The Holy Land of Hoops

The 2014 Conference schedule will be released this week so I wanted to find out what everyone here thinks are the keys to a successful first season in our "new" league. To me there are 5 keys that will determine not only how we do as a whole in year one, but also how the league will be regarded in the years to follow:

1 - Non Conference Wins. We have a chance this year to score some major victories against some quality non-conference opponents. Winning some of these games will make everyone take note that we are still a major player in college basketball. Some games of note this year include the following:

Xavier vs Tennessee
DePaul gets either BYU or Texas
Georgetown is loaded with Michigan St. Kansas & Oregon
St. John's takes on Syracuse & Wisconsin
Marquette has Ohio St & Wisconsin
Seton Hall plays Oklahoma & either Michigan St or Virginia Tech &
Providence matches up with Kentucky

2 - Rivalry Games - The Big East needs some rivalry games with meaning to develop. Whether you were a fan of the teams or not, most college basketball fans watched those great St. John's - Georgetown games of the mid 80 & the Syracuse-Georgetown games as well. It didn't matter if you rooted for those teams, they were big games which gave the league it's identity. The question is what makes a rivalry game? Hopefully not a bench clearing brawl but instead something like what John Thompson did in 1980 with this famous "Manley Field House is now officially closed" comment.

3 - New York, New York - The Big East Tournament has always been the signature college basketball tournament & we need to keep it that way. I know that many here don't believe that the ACC will ever take the Garden away from us, & I tend to agree; but lets not forget that the current contract with MSG is not set in stone. There are benchmarks in the contract (probably attendance) that will open up the possibility for the Garden to re-evaluate if they are not met. A 6 OT game like the 2009 classic probably won't happen but hopefully we will continue to make it a top draw event with some great "instant classics".

4 - Dancing - Bottom line is that we need to have multiple teams headed to the NCAA come March. There are at least 5 to 6 teams that on paper should be NCAA contenders. To me 5 teams would be great, 6 would be awesome, 4 or less would be very disappointing. I don't want to hear that that's too many teams from one league. In 1991, the Big East sent 7 teams to the NCAA Tournament, back when it was a 9 member conference, so it can happen.

5 - Diaper Dandies - Love him or hate him, Dick Vitale says it best, recruiting is the key. For the Big East to continue to maintain the level of excellence it has maintained for 34 years, we need to continue to sign the best HS players. We are off to a good start with some of the recent signings & we need to keep it going so that we have a league that will continue to thrive.

Those are my 5 keys. The season can't come soon enough

BigEast1 wrote:...5 - Diaper Dandies - Love him or hate him, Dick Vitale says it best, recruiting is the key. For the Big East to continue to maintain the level of excellence it has maintained for 34 years, we need to continue to sign the best HS players. We are off to a good start with some of the recent signings & we need to keep it going so that we have a league that will continue to thrive.

On this key I think specifically:

1) Can any from the group of quette, gtown, nova, or prov turn their earlier recruiting success into final top 5 classes with one or 2 more outstanding pick ups? As far as 4 or 5 star players in play: gtown is still in the hunt w/White, Robertson, Johnson & Bentil. Prov has a chance w/Abu, Terrel & maybe Bentil. Quette is still hanging tough w/Ahmed Hill & Cassell Jr. I'm not sure if nova is done for 2014 even though they still have some open ships.

2) Can can coach OP & Depaul close THE deal? nuff said...

3) Can new additions Bulter & Creighton recruit at the level or their BE counterparts this year or will they have to build some BE street-cred first? (Xavier is already recruiting at that level IMO)

4) With 3 ships open for 2014 & no commits yet what is SJU's class going to look like this year? Top 25? You know Lavs has something big up his sleeve, like his awesome 1-man class this year.

And I agree the season can't come soon enough

BigEast1 wrote:The 2014 Conference schedule will be released this week so I wanted to find out what everyone here thinks are the keys to a successful first season in our "new" league. To me there are 5 keys that will determine not only how we do as a whole in year one, but also how the league will be regarded in the years to follow:

1 - Non Conference Wins. We have a chance this year to score some major victories against some quality non-conference opponents. Winning some of these games will make everyone take note that we are still a major player in college basketball. Some games of note this year include the following:

Xavier vs Tennessee
DePaul gets either BYU or Texas
Georgetown is loaded with Michigan St. Kansas & Oregon
St. John's takes on Syracuse & Wisconsin
Marquette has Ohio St & Wisconsin
Seton Hall plays Oklahoma & either Michigan St or Virginia Tech &
Providence matches up with Kentucky

2 - Rivalry Games - The Big East needs some rivalry games with meaning to develop. Whether you were a fan of the teams or not, most college basketball fans watched those great St. John's - Georgetown games of the mid 80 & the Syracuse-Georgetown games as well. It didn't matter if you rooted for those teams, they were big games which gave the league it's identity. The question is what makes a rivalry game? Hopefully not a bench clearing brawl but instead something like what John Thompson did in 1980 with this famous "Manley Field House is now officially closed" comment.

