Great Big East Season

[redmen9194]

What a great Big East season that came to a close last night. At the beginning of the year, most of the posters were talking about 4 bids, maybe 5. Looks like we are getting 6 in today. We will have more percentage wise that any other league except for maybe the BIg XII. We will have a number 1 seed. The regular season was so much fun. In the non-con, we took out teams from North Carolina to Syracuse to Florida to Notre Dame. Second highest conference RPI. During the Big East season, we provided some of the most entertaining games and players for sure. ESPN couldn't ignore us when we were appearing regularly in the Top Ten plays. Fox did an awesome job promoting the league and putting so many games not only on national TV but network TV. While the top teams in other leagues were playing on ESPN3, our rebuilding teams were still playing on Fox Sports 1. DePaul had more games on national TV than Duke. We had great stories as well. Butler with all its adversity and a young untested coach brings the Bulldogs from the bottom to the top of the league and a tourney bid. Nova staying steady at the top and living in the Top 10 for just about the entire season. St. John's with it's hot start, January swoon, and February climb back to relevance bringing a New York City fan base along for the ride. When the Johnnies are good, NYC is interested and that is always a good thing for the Big East. Our conference tournament cemented the title "best in the country" . The Garden for this tournament was electric. While the ACC had 9,000 in the opener and UConn played its opening round game with less than 6,000 in the seats in Hartford, the BIg East was over 12,000 the first day and just continued to climb. And nothing beats the Garden. Nothing. So great job by our schools - all of them. It was so much fun. Good luck to everyone this week. Still work to do. Bulter, Creighton, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova and Xavier. Basketball IS our religion...We Are THE BIG EAST!

[anXUfan]

Nice post. Now for a great NCAA tourney to lock it all in.

[milksteak]

+1

I was hoping we'd get four into the Dance. I thought the talent level of the league would drop off immensely with the departure of Dougie, Cotton, etc. As a league, we were much better than last year. Crazy!

The future is bright with a lot of our programs. All the teams that made the dance this year will probably be good for a long time.

I have very high hopes for Marquette.

Creighton should be okay with all of the money it is investing in basketball. Also, they have a tremendous fanbase that will expect excellence.

We'll see what happens with DePaul and Seton Hall, but I think they're both destined to be in the basement. Someone has to be there.

[redmen9194]

There is going to be shifting around every year which is what makes this so great. In the 16 team version, you had to pass eight teams to get from 13th to 5th which was extremely difficult especially with an unbalanced schedule. Here, you can be in it from year to year. Assuming we get our six in today, that will mean in the first two seasons, we placed Nova, G'Town, Providence, X, Creighton, Butler and the Johnnies in the dance. Seven different schools out of ten in two years. That's the impressive number. Everyone will get a legitimate shot.

[Bill Marsh]

There is going to be shifting around every year which is what makes this so great. In the 16 team version, you had to pass eight teams to get from 13th to 5th which was extremely difficult especially withnan unbalanced schedule. Here, you can be in it from year to year. Assuming we get our six in today, that will mean in the first two seasons, we placed Nova, G'Town, Providence, X, Creighton, Butler and the Johnnies in the dance. Seven different schools out of ten in two years. That's the impressive number. Everyone will get a legitimate shot.

Spot on. A big thumbs up to this post.

[SJU1987]

It'll help the Big East expand. I wouldn't be surprised if Gonzaga joined the Big East after the season. What a great addition that would be !
UCONN fans are losing patience.

[stever20]

It'll help the Big East expand. I wouldn't be surprised if Gonzaga joined the Big East after the season. What a great addition that would be !
UCONN fans are losing patience.

I used to think so. Not as sure any longer. It's nice having a conference tourney only 3 1/2 days rather than the 4-5 that it used to be.

[Jet915]

Good luck to all the teams this week!

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Congratulations to the Big East. Your 6 teams in the NCAA Tournament were truly deserving of bids.

Best of luck to all (except Providence) in the Tournament. [Nothing personal, Friars - just business.]

[Bill Marsh]

It'll help the Big East expand. I wouldn't be surprised if Gonzaga joined the Big East after the season. What a great addition that would be !
UCONN fans are losing patience.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing. Especially if Gonzaga goes on a deep run, timing would be perfect.