The New Big East vs. The Old Big East

[Hall2012]

I think the old Big East had a much stronger top, at least in terms of consistency - though it also had a much softer bottom. The current Big East has a few had few good seasons from non-Nova teams, but the old Big East had multiple teams that were still top 25 in a "down year."

[DeltaV]

Back to your content, and comments about the Big East:

People say the older era was better because it was deeper. 3 final four teams in '85. 3 #1 seeds in 2009. Syracuse in their prime, UConn, Georgetown, some great West By God Virginia teams, Pitt actually being relevant. Nova peaking as a program at just the right time is wonderful, and I love that Xavier and Seton Hall have made major waves recently (and I love a scrappy Providence team every year making noise as well), but the BIg East always used to have multiple NC contenders every year. Yes, the 2018 Nova team was a buzz saw, and is probably in the top 3 Big East teams ever (and cut the Old vs. New crap, makes you sound like a AACK poster), but we need someone else to make a final four before we can start challenging the 80's.

What would you consider a NC contender? Because as I pointed out earlier, the OBE had some very lean years with regards to Final Four appearances. Does a top 3 seed constitute a NC contender? If so, the four of the 10 NBE programs have contested for a NC in the NBE: Nova, Xavier, Creighton and Seton Hall. I have no problem debating one versus the other, but lets use some numbers instead of your emotions. Lest we forget, the OBE had 16 members. So while you may have had another 1 or 2 relevant teams, you likely had 4-5 more who weren't.

NC contenders are probably down to 3 or 4 seeds, depending on the year, and making it at least to the Elite 8. At times, there were multiple Big East teams contending for those Final Four spots.

Of course, your right; we only remember the years where the Big East did well, less so the years where they didn't, and we don't remember at all the teams that weren't making noise in March. And the size difference is part of the reason I don't like comparing 'New' to 'Old'. We're just the Big East; you only usually see the term New and Old used when someone is trying to degrade the conference.

[Django]

I think you should keep ranking the cities... best steakhouse, best live music joint, best strip club (pre and post Covid of course)

[MUBoxer]

I think you should keep ranking the cities... best steakhouse, best live music joint, best strip club (pre and post Covid of course)

By city or campus? I mean I can't speak for any other big East school but the college campuses I've gone to don't generally have steakhouses on them.

[DeltaV]

I think you should keep ranking the cities... best steakhouse, best live music joint, best strip club (pre and post Covid of course)

Best dive bar?

Although, my favorite home away from home, Maloney's, closed a few years ago . I still have my green mug to drink from during big games though

[bigeastbiggerstage]

I think you should keep ranking the cities... best steakhouse, best live music joint, best strip club (pre and post Covid of course)

All over it

[adoraz]

I think the old Big East had a much stronger top, at least in terms of consistency - though it also had a much softer bottom. The current Big East has a few had few good seasons from non-Nova teams, but the old Big East had multiple teams that were still top 25 in a "down year."

Yep, this.

Also the old Big East had 6 extra teams. That made a huge difference. Imagine if we had 6 more teams these past 7 years. UConn (NC won year 1 of AAC), Gonzaga, VCU, Dayton, St. Louis, and St. Mary's. I'm not saying those would be the 6 teams we'd go with, but you get the idea.

[FriarJ]

This topic gets re-hashed a lot for some reason. Maybe ACC fans at Louisville or Cincinnati or South Florida are trying to sow discord, lol?

In 2014, there were only 2 old Big East teams that i missed having in the Big East--> Syracuse and UConn.

That's all. And UConn is back. I honestly couldn't give two sh-ts about Pitt, BC, Cincinnati, Miami or South Florida. I couldn't care less about Louisville without Pitino. Yeah it was cool having 52 teams in the Big East from 06 to 13.

In contrast, current day, my kids and i look forward to going to every Big East game.

I really like your take. We truly are part of a special conference situation.

Your response got me thinking about the last major restructuring in the Big East prior to us coming together in 2013 (the one where PITT, and Syracuse, in particular, left for the ACC). I cannot imagine what the C7 were going through during that period, when everything the conference pursued was based on the best interests of football programs. I would have been tearing my hair out.

You had a much bigger problem than existed in the A10, which was and remains about very poor management and way too much tolerance for underperforming, non-caring programs. You guys had the exact opposite problem back then - a ton of success in basketball being torn up by football; football was the lightning rod.

Well, history tells us what they did. They got pissed off enough finally. They invited 3 great basketball schools with amazing fan bases to join them, exceeded all expectations of everyone. (anybody says they expected the success are lying) and rejuvenated sleeping historical schools like SHU and PC. So much success in fact that a 4 time NC school came begging back in.

That's the nut of it.

[gtmoBlue]

Yep, it must be L’ville or S’cuse me fan who keeps this new vs old, us vs them stuff percolating up time after time.
There’s only one Big East. God bless it.