The New Big East

[Confident Carl]

They are in such denial. They need to stop making fun of our league and focus on getting one just "ONE" team out of the round of 32. Seriously it amazes me that they don't realize just how mid major they are..

Actually more like the MAC than the old Big East. The A-10 is on a par or better than current Big East IMO. Prior to shake up that was not the case. I take the American, even X Ville any day over current Big East. There are no doubt weak teams in American but they will improve. The way UCONN is going B1G or ACC will end up competing to get UCONN anyway. If by some stretch we end up with double National Championships AGAIN - Fagetaboutit!!!!!

 

[jibsey]

UVA is very good. Just watch them for 5 minutes and you can see that they don't make many mistakes, play great defense and rebound well which you don't have to be an NBA player to do. Also solid 3 point shooters who are not NBA bound. Their bigs can score inside. Memphis did turn them over but that was as far as it went.

 

[upstater]

He who laughs last...

What do you mean by "last?"

UConn is still alive.

 

[upstater]

The Virginia team you called the worst 1 seed in recent memory? Memphis will always be at a disadvantage when facing a team with a coach that well um coaches. Pastner reminds me of a lazy gym coach who empties out a bag of BALLZ and declares that today is "open gym".

Let's face it, I'd like to see our conference mates do well, but really I only care about UConn. The Big East however, fell flat on its face. Creighton had the typical Creighton NCAA run. PC made their bi-decade appearance a short one, and Jay Wright should spend more time on strategy than with his tailor.

Creighton never does ANYTHING in the NCAA's. This is a proven FACT no matter how much Nelson and Whaler deny it. It's in the record.

 

[Confident Carl]

UVA is very good. Just watch them for 5 minutes and you can see that they don't make many mistakes, play great defense and rebound well which you don't have to be an NBA player to do. Also solid 3 point shooters who are not NBA bound. Their bigs can score inside. Memphis did turn them over but that was as far as it went.

Memphis shooting % was terrible. They missed too many lay ups in the first half. VA defense had something to do with it but Memphis didn't look game ready. Josh Pastner looked a little too laid back for March Madness. His team reflected his attitude.

 

[Yonick]

He who laughs last...

Well, I suppose with UConn in the sweet 16 playing in MSG, and everybody from the current Big East gone, than guess who has the last laugh??
Clue: It ain't Providence......

 

[ecasadoSBU]

I didn't want to see the day in which the Northeast had only one team standing so early in the Tourney. I'm glad its Connecticut leading the pack, but it's a bit sad that our region is so weak. This sucks for scheduling. Probably going to have to schedule vs the South and the west in the upcoming years just to keep our strong reputation. The same that is happening with football. Everyone is happy about the downfall of the nBE but be careful what you wish for. No respect for the Northeast from now on. The old Big East was able to legitimize Northeast basketball, now the region is going to return to a period of relative obscurity. I hope I'm absolutely wrong about this one

Hopefully Connecticut continues to play well nonetheless. Beat ISU!!!

 

[peeps]

who is uconn scheduling in the northeast anyway? BC? BU?

 

[Yonick]

who is uconn scheduling in the northeast anyway? BC? BU?

I know discussions have taken place with Syracuse and St. John's. We'll just have to wait until the schedule is released. We do play in one of those island tournies in which BC is involved too.
At Florida and at Stanford, along with Texas at home are set for national games. I would expect at least 1 more home intersectional game, along with 1 or 2 NYC appearances. (Possibly Syracuse and/or St. Johns)

 

[gtcam]

He who laughs last...

Sean
We are all laughing to MSG
Where is Cooley laughing to today?

 

[gtcam]

who is uconn scheduling in the northeast anyway? BC? BU?

UConn should always be looking to strengthen the schedule.
BC, BU??? We want better not worse

 

[BeanTownBob]

Certainly a piss poor showing for the NBE, and it feels good to have the better end of the deal right now.

But I can't agree that this is foreshadowing to their demise into relative obscurity. They've recruited just about as well as any conference in the country this year (6 teams in the top 35. 7, 10, 18, 27, and 35) compared to the AAC (2 in top 40, SMU at 32 with only Mudiay, and us at 40)

Based on those numbers and the loss of Louisville, I still think we're in worse shape.

 

[freescooter]

The new Catholic Big East was expected to win 5.5 games (counting play in game of equal seeds) based on the seed lines. Two of its teams had high seeds and were expected to make the Sweet-16 with one advancing to the Elite-8. The league however won just two games (over La-Lafayette and Wisc-Milwaukee) with no teams making the Sweet-16 or better. I would categorize this as a failure to meet expectations.

I have said since the breakup of the real Big East, that for schools like Providence, Seton Hall, St Johns, this was a perfect outcome. They now go into every season with a prayer. They don't have to think about facing UConn, Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia, so there are now 4 to 8 games that they have a chance at winning where they had only the outside shot before. When there was discussion of breaking into two leagues back in 2003 I thought the Providences and Johnnies of the world should have pushed for it. They went from NIT hopefuls to NCAA hopefuls with the swipe of a pen.

 

[freescooter]

The Virginia team you called the worst 1 seed in recent memory? Memphis will always be at a disadvantage when facing a team with a coach that well um coaches. Pastner reminds me of a lazy gym coach who empties out a bag of BALLZ and declares that today is "open gym".

Let's face it, I'd like to see our conference mates do well, but really I only care about UConn. The Big East however, fell flat on its face. Creighton had the typical Creighton NCAA run. PC made their bi-decade appearance a short one, and Jay Wright should spend more time on strategy than with his tailor.

Perfect description of Pastner. Jay Wright is another guy who seems clueless once the actual game begins.
Did Villanova "blackball" St Joe's from the New Big East? Did Martelli send a thnk-you note yet? For what its worth, I wouldn't mind playing them non-conference pretty regularly.

 

[Confident Carl]

Well, I suppose with UConn in the sweet 16 playing in MSG, and everybody from the current Big East gone, than guess who has the last laugh??
Clue: It ain't Providence.

Truth is we have always had the last laugh. UCONN, Cincy and USF got the lion share of $100 Million from the Big East for the name and the Big East Conference Championship in the Garden. " the football schools would receive $100 million of a $110 million pool that had accumulated from entry fees, exit fees, and proceeds earned from appearances in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. On April 3, the football-playing schools, which retained the old Big East's structure and its automatic BCS bid, announced they would operate as the American Athletic Conference starting on July 1.

As a side, it looks like the ACC is close to signing up to play their conference tourney at the Barclays center in Brooklyn starting in 2017. The ACC apparently worked out a deal with the A-10 to play some double headers at the Barclays and the A-10 will move their conference championship to DC because they have GW, Richmond, VCU and James Mason all in that area.

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/acc-a-10-strike-deal-to-get-acc-tournament-to-new-york/13478360/