The Big East has won every round in the branding and marketing war against the AAC 10-8. It's never going to be the Big Ten or the ACC because the numbers aren't there, but the way they have controlled the narrative has to go on your PR Mount Rushmore. Not only is it a quality league, but the perception of the conference in terms of integrity was also enhanced big time with the removals of UConn, Pitt, Louisville, Cuse, Cincy, West Virginia, etc. There is no lingering stain of scandal or paranoia that things are being done "the wrong way." Perhaps most importantly, guys are staying four years. I'm not saying they won't gladly take one and dones...but coaches are clearly making a concerted effort to recruit players who intend to graduate.
I would not be surprised to find that the profile of your average Big East recruit is noticeably different from a socioeconomic standpoint than it is for players from other leagues. With the small, private, Catholic Universities, there seems to be a level of prestige associated with the institutions that breeds more stability. Whether this is a sham or a valid marketing strategy, it has worked big time. Villanova is like Duke lite right now and tonight Providence fans sounded like the old us - it's not ideal to have Xavier and Butler playing on Friday night, but at least they made the best of a bad situation. It basically is what we thought it would be which is the Big East half as good as it used to be...and somehow that's still better than all of these other conference tournaments.
