Is Providence the Big East Champ or the Tourney Champ?

[GumbyDamnit!]

I'm sure Villanova would trade the regular season for the "Championship at the Garden" all day long...

If you mean that Villanova would rather not finish 16-2 and be ranked in the Top 10 all year in exchange for the BET, I will tell you unequivocally: "no." Don't get me wrong the BET is a nice thing to get, but I think you are judged mostly by how you do in the big tourney. How Nova did in the regular season has set them up for a better draw than PC in the tourney that counts most. Hopefully that will help them make a deeper run. After the season I will look back at 2013-14 and measure how we did in the tourney and then feel great that we proved that we were the best overall team in the conference this year. The BET loss will be prob 3rd most importance in my mind.

[FriarJ]

Ask Jay what he thinks.

[ChelseaFriar]

Ask Jay what he thinks.

You think Jay would trade his 2 seed for an 11 seed if he could have the BET Championship this year? I don't.

Jay wants to go to the Final Four.

[EMT]

I don't think anyone is saying they would trade a 2seed with an 11 seed. That's idiotic. But to say that Jay Wright would rather lose in the BET is just as bad. You play for what's in front of you. The fact that a great program like Nova only gas one BET and Jay gas none has to hurt.

I'm sure his guys would have loved to have gotten him his this year.

[XUFan09]

No one is saying that Villanova would rather lose in the BET, period, but in a choice between the regular season championship and the tournament championship, it's regular season championship all the way.

[FriarJ]

The thought that Jay Wright would rather have the "regular season" title than the BE tournament title might be the most idiotic thing I have ever read on this board

[XUFan09]

The thought that Jay Wright would rather have the "regular season" title than the BE tournament title might be the most idiotic thing I have ever read on this board

Winning the vast majority of games in an 18-game stretch did a lot more for his team's seeding in the big tournament than winning three games in three days would have done.

[SJHooper]

The BET reminds me of the SAT. Is it fair to judge a student so much based on 1 huge test score? Some students have 4.0 GPA's and just suck at taking standardized tests. Some students have a 2.8 and get great scores on the SAT. If it was your kid and he had the 4.0, busting his butt for 4 years in high school and did terrible on the SAT, what would you say? You'd say that his overall body of work long-term leading up to the test deserves more weight and is more telling. That's exactly how I see the BET. If you can win it, great. It's a big accomplishment for sure. But that doesn't make you the best team. Better teams lose tournaments all the time. The best team doesn't always win. Sometimes it's the hottest one (UConn) or the hungriest one. The best team wins the regular season.

[GumbyDamnit!]

The thought that Jay Wright would rather have the "regular season" title than the BE tournament title might be the most idiotic thing I have ever read on this board

Really? Just because someone disagrees with you it is idiotic? All kudos to PC for winning the BET. I was rooting for you guys harder than anyone not named VU. You proved that for one weekend that you were the best team in the BE. I think Jay would rather prove that his team is the best over the 10 weeks of the season and not just one weekend. Like I said the BET is a wonderful accomplishment but IF the question is would Nova rather do better in those 3 games then in the previous 18 conf games I am sure he would pick the latter.

Here's the thing and I really hope this does not offend PC fans. I think teams like Nova, G'twn, Marq and Xavier (and maybe Butler) view success through how they do in the big tourney. The other BE schools have had such little success in March, that I can understand why a BET win would be viewed so highly. I think most Nova fans see the regular season as a simple build up to the big prize. If Creighton makes a run to the FF and Nova flames out in Round 3 or the S16, I will admit that Creighton had the better season. Programs build their reputations in March and Nova aspires to be a national program not a regional one. I also think that reputation gets built over time. People will remember Nova being ranked in the Top 10 for most of the year and I don't think many will remember who played best over one weekend to win a conf tourney.

[stever20]

The thought that Jay Wright would rather have the "regular season" title than the BE tournament title might be the most idiotic thing I have ever read on this board

Really? Just because someone disagrees with you it is idiotic? All kudos to PC for winning the BET. I was rooting for you guys harder than anyone not named VU. You proved that for one weekend that you were the best team in the BE. I think Jay would rather prove that his team is the best over the 10 weeks of the season and not just one weekend. Like I said the BET is a wonderful accomplishment but IF the question is would Nova rather do better in those 3 games then in the previous 18 conf games I am sure he would pick the latter.

Here's the thing and I really hope this does not offend PC fans. I think teams like Nova, G'twn, Marq and Xavier (and maybe Butler) view success through how they do in the big tourney. The other BE schools have had such little success in March, that I can understand why a BET win would be viewed so highly. I think most Nova fans see the regular season as a simple build up to the big prize. If Creighton makes a run to the FF and Nova flames out in Round 3 or the S16, I will admit that Creighton had the better season. Programs build their reputations in March and Nova aspires to be a national program not a regional one. I also think that reputation gets built over time. People will remember Nova being ranked in the Top 10 for most of the year and I don't think many will remember who played best over one weekend to win a conf tourney.

I think it's opposite quite frankly. I think more folks will remember PC's tourney win over Nova's season. Folks 20 years from now will be like remember back to that 2014 when PC beat McDermott to win the BET? College Hoops has become so much more of a postseason sport now I think.