The New Big East is a really good conference.

[Delmar]

It reminds me of the old Big 5 in Philly, made up of schools for whom basketball is king. Tons of enthusiasm in the student bodies and alums. Well matched Catholic schools with similar resources. Great traditions. Mostly city schools. Hard not to like.

 

[TexanMark]

They seem to be hitting their stride...glad they are doing well.

 

[samspann1]

better basketball conference this year than the ACC, IMO.

 

[OrangeDW]

better basketball conference this year than the ACC, IMO.

Maybe stronger at the bottom and maybe middle, but the ACC has 3 teams in the top 5...

From 2/14-3/2 we play: Duke, Louisville, Pitt, @ ND, @Duke, Virginia. There's no other conference out there where you could possibly play a more difficult stretch of games.

 

[OrangeCrush22]

Definitely a major conference despite claims to the contrary. Better than the SEC and Pac-12 at this point.

It's funny to note that the Big East schools get payed twice as much for TV ($4 mil per school each year) as UConn and Cincinnati.

 

[Cheriehoop]

I was surprised at the number of people who thought they'd suffer a huge dropoff. All these schools' major sport is basketball and historically it has always been basketball. It's their "brand", their sole identity athletically. They attract excellent coaches, many who are connected to their system and get excellent support. The old CYO leagues, parochial leagues all revolved around basketball, there isn't even a close second. When we talk about tradition and history - they all have it. It will be their sole focus - to stay as relevant as they always have been and not take a back seat to football or any mixed conference priorities. Since they are smaller private universities, they need to generate all their athletic revenue from this one sport so it won't take a back seat to anything.

Will be interesting if basketball revenue will continue to be enough in the future to support a basketball arms race. It will be seen if the bigger, better facilities outside the Big East will overcome their long-term single minded athletic focus.

 

[nyhc666]

It reminds me of the old Big 5 in Philly, made up of schools for whom basketball is king. Tons of enthusiasm in the student bodies and alums. Well matched Catholic schools with similar resources. Great traditions. Mostly city schools. Hard not to like.

i agree with MOST of what you said, but it is EXTREMELY difficult to like Nova and their style of play...not to mention, ALL of the BS that they get away with

 

[Briancuse]

better basketball conference this year than the ACC, IMO.

Better top to bottom, the big east doesn't have anyone at the top close to as good as Duke,Uva, and Lville.

 

[im4cuse]

Hoyas "drawing" about 7k per game, even with Kansas in for 14k. Had a "crowd" under 5k in a 19,000 seat building in November. I think they miss us

 

[Cheriehoop]

Better top to bottom, the big east doesn't have anyone at the top close to as good as Duke,Uva, and Lville.

True and I doubt they ever will have any one program that's consistently a top tier program either. They probably won't attract multiple McDonalds AA's etc. They will be factors with the next tier of prospects. They should stay relevant more so than many other conferences though.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Hoyas "drawing" about 7k per game, even with Kansas in for 14k. Had a "crowd" under 5k in a 19,000 seat building in November. I think they miss us

Funny how the Big East's biggest university, attendance -wise, DePaul, has such poor facilities and low support. Too many of the Big East programs play in multi-purpose or pro arenas away from their home campuses. A huge plus that won't change -they are in large Metropolitan areas with plenty of media. Georgetown is a weird school in that it has many more post graduate students (who traditionally go to less games) than undergraduate students. They should miss us - we were the only fans who ever flocked to their games .

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Nah, don't be fooled. It's crap.

 

[Delmar]

i agree with MOST of what you said, but it is EXTREMELY difficult to like Nova and their style of play...not to mention, ALL of the BS that they get away with

Agree, especially with the game this year. We won't be the last team that gets shaken down in Philadelphia. The old Palestra had a great history of torturing visitors. Still happens at the new venues.

I am really talking about the league. The Catholic schools have gotten out from under the football agenda. They really wanted Notre Dame badly, but it works a lot better for them that they don't have to kowtow to a prima donna. They now have stability which is something that was lacking for the past 20 plus years.

 

[cuseattle]

It helps the Big East that Fox1 is showing so many of their games nationally.

 

[longtimefan]

It reminds me of the old Big 5 in Philly, made up of schools for whom basketball is king. Tons of enthusiasm in the student bodies and alums. Well matched Catholic schools with similar resources. Great traditions. Mostly city schools. Hard not to like.

It may have changed in the last hour, but through the first 3 games played today, the home team has won every league game so far this season. That's not the profile of a really good league. More like the old days of Eastern independents. For example, in the old days of the "Little Three" of the Buffalo area, Canisius, St Bona and Niagara would trade home-court 20 point wins vs each other. Way back when, we'd beat Penn St by 20 in Manley, and get hosed by 2 in the old Rec Center.

One of the good things the original Big East did was do away with much of the home court BS. So far this season, there are indications that they're all using friendly, home-court officials. Not a positive trend.

