So by my handle you see I'm a Syracuse fan. I'm also an alum ('87) and I live in Connecticut.
I registered for your site because I felt I had to comment in this thread.
Here's the deal - Anyone, and I mean anyone, who says that Syracuse is the most successful program in the history of the Big East is simply wrong. As much as it pains me to say it, it is just undeniable. Connecticut is far and away the most successful program in the history of the league. And believe me, I truly, truly hate saying it. It drives me crazy. I was a student in the mid '80's during the heyday of the Big East. UConn was an afterthought in those days. To say that now in 2013, they are THE program of the conference just speaks to the amount of success they've had.
As you all say, 3 Championships. Period. End of story. Nobody else in the conference has more than 1.
UConn & Georgetown have 7 BE tourney titles. Syracuse has 5. St. John's is next closest with 3. Again though, no contest.
Regular season titles - UConn - 7, Syracuse, 7. Only category where the two schools compare.
The only thing I can say that Syracuse has over Connecticut is that Syracuse has been the more consistently good team of the two during the entire life of the Big East. Syracuse's regular season and tourney titles have come in each decade of the conference's existence. UConn didn't win their first regular season title until '89-'90 (when they shared it with Syracuse) and their first BE Tourney that same year.
In reading this thread I find it ridiculous to see that a Syracuse fan says that SU should have 3 Championships, if, if, if..... Well, guess what? If my grandmother had a dick she'd be my grandfather. Bottom line is that SU does NOT have 3, they have ONE. Connecticut has 3. And it does not matter what the seed was in the tournament and who either team played.
All you really have to say to anyone who tries to compare the two programs and thinks Syracuse is the better of the two over the history of the conference is this: If you swap the history of the two teams. Do you think you'd find one Syracuse fan that would say UConn was better? Nope. They'd do just what you are doing - point to those 3 trophies and laugh at you.
Look - I love my school, love being a fan, am very proud of their history. But there are levels. At the top is Kentucky, Indiana, UCLA, the next tier is Duke, UNC and UConn. Is Syracuse in that third tier? Yeah, maybe but even if they are - and that's debatable, the third tie is still a far, far cry from the second and UConn is closer to the first tier than SU is to the second.
Again - I hate UConn, I hate all you guys who root for UConn but its not even a debate.
I do however think that when the average fan across the country thinks 'Big East', they think Syracuse and Georgetown before they think UConn. That's the national perception of the conference and its simply a result of the rivalry that SU and G'town developed in the '80's on ESPN.
In closing let me say that I think that having a program like UConn's twisting in the wind looking for a conference home is a travesty. I really think that the ACC is the perfect place for the Huskies and hope that's where they'll wind up. Unfortunately I think your fate is tied to Notre Dame deciding what to do with football and we all know how that's gone in the past.