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[QUOTE="jncuse, post: 1650791, member: 1969"]
The reason I feel my viewpoint is defensible is because I looked at KP ratings as of December 31 (before conference games) -- to try and  remove the chicken and egg impact.    They are better in recent years.

Don't get me wrong, the Big East lacks superpowers or even a depth of top 25 teams.    But they have a bunch of #30-#100 teams, and not many cupcakes (I think that has to be the case for a league to go 26-17).    I think the team "power" distribution (just for the last 3 years) has allowed for 2 conclusions that seem counter intuitive:
1.   While Villanova may be a top 10, top 12 team, it makes it much easier for them to get into the top five or a #1 seed.    
2.  It's not any easier for middle Big East teams like Providence or Seton Hall.   They now have a few less hard games, but they also have less cupcakes to boost their record, ***

*** Of course that is just the current makeup of the league.   St. John's was not bad last year and they fell.   They may have only had one bad team last year, two bad teams this year -- but they are just average programs so they could have 5 bad teams within a couple of years.

I think the Big East is just in a good cycle overall right now.   I don't know if it is sustainable.    I sort of think this is a conference that could take a quick dive or really fluctuate from year to year, because these are programs that tend to have longer gaps between success periods.   If things don't line up they could do poorly in OOC play.
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