Back off the ledge

[Burrito]

Villanova was the only Big East team ever ranked in the Top 16 this year. So why were people expecting 3 teams to make it to the Sweet 16? Butler just ran into a Notre Dame team that is peaking at the right time. Didn't they win the ACC tournament last week? I was hoping Villanova would get a 2 seed instead of a 1 seed (so expectations would be a little lower). The Big East is 5-5 in the tournament through yesterday.

[redmen9194]

How does one day make the season a disaster? That is totally ridiculous. We got six bids and we earned every one. Only two teams were seeded to make it to next weekend - Nova and G'Town. While they are going home, Xavier is not so we got one team in of two seeded sweet sixteen teams. Having 1 Nova go down early stinks. But it happens. Last season we got four teams in with horrible seeds. This year we added two more and our seeding was better. Our TV contract and exposure is great. Our teams are on national TV every night. If you want to watch a Big East game you can. If you have Fox Sports 1 and want to watch a Big East game but can't find the channel then maybe you need to turn off the TV all together and pick up a book because you need to sharpen the intelligence a bit. If we were on ESPN, how many games would be on ESPN3? We would be on TV far less. No expansion, no panic. I could care less what ESPN thinks of our league. If our teams play well next season we will get bids like we did this season. They don't say, "well Nova was a 1seed last year but lost early so this year they get a 3". Was it a great showing this weekend - certainly not. But seriously, let's relax a bit.

[Irishdawg]

I wasn't surprised by the Friday night losses, but yesterday was very discouraging - especially Villanova and Butler. (I actually thought that Georgetown was overseeded and wasn't surprised by their loss.) right. Now I'm brokenhearted and it's really hard to watch any basketball. Xavier is a pleasant surprise, which would have been a nice addition to a Villanova run, but by itself it doesn't mean much to anyone but Xavier fans. Does anyone really expect them to beat Arizona? Nonetheless, I'm happy for them.

I'm beginning to think that the conference may have been overrated due to the OOC success early in the season. Without one-and-done type talent, the league's best teams were largely built around upperclassmen, veterans of the college basketball wars. That's an advantage in November and December when other teams are still bringing their elite young talent along an developing their team chemistry. But by March, teams with elite but younger talent now have a full 30-game season under their belts. The edge we had on paper was apparently much thinner at this time of year than it appeared.

The one team still left in the tournament from the Big East relied on youth as much or more than just about every other team in the league.

I'm not sure how Butler's loss was "very discouraging". They got beat in overtime by the ACC tournament champs, perhaps the hottest team coming into the tournament outside of Kentucky, with one of the best back courts in the nation. It was disappointing, yes, but when you look at the individual players on each team, the fact that they had a chance to win in regulation against that team with a collection of players who were recruited to play in a mid-major league (other than their freshmen, who didn't play much) isn't discouraging at all.

Really the only losses that shouldn't have been anticipated in this tournament were Providence's and Villanova's, and even Providence's was somewhat understanding given the gift that the selection committee handed to Dayton. For all the moaning and groaning about ESPN, I think this article is a good read: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... tter-worse

To put the entire season-long success of a team or a league on one game or a tournament that lasts 3 weekends is understandable since that's what everyone who only spends 3-4 weeks out of the year paying attention to college basketball does, but it's also nonsense in my opinion.

[Bill Marsh]

I wasn't surprised by the Friday night losses, but yesterday was very discouraging - especially Villanova and Butler. (I actually thought that Georgetown was overseeded and wasn't surprised by their loss.) right. Now I'm brokenhearted and it's really hard to watch any basketball. Xavier is a pleasant surprise, which would have been a nice addition to a Villanova run, but by itself it doesn't mean much to anyone but Xavier fans. Does anyone really expect them to beat Arizona? Nonetheless, I'm happy for them.

I'm beginning to think that the conference may have been overrated due to the OOC success early in the season. Without one-and-done type talent, the league's best teams were largely built around upperclassmen, veterans of the college basketball wars. That's an advantage in November and December when other teams are still bringing their elite young talent along an developing their team chemistry. But by March, teams with elite but younger talent now have a full 30-game season under their belts. The edge we had on paper was apparently much thinner at this time of year than it appeared.

The one team still left in the tournament from the Big East relied on youth as much or more than just about every other team in the league.

I'm not sure how Butler's loss was "very discouraging". They got beat in overtime by the ACC tournament champs, perhaps the hottest team coming into the tournament outside of Kentucky, with one of the best back courts in the nation. It was disappointing, yes, but when you look at the individual players on each team, the fact that they had a chance to win in regulation against that team with a collection of players who were recruited to play in a mid-major league (other than their freshmen, who didn't play much) isn't discouraging at all.

Really the only losses that shouldn't have been anticipated in this tournament were Providence's and Villanova's, and even Providence's was somewhat understanding given the gift that the selection committee handed to Dayton. For all the moaning and groaning about ESPN, I think this article is a good read: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... tter-worse

To put the entire season-long success of a team or a league on one game or a tournament that lasts 3 weekends is understandable since that's what everyone who only spends 3-4 weeks out of the year paying attention to college basketball does, but it's also nonsense in my opinion.

Dawg, the fact that Xavier with its youth is still playing is exactly my point.

As for my comment on Butler, I wasn't offering analysis. Just my feelings. I expected Bulter to win. That was my pick in my brackets. I thought they matched up well against Notre Dame. I think the way the game played out shows that to be correct. I'm disappointed that they ended up on the wrong side of the score in a close game. Just my feelings about a close loss. I can't justify them. Nonetheless, it was a disappointing loss for me if not for anyone else.

