SB Nation reviews the Big East...commentary

[MackNova]

The reality is that even though the Big East is comparable on paper to the Pac-12 and SEC, since those leagues are more top-heavy and do more damage in March, those teams will get more credit. The Big East lost the benefit of the doubt when the football schools left. Last season did nothing to earn that back, for good reason. The conference will need big results in March before we are treated as another Power conference, and not a step below.

[FlyJays]

I love the Big East, and I feel lucky that Creighton was able to join. It's completely changed our program. However, I think Parrish's comments are pretty fair overall; though I'd disagree that we are officially at the AAC level. Take UConn out of that conference, and it's bad.

But, there is no denying the fact that our league suffers from an image problem currently. As someone mentioned above, while it might look like we compare favorably on paper against the Big 12 and SEC, those conferences have two major advantages: Media-driving "bluebloods" like Kentucky, Kansas, Florida etc. who will always be relevant no matter how bad their teams ever are. And football. Football is in the drivers seat, and there is a reason the SEC has generally been improving steadily over the past decade or so as a basketball conference (aside from the fact that Calipari is more or less a media magnet): recruits hear those schools' names every single day on ESPN because of their football teams. That's a massive branding disadvantage for the Big East that is going to be a serious challenge to overcome.

If the Big East ever wants to solidify itself as the sixth "major" conference, the only way we are going to achieve that is through annual success in March. There is no way around it. Our recruiting, given the above, has been solid the past two years (and it could have been excellent had the chips fallen for SJU this year), but eventually those recruits/teams have to get to the S16 or better to keep this league at the forefront of fans' minds.

I also think that expanding the league is an inevitable necessity. I love the fact that we can play a true round robin with our current setup. But I'm not willing to sacrifice the long term image of the league just so I can play DePaul home-and-away every season. Adding two of the following schools would be a bump for the league: UConn, VCU, Dayton, SLU, Gonzaga (unlikely), Wichita State (very unlikely). If we are going off purely pedigree, then give me UConn and VCU and call it a day. If we are going off of projected success and we have no regard for public/private designation, then give me Wichita State. I think Gregg Marshall has that program primed for a sustained run of success. If we don't care about geography, give me Gonzaga, who is a name-brand and a culture fit. SLU is a natural culture fit, but they bring almost zero in terms of brand value for the casual college basketball fan. If we added SLU and Dayton, that may actually push us further towards "AAC-land". I know Dayton has a great fan base, but I'm still not sure they bring much to the casual observer. Just so people can visualize things, there would be zero denying that the following league would be better than a few of the F5 or whatever the hell they're called, and close to the ACC and Big Ten.

Villanova
Georgetown
Marquette
UConn
St. John's
Butler
Providence
Creighton
Xavier
VCU
Seton Hall
DePaul

That's one heck of a hoops league.

I'm confident we'll have the success eventually. But I do hope the leagues acts a little sooner rather than later with regard to expansion. I fear that if we wait too long, and then eventually have a really successful year, media/fans will view it as a flash-in-the-pan rather than something sustainable.

[Wizard of Westroads]

The only thing the league lacks is a national-championship caliber program. UConn, Louisville, Syracuse brought that to the old BE. The new BE has top-level programs in GT, Nova and Marquette, and others who have achieved at a high level at some point past or recent. But while the league is terrific overall, especially compared to the dregs in some of the football conferences, nobody is currently mentioned as a title contender. I see no point in expanding, if we're not adding a title contender (somebody who'd have to drop football).

I'd guess we're more likely to have a consistent title contender eventually emerge from the current 10, based on the improving finances and the ability to project ourselves as the soul of college basketball. Nova looks like the best bet right now.

[FlyJays]

The only thing the league lacks is a national-championship caliber program. UConn, Louisville, Syracuse brought that to the old BE. The new BE has top-level programs in GT, Nova and Marquette, and others who have achieved at a high level at some point past or recent. But while the league is terrific overall, especially compared to the dregs in some of the football conferences, nobody is currently mentioned as a title contender. I see no point in expanding, if we're not adding a title contender (somebody who'd have to drop football).

I'd guess we're more likely to have a consistent title contender eventually emerge from the current 10, based on the improving finances and the ability to project ourselves as the soul of college basketball. Nova looks like the best bet right now.

UConn won the title last season, and the AAC is still mentioned in the tier below the F5. I don't think a title contender alone does the job. The Big East is being grouped with the AAC despite the fact that we don't have a clear cut title contender currently. Add in UConn who has a recent title, and I think the Big East does make that jump though.

[stever20]

The only thing the league lacks is a national-championship caliber program. UConn, Louisville, Syracuse brought that to the old BE. The new BE has top-level programs in GT, Nova and Marquette, and others who have achieved at a high level at some point past or recent. But while the league is terrific overall, especially compared to the dregs in some of the football conferences, nobody is currently mentioned as a title contender. I see no point in expanding, if we're not adding a title contender (somebody who'd have to drop football).

