Requiem for the Big East

[SJHooper]

I liked it... and I hated it. Let me explain.

I thought a large part of what the documentary covered, they covered very well. That said...

1. My guess is that if you're a fan of Syracuse, Georgetown, St. John's, or maybe Villanova, you really enjoyed it.

2. My guess is also that if you're a fan of Boston College, Seton Hall, Providence, Connecticut, or PIttsburgh, you felt short-changed.

3. Seriously, how do you produce a documentary on the Big East and skip over UConn's three National Championships entirely?

4. And how do you produce a documentary on the Big East and reduce guys like Pitino and Calhoun to supporting characters? And barely mention PJ Carlesimo or Gary Williams? These are names that basketball fans recognize, and they were all in the conference together.

5. Tranghese and DeGioia are the only administrators that you interviewed when the league was falling apart? Where were the interviews with Presidents/ADs from the schools that left? What does Calhoun or the AD at UConn have to say about Boston College? Where's the interview with people pointing the finger at Nordenberg? No mention of the flat-out hypocrisy from the Pittsburgh and Syracuse camps?

6. You skip over the fact that as late as 2010, people were still talking about the Big East as the best conference in the country, and maybe the best of all time? No mention of the fact that right before they broke up, they put eight teams in the NCAA Tournament?

But wait...St. John's was mentioned the most alongside G'Town, Cuse, and Nova? I thought I was laughed at for saying we are one of the teams that matter most in this conference. That's weird. I thought SJ was basically just Seton Hall (with 9 tournament berths vs. 28) or DePaul (the bottom feeder for the past zillion years). So can someone please tell me...do we matter like ESPN says, or do we not matter as according to Seton Hall, and DePaul fans?

[stever20]

was listening to Cowherd yesterday on ESPN- he was absoultely gushing about it. And Jay Wright came on and did the same. How it brought back memories for both of them. Thought what Cowherd was saying was probably spot on- comparing Georgetown basketball back in the 80s to Miami Hurricane football.

[mpwalsh8]

was listening to Cowherd yesterday on ESPN- he was absoultely gushing about it. And Jay Wright came on and did the same. How it brought back memories for both of them. Thought what Cowherd was saying was probably spot on- comparing Georgetown basketball back in the 80s to Miami Hurricane football.

The Miami Football / Georgetown basketball analogy is a pretty good one. I grew up in Northern Virginia and anywhere you'd go in DC the urban youth were wearing Georgetown jackets and hats. The jackets that were seen in some of the 30-for-30 clips the other night were everywhere in DC. Less so out in suburban Virginia but when Michael Jackson, who played at South Lakes High School in Reston, Virginia (the definition of suburbia at the time) was playing for Georgetown, those jackets were a "must have" for a lot kids.

[stever20]

was listening to Cowherd yesterday on ESPN- he was absoultely gushing about it. And Jay Wright came on and did the same. How it brought back memories for both of them. Thought what Cowherd was saying was probably spot on- comparing Georgetown basketball back in the 80s to Miami Hurricane football.

The Miami Football / Georgetown basketball analogy is a pretty good one. I grew up in Northern Virginia and anywhere you'd go in DC the urban youth were wearing Georgetown jackets and hats. The jackets that were seen in some of the 30-for-30 clips the other night were everywhere in DC. Less so out in suburban Virginia but when Michael Jackson, who played at South Lakes High School in Reston, Virginia (the definition of suburbia at the time) was playing for Georgetown, those jackets were a "must have" for a lot kids.

yeah, saw a lot of the same jackets here in Northern Virginia. and, LOL at South Lakes being suburbia.

[notkirkcameron]

I've heard the complaint that the 30 for 30 skipped over the 16-team, 11-NCAA-qualifier, 2 National Champions (UConn and Louisville) era. This was not an oversight. It was intentional, and it makes sense.

Yes, we could have an encyclopedic anthology of everything that happened in the Big East, but presumably, the director is limited by time. Iverson, Mourning, Kemba, Kerry Kittles, all didn't really get a lot, if any screen time.