My "very discouraging" comment was about the results for the conference as a whole, not with regard to Butler. I expected 2 teams to get to the Sweet 16 and hoped for 3. I expected a deep run for Villanova. At least to the Elite 8. Now the conference's #6 team is the only one left, so I don't think the deep run from a Big East team is going to materialize. This is the 2nd year in a row that the conference had teams capable of going deep in the tournament and it failed to happen. Last year it was Villanova and Creighton. Do you expect me or anyone else to be happy with these results?

As for the Providence loss being unexpected, I can't agree with that. Dayton was underrated on this board. I would have picked them to win the game had it not been for the 5 games in 8 days. I expected it to be a close game that could have gone either way. In what way did the committee hand Dayton a gift? By underseedingthem and making them play an extra game? Fact is that the game was played on an unfamiliar court in an unfamiliar environment. It was a neutral site game. The only non-players who influenced the outcome were the ones with the whistles.

Your last paragraph blows my mind. I've posted here all season, not just in the last 2-4 weeks. I've watched games all year long. Your post is very analytical, so I have to ask, have you no soul? No heart? Only a computer has no feelings about a team's loss when he roots for that team. Do you expect me or anyone else to have no feelings? To not be disappointed? Even though I was not surprised by the Providence loss, it was still a devastating blow. A bitter pill. In spite of my analysis that Dayton could win this game, I was rooting like crazy for Providence because I love that team. To a lesser extent, I was rooting for every other Big East team even if I thought they had a tough challenge in front of them. Do I really need to apologize for having feelings and emotions?

[DudeAnon]

If we're not on the ledge, than we obviously don't have the passion needed to be a top tier conference.

Let's be honest boys, year 2 of this experiment was an unmitigated disaster.

I'm trying to find the silver lining.

First off, what school do you root for? You show up out of nowhere spewing negativity. So forgive me for questioning your motives.

Now then. In my mind, maybe we need to back off the ledge. But we really missed an opportunity to say goodbye to the ledge for a long time.

I really do believe that the we were on the cusp of earning real respect by the media. We had 6 seeds (5 of which in the top "25").

We blew it. We will have to endure another year of "Big East" is overrated etc. And even then that is only if we have a good enough conference RPI to warrant the insult. I don't know if expansion is the answer. But with Fox's crippling exposure at our aide, we really need to consider all tools to raise our image. Go X!

P.S. I think there needs to be some house cleaning. I am sorry, but a lot of the C7 coaches don't seem to of earned their stays. A bunch of under-performers at first glance.

[R Jay]

If we're not on the ledge, than we obviously don't have the passion needed to be a top tier conference.

Let's be honest boys, year 2 of this experiment was an unmitigated disaster.

I'm trying to find the silver lining.

First off, what school do you root for? You show up out of nowhere spewing negativity. So forgive me for questioning your motives.

Now then. In my mind, maybe we need to back off the ledge. But we really missed an opportunity to say goodbye to the ledge for a long time.

I really do believe that the we were on the cusp of earning real respect by the media. We had 6 seeds (5 of which in the top "25").

We blew it. We will have to endure another year of "Big East" is overrated etc. And even then that is only if we have a good enough conference RPI to warrant the insult. I don't know if expansion is the answer. But with Fox's crippling exposure at our aide, we really need to consider all tools to raise our image. Go X!

P.S. I think there needs to be some house cleaning. I am sorry, but a lot of the C7 coaches don't seem to of earned their stays. A bunch of under-performers at first glance.

He doesn't. He's a troll. Ignore him. Or better yet, admin should kick his sorry ass out.

[R Jay]

How does one day make the season a disaster? That is totally ridiculous. We got six bids and we earned every one. Only two teams were seeded to make it to next weekend - Nova and G'Town. While they are going home, Xavier is not so we got one team in of two seeded sweet sixteen teams. Having 1 Nova go down early stinks. But it happens. Last season we got four teams in with horrible seeds. This year we added two more and our seeding was better. Our TV contract and exposure is great. Our teams are on national TV every night. If you want to watch a Big East game you can. If you have Fox Sports 1 and want to watch a Big East game but can't find the channel then maybe you need to turn off the TV all together and pick up a book because you need to sharpen the intelligence a bit. If we were on ESPN, how many games would be on ESPN3? We would be on TV far less. No expansion, no panic. I could care less what ESPN thinks of our league. If our teams play well next season we will get bids like we did this season. They don't say, "well Nova was a 1seed last year but lost early so this year they get a 3". Was it a great showing this weekend - certainly not. But seriously, let's relax a bit.

+1,000

[redmen9194]

The Big East has always been accused of being over rated. Always. It was worse in 2011 when we put 11 teams in. You had coaches in other leagues saying it, not just the media.

[Piratefan]

The BE had the #2 rpi and more top 50 and top 100 OOC wins than any other conference. It is a true power conference that had a poor NCAA. Nova had its worst shooting night and Henton had an off night. It happens but does not negate a terrific year. The problem with the BE is that Seton Hall and DePaul need to get good-- and this is from a Seton Hall fan.

[R Jay]

Please read this: Great explanation as to why we shouldn't overreact to yesterday.

http://basketballpredictions.blogspot.com/2015/03/day-6-open-thread-picking-lines.html