ocean. You can dismiss the conference, but the Nattys?
 
No one ever has to apologize for a national title. Except Jim Boeheim...that 2003 title was ridiculous.
 
Dooley said:
Watch the NCAA tourney games today and tomorrow. Count how many of the games are sold out. Then come back here and continue to bang your head against the wall about the importance of sold-out arenas.
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Looked like a good turnout at the XL for Nova tonight!
 
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The Big East Tournament may be thriving. But the Big East certainly isn't in the NCAA's!
 
The Big East has shat the bed.

The second best team in the Big East might be Seton Hall.

That’s not good.
 
All I know is if I'm Villanova I'm talking to the acc for a way out. Some bad seasons by nova, and you know the rest of the dwarves aren't doing anything,and the big east is out the first day and a mid major going forward
 
Zissou said:
Looked like a good turnout at the XL for Nova tonight!
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More importantly, how did Atlantic 10 schools draw? That's the real true measuring stick, I heard.
 
mike012779 said:
All I know is if I'm Villanova I'm talking to the acc for a way out. Some bad seasons by nova, and you know the rest of the dwarves aren't doing anything,and the big east is out the first day and a mid major going forward
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There are literally dozens of schools that the ACC would consider before even thinking about Villanova. ACC has a network now and if/when they add anyone, it will be solely based on eyeballs potential.
 
Dooley said:
More importantly, how did Atlantic 10 schools draw? That's the real true measuring stick, I heard.
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Any conference, even high schools, would fill up arenas in NYC. Except the Big East did, and the A10 didn't.

Only TV matters, watch how the first round doesn't fill arenas. Then Nova fills YOUR arena.

Maybe any tournament would fill the XL. Except UConn hosted the AAC there and couldn't fill it.

Keep talking in circles, Dooley.

th
 
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