Let this declaration be heard from Watertown to White Plains: The Big East is the deepest college basketball conference in the country. No league has as many quality teams from top to bottom. There were a legitimate nine schools that could’ve won the Big East tourney at Madison Square Garden, which is simply remarkable. As we all know, a record 11 schools got invites to the Big Dance. The Big East was a bear night in, night out, yet again this season.
The Fizz’s “What Went Wrong” Series
- Thursday: Fab Melo went bust
- Wednesday: Season-long spotty play
- Tuesday: Lack of elite scorer
- Monday: Team FizzCast dissects the blame
But it was also overrated and that ended up hurting the Orange. Nearly every Big East school not named UConn (puked in my mouth a little there, sorry) or Marquette failed to live up to their seeding. Nine of the eleven schools were bounced on opening weekend. A #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, and two #6 seeds from the Big East were all gone by the 2nd round. Pitt’s annual early exit created more questions about Jamie Dixon. Notre Dame’s five seniors were embarrassed by Florida State’s defense. Louisville, St. John’s, Villanova and Georgetown were one and done.
But weren’t those all quality wins for the Orange? Going to D.C. and winning was a statement. Beating the Johnnies at MSG twice was huge. Scoop’s game at ‘Nova was legendary.
Or was it?
UConn could be credited for winning five games in five days at MSG, vaulting to a three-seed in the NCAA’s and reaching the Elite 8. But let’s look at that picture’s reflection in the mirror. The 9th-best record in the Big East knocked off the first, third and fourth-best teams (while supposedly playing on fumes) when it mattered most.
While the Big East was clearly the most-competitive conference in the country (what other nine-seed could’ve done what the Huskies did?), that doesn’t necessarily mean the league had any truly elite teams.
The fact is, the conference had eleven truly solid squads – all deserving of tourney bids. But beating seven or eight good schools (like Syracuse did) is far different than knocking off three or four elite ones. What was SU’s best win this season? It’s UConn – a team that played on the same day as DePaul in the conference tournament.
But the Big East’s national respect, its incredible depth of competitive teams and overall mediocrity of the 68-team field sold the committee on over-seeding the league. It created unusually high expectations for less than elite teams. The Big East was a grind the entire season. But that’s just because it was a league chock full with the same level of teams: good, not great.
Posted: D.A.
10 responses to “What Went Wrong: The Big East Was Overrated”
Like JB said yesterday on outside the lines the big east started with 16% of the teams in the field and had 13% after the first weekend was over. The big east also went 29-16 vs the other “bcs” bball conf. to start the yr and thats where the hype came from considering the big 10 is the only other conf to even go .500. If you look closer at the games the BE lost in the tourney you would see that most of the games the BE lost came in the final few sec’s. Louisville also had to play with out their best player for the last 10mins of their game b/c he hurt his ankle not to mention chris w. probably wasnt even that healthy and DJ K of st.john ripped his acl. The BE is the sec of college basketball minus the fact that unlike the sec football teams who automatically get the best chance to play for NC b/c they play the most ranked teams the BE basketball teams have to win 6 games instead of just 1.
Name one great team in college basketball? OSU is the closest but if sully ever got in foul trouble they be in real trouble. KU is beatable lack of a real pg(like SU). If they play a team thay has the size to match them inside they struggle. The point is there arent great teams this yr anything can happen and to single out the big east is dumb.
Carlton-
The Big East was singled out in this post for a reason – Syracuse plays in it and got far more press (and bids) than any other league. You’re right – plenty of other beatable high seeds this year – and few if any elite teams this season across the nation. But we didn’t say Ohio State or KU was battle-tested and ready to go because of the road they traveled in the Big 10 or Big 12.
DA
The BIG EAST has come a long way. When we were on the bottom. We are on the top know. Our teams will get better as UCONN has . Look at the other southern teams who used to beat the pants off of us. Get use to us . GO HUSKIES!!!!! Have benn waiting along time.
GO UCONN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Im sick of the Big East is overrated crap. Seriously? Look at the head to head against other conferences througout the year. You cannot determine a conferences worth from a one loss and out tournament. With your logic… Virginia Commonwealth is a better team than everyone in the Big East other than Uconn. Genius.
Who wins a tournament and who is the best team are two different things. That is why the NBA has a series. How many times would Morehead St. beat Louisville in a series? How many time would Ohio St. lose in a series to any team? How many teams would Butler beat in a series? That is why it is called march madness instead of the playoffs. We never really know who the best team is, only who won the tournament.
OH! the crybabies in the big east-as C-Barkley says”the little east”.Last year they had 8 teams and all had early exits!the league showed its lack of muster when Maryland went to Nova and almost thrashed them when they were #7 in the nation at the time.When they all are 4 and 5 seeds playing each other its easy to think they
are “BEASTS”And they would be also rans in ACC.BE-a large league with lots of average teams!
totally disagree that the big east is overrated. anything