3 - New York, New York - The Big East Tournament has always been the signature college basketball tournament & we need to keep it that way. I know that many here don't believe that the ACC will ever take the Garden away from us, & I tend to agree; but lets not forget that the current contract with MSG is not set in stone. There are benchmarks in the contract (probably attendance) that will open up the possibility for the Garden to re-evaluate if they are not met. A 6 OT game like the 2009 classic probably won't happen but hopefully we will continue to make it a top draw event with some great "instant classics".

4 - Dancing - Bottom line is that we need to have multiple teams headed to the NCAA come March. There are at least 5 to 6 teams that on paper should be NCAA contenders. To me 5 teams would be great, 6 would be awesome, 4 or less would be very disappointing. I don't want to hear that that's too many teams from one league. In 1991, the Big East sent 7 teams to the NCAA Tournament, back when it was a 9 member conference, so it can happen.

5 - Diaper Dandies - Love him or hate him, Dick Vitale says it best, recruiting is the key. For the Big East to continue to maintain the level of excellence it has maintained for 34 years, we need to continue to sign the best HS players. We are off to a good start with some of the recent signings & we need to keep it going so that we have a league that will continue to thrive.

Those are my 5 keys. The season can't come soon enough

Lenn Robbins said that the only out MSG had was if the Big East lost members.

"Reports that the Garden can get out of its deal with the Big East are somewhat misleading. Only if the new Big East loses enough key members to make the league no longer is viable can the Garden terminate the contract."

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/ ... MeuSlgBwnI

Here's what I think we need:

1.) Five NCAA bids. We need half the league in the tourney this year. If we put any number below that the perception of the league will take a hit. But a 50% invite rate will validate the move by the Catholic 7.

2.) Winning record vs. Other Power 6. As pointed out above, the Big East members overall do not appear to be shy about scheduling in the non-conference. I think we need to have a combined winning record against the ACC, Big Ten, Big XII, Pac-12, SEC and American. That's who we should be compared too and that's who we will be compared too.

3.) The new guys need to shed the mid-major label. Xavier, Creighton and Butler have been major programs in mid-major conferences. They need to jump right in this thing and be competitive so they are not viewed as mid-major programs in a major conference when the season is over. I think they will adjust fine and be just as competitive as anyone else in the league and will shed that mid-major label. Now I honestly do not know much about their rosters and who might be entering a rebuilding year, etc., but the media will be watching them closely I am sure.

4.) St. John's must win. In Mike Tranghese's last year as Big East commissioner, he sat for an interview and the topic turned to Big East basketball. He was asked, if there was anything that could improve Big East basketball. He said just one thing - if St. John's could consistently return to the top 25. He said that when St. John's is good, New York City is engaged in college basketball and the City sits it out when they are not. Jim Calhoun said the a strong St. John's was important for the Big East because the league needs to have big, important games played regularly at the Garden. Rick Pitino said that while a good St. John's was not necessary for a successful Big East, it makes the league better. That was shown in Lavin's first year when St. John's finished tied for third in the Big East, made the NCAAs, went 7-1 at the Garden with top fifteen wins over Duke, G'Town, Pitt, UConn, Notre Dame and Nova on the road. They finished ranked 18 and the Garden and the City were buzzing. New York City needs to be engaged in college hoops and the Big East in particular. It's going to be the homebase. St. John's has to take it's share of the back page of the sports section and hold it through the winter.

5.) Fox Sports 1. They never do anything small at Fox. ESPN is a stuborn king, but no king remains so forever. Fox needs to get the Big East out there.

Good and important thread. I agree with your list. The only thing we must keep in mind is that this is going to be competitive league, and with only 10 teams, we're going to beat up on and create some losses for one another, so obviously all the programs won't be able to shine. I agree St John's is probably the most important that needs to be ranked and probably one of the 3 new additions.....For my own selfish reasons I'm rooting for PC to return to the national scene after a decade + banishment to the wasteland of irrelevance.

If everybody goes undefeated in noncon and everybody goes 5-5 in conference then we let the weaker rpi teams advance farther in the conference tournament that way we get almost everybody or everybody in the ncaa tournament! Or you know it backfires and we only get a couple teams in.

A few keys I can think of.

1) Win

2) No bad press with recruits (1 top kid can be a headache for years for drunken driving, punching another player in groin on national TV, or a coach stealing a man purse) ((That was just 1 year at my school))

3) Tournament success


This year is very important, but a good reputation for our league takes time to build.

In 1991, a nine team Big East Conference got seven bids to the NCAA tourney. So it is possible to get 5, 6, or even 7 even with conference loses.

redmen9194 wrote:In 1991, a nine team Big East Conference got seven bids to the NCAA tourney. So it is possible to get 5, 6, or even 7 even with conference loses.

For that to happen we would need the A10 and AAC to absolutely drop the ball. If UConn falls off the map with the new coach, and Cincinnati and Temple have a down year that would help. Lasalle failing to keep their momentum and a few other A10 teams not living up to potential would also be of great assistance (though I won't root against Dayton, SLU, Richmond, or VCU). It wouldn't hurt to have Kentucky and Texas have another bad season either, and some other power teams falling off. We would also have to absolutely dominate the non-conference play.

Don't overlook getting teams into the Top 25. If we have several teams in, our highlights make all of the show and it helps people remember the Big East which matters in March.