 

[Delmar]

It may have changed in the last hour, but through the first 3 games played today, the home team has won every league game so far this season. That's not the profile of a really good league. More like the old days of Eastern independents. For example, in the old days of the "Little Three" of the Buffalo area, Canisius, St Bona and Niagara would trade home-court 20 point wins vs each other. Way back when, we'd beat Penn St by 20 in Manley, and get hosed by 2 in the old Rec Center.

One of the good things the original Big East did was do away with much of the home court BS. So far this season, there are indications that they're all using friendly, home-court officials. Not a positive trend.

You're making me laugh recalling some of those games. It's still too early to tell. If the trend continues, then you are right, they have a problem. They need a standard bearer, and not just a bunch of .500 teams. Seton Hall's victory of Villanova I take as a good sign for the conference.

 

[Cheriehoop]

It may have changed in the last hour, but through the first 3 games played today, the home team has won every league game so far this season. That's not the profile of a really good league. More like the old days of Eastern independents. For example, in the old days of the "Little Three" of the Buffalo area, Canisius, St Bona and Niagara would trade home-court 20 point wins vs each other. Way back when, we'd beat Penn St by 20 in Manley, and get hosed by 2 in the old Rec Center.

One of the good things the original Big East did was do away with much of the home court BS. So far this season, there are indications that they're all using friendly, home-court officials. Not a positive trend.

You mean unlike today's first 4 ACC games where home teams NC St, Notre Dame won and Duke is winning big. Of course our 2 point win at VT must have proved we are a much better league ref wise.

What might very well happen though is Big East teams, like the ones of old, may beat up on each other not being as top heavy and more evenly matched.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

You mean unlike today's first 4 ACC games where home teams NC St, Notre Dame won and Duke is winning big. Of course our 2 point win at VT must have proved we are a much better league ref wise.

What might very well happen though is Big East teams, like the ones of old, may beat up on each other not being as top heavy and more evenly matched.

I think they look better than they are because they don't have us, Pitt, Louisville, UCONN and Notre Dame to deal with. Not right now obviously, but just in general. Winning record in the nBE isn't what a winning record was in the old BE.

 

[longtimefan]

You mean unlike today's first 4 ACC games where home teams NC St, Notre Dame won and Duke is winning big. Of course our 2 point win at VT must have proved we are a much better league ref wise.

What might very well happen though is Big East teams, like the ones of old, may beat up on each other not being as top heavy and more evenly matched.

What I'm trying to say is that there is a difference between an entertaining conference and a good one. The games, being viewed by someone with no rooting interest (me), have been exciting. But it would be nice if the home team didn't seem to have a 10-point spot.

 

[HOFCeluck]

It reminds me of the old Big 5 in Philly, made up of schools for whom basketball is king. Tons of enthusiasm in the student bodies and alums. Well matched Catholic schools with similar resources. Great traditions. Mostly city schools. Hard not to like.

That stuff plus the double round robin schedule the ACC used to do when it was nine teams. The closest thing to the perfect basketball conference.

...though for the interests of Syracuse obviously the ACC is better.

 

[rrlbees]

Who's in the new big east?

 

[longtimefan]

Who's in the new big east?

I understand the following Eastern cities are represented in the league:

Cincinnati
Milwaukee
Chicago
Indianapolis
Omaha

 

[jncuse]

Average Big East Team is certainly better than the ACC.

But the powers of the ACC make it close.

I will tell you this -- it will be easier for a middle of the pick team from the Big East to get in the tourney this year vs one from the ACC,

After Duke, Virginia, Louisville (and maybe include UNC in that group) there is a lack of tourney level teams to play against. So the majority of your quality games end up being against really elite teams. It will be easier for a bubble level team in the Big East to garner top 50 victories this year.

 

[HOFCeluck]

...And the atlantic coast extends as far west as indiana and western Pennsylvania. Not sure what the point is.

 

[jncuse]

I think they look better than they are because they don't have us, Pitt, Louisville, UCONN and Notre Dame to deal with. Not right now obviously, but just in general. Winning record in the nBE isn't what a winning record was in the old BE.

That is not true in my opinion. Teams like Providence, Seton Hall and St. John's are better at this point of the year than they normally have been since 2000 (certainly Seton Hall and Providence). Ken Pom Rankings of 25, 29, 52.


Actually there is less "sluff" in this season's Big East --
a) All 3 of the above are at peaks. If those teams were all their "average" level the past 15 years, the conference would suffer.
b) They brought in 3 solid programs in Butler, Xavier and Creighton
c) They were also able to rid themselves of perennial losers in Rutgers and South Florida. Of course Depaul sticks around to stink it up.

http://www.rpiforecast.com/index2.html

As of now, teams with the following projected records entering conference tourney will be in play for a bid on Selection Sunday.
St. John's 20-10
Providence 19-12
Georgetown 17-12
Xavier 20-11

Actually all those teams may have better resumes than a 19-12 Syracuse team, because they will be able to get top 50 wins against each other.