Likewise, was the 16-team era fun? Sure! And as a Marquette fan, it was incredible to see the team I'd watched lose to TCU twice in the same season in college battling it out with UConn and Georgetown, etc. However, the director made it pretty clear that by the time the 16-team era came to be, the die was already cast. The football genie was out of the bottle. The football/basketball split in the membership was evident as early as the 1982 vote to admit Penn State, and only exacerbated itself as more football members joined. If the Big East had added Penn State in 1982, it may have only accelerated the split.

The director passed over the 16-team conference era because the 16-team conference era was a Big East living on borrowed time. Hell, if Louisville and Cincinnati football had come to the Big East and FLOPPED instead of going to BCS bowls, who knows, maybe that would have accelerated Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia's movements to protect their football. The "house divided" structure of the league was a house of cards.

[SJHooper]

College football ruined it all. Lots of times people try to say you can't generalize or blame just one thing for the demise or destruction of something, but in this case it was college football no doubt. What really pisses me off is that college football is not even big in the Northeast where some of the biggest cities in America are: Boston, Philly, NY, etc. Most college football fans did not even attend the university they root for. I see a ton of Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, USC, Notre Dame, Penn State, Florida, etc. apparel but 95% of them have zero connection with the school. They just said to themselves "Hey, cool. They are a good team...I think I want to root for them". College basketball is different. Unless it's Duke or UNC, most of the fanbases tend to be alumni and current students. There is much more of a connection.

I don't even get what's so exciting about college football. You have powerhouses playing cupcakes for half the season winning 72-3. Power conference teams don't play mid majors often at all. There are almost never any cinderellas like App State when they beat Michigan. Utah went undefeated a few years ago and was not allowed to play for the national title. In college hoops if Sam Houston State goes all the way, they win it all. That's another huge difference. Football is biased towards the blue blood teams and there's little parity. College hoops allows for cinderella runs and it's possible for a mid major to win it all.

[Jet915]

The one thing about college football that I dislike is the lack of a true champion. Sure, a 4 team playoff helps but if you aren't a ranked team at the start of the season, it is almost impossible for you to get into the top 4 at the end (unless you are a big name like Notre Dame). Teams like Boise State and whatnot that go undefeated for the season still cannot crack the top 4 and thus do not get a chance to play for a national title. 8 team playoff would be ideal. My prediction is that within the next decade or two, as this post concussion stuff gets even more publicity and its repercussions are seen, college football and NFL will be in decline. All sports go through swings in popularity.

[RDinNY]

The documentary really focused on the start of the Big East. Hence, why Uconn wasn't prominently featured. Georgetown, Cuse and St. John's were the big three rivals. Nova earned their stripes in '85 with a great season and beating Georgetown for the NC. Btw, I really enjoyed Easy Ed Pinckney's commentary. Found him very entertaining.

While ESPN may have been intending to highllight the death of the Big East, the show just chronicled the terrific, even historic, rise of a great league. Right now, we are simply going through a rebirth. Three great new programs (with a couple more to come) and a return to what this league was founded on.

[stever20]

The documentary really focused on the start of the Big East. Hence, why Uconn wasn't prominently featured. Georgetown, Cuse and St. John's were the big three rivals. Nova earned their stripes in '85 with a great season and beating Georgetown for the NC. Btw, I really enjoyed Easy Ed Pinckney's commentary. Found him very entertaining.

While ESPN may have been intending to highllight the death of the Big East, the show just chronicled the terrific, even historic, rise of a great league. Right now, we are simply going through a rebirth. Three great new programs (with a couple more to come) and a return to what this league was founded on.

Pickney was great.

The thing that was sad to me was how old Carnesecca looked. I didn't realize he was almost 90 and didn't remember him looking as old as he did. But he's got some stories in there that are just great.

I'm shocked in some ways that ESPN allowed this. Totally opposite of what I think a lot of folks thought it would be done by ESPN.

[RDinNY]

It definitely wasn't the hatchet job we thought it would be. It was great. I never appreciated Pearl Washington because he rejected St. John's and because of my general dislike for Cuse but it was great seeing his highlights. What a great college player. He was a legend as a HS player in NYC. Amazed that he didn't have a great Pro career. The same for Walter Berry.