I'd guess we're more likely to have a consistent title contender eventually emerge from the current 10, based on the improving finances and the ability to project ourselves as the soul of college basketball. Nova looks like the best bet right now.

The way that VCU is recruiting, they are going to be starting to get mentioned as a title contender. They picked up 2 top 100 recruits this year after 3 top 100 last year. Imagine what Shaka would do with the Big East label(which is still better than the A10).

Improving finances? Yeah maybe we're making 2-3 million more per year, but pretty much everyone is now. The P5 sure as heck is.

[Xudash]

The BE has money, so no P5 advantage as far as that goes.

I think you might want to check the numbers on that assertion.

I don't need to do that. You may be focusing only on the top line numbers and not the differences in expenses between the BE programs and P5 programs. As we all know, there are P5 programs operating in the red today.

We will never achieve P5 status; we don't have football. We are positioning ourselves as a premier basketball conference. We could win a NC and, though the respect would follow, we would still be slotted as a hoops conference outside of the P5. The P5 have strength in (fan base) numbers and media bias.

Let's just win. Let's do March well.

Overall, we have been blessed with resources that no other basketball conference can imagine. Hell, we have P5 people coveting our MSG relationship. Build the brand with realistic expectations and we'll do well together.

[robinreed]

The only thing the league lacks is a national-championship caliber program. UConn, Louisville, Syracuse brought that to the old BE. The new BE has top-level programs in GT, Nova and Marquette, and others who have achieved at a high level at some point past or recent. But while the league is terrific overall, especially compared to the dregs in some of the football conferences, nobody is currently mentioned as a title contender. I see no point in expanding, if we're not adding a title contender (somebody who'd have to drop football).

I'd guess we're more likely to have a consistent title contender eventually emerge from the current 10, based on the improving finances and the ability to project ourselves as the soul of college basketball. Nova looks like the best bet right now.

UConn won the title last season, and the AAC is still mentioned in the tier below the F5. I don't think a title contender alone does the job. The Big East is being grouped with the AAC despite the fact that we don't have a clear cut title contender currently. Add in UConn who has a recent title, and I think the Big East does make that jump though.

Adding a team like UConn and one other, perhaps Temple (nova will no doubt disagree) would go a long way in helping our conference. Some say UConn must give up football. They believe they will never be a loyal contributor if they have football. Did not the old Big East have ND and did ND not have football? Were they not a major contributor to the conference despite this? It is true that the old Big East had constant disagreements between FB and BB schools. However ND was not a player in this to my memory. My school was not in the BE at that time and so if I am wrong please set the record straight.

I believe UConn and Temple or perhaps VCU would be a quantum leap forward for the BE. Will it put us in the same class as the P5? No we will never match that because of the size and wealth of those universities, their tax support and their student body size and number of alumni and because we do not have major football programs.

We can however move up substantially and start winning national championships. A basketball conference which beats the big boys constantly will have all the prestige and publicity it needs and can handle. It will also be able to demand a significant dollar increase in TV contract when the current one ends.

I have for some months been opposed to expansion but recently I have seen the light. I remember a statement made by a former CEO (I believe of GE.) He said "never fear expansion, if you do not grow you eventually wither". For some of us and perhaps all of us the Big East is our best and possibly last hope. Let us not wither because of our fear of expansion which in reality is nothing more than a fear of competition.

When I started this thread a couple of days ago I believed it was merely about comments of two well known sports writers/broadcasters about our conference. It is from the SB Big East Coast Bias blog. The fact that it has gone where it has gone demonstrates that expansion and improvement of the quality of our conference is clearly a concern of many bloggers.

[DC Denizen]

The BE has money, so no P5 advantage as far as that goes.

I think you might want to check the numbers on that assertion.

I don't need to do that. You may be focusing only on the top line numbers and not the differences in expenses between the BE programs and P5 programs. As we all know, there are P5 programs operating in the red today.

No. I get the difference between revenue and profit. If you honestly think the P5 has no advantage over us in money you are delusional. The $20-40mm TV payouts the schools get dwarfs anything we can hope to get and undoubtedly gives them a huge advantage. Other than the bottom dwellers who have been long term losers and can't fill their stadiums, most of the athletic departments do very well for themselves. And are you really looking to just compete with the Wake Forests, Purdues, and Iowa States of the world?

[GumbyDamnit!]

Adding a team like UConn and one other, perhaps Temple (nova will no doubt disagree) would go a long way in helping our conference.

I believe UConn and Temple or perhaps VCU would be a quantum leap forward for the BE.

Yeah, let's add Cincinnati, URI, & GWU as well... Take a closer look at Temple. What exactly have they done in the past 10-15 years in hoops? Answer: nothing. They have 2 tourney wins in the past 10 years (actually last 13 years). Last FF? How about 1958. They share the same market as Nova so of course we wouldn't want them in, just like XU wouldn't want Cincy.

[XU85]

Can we stop crapping our collective pants every time someone writes something negative about the Big East? The league will be fine. Respect is earned, not given, so let's grow a pair and go out and earn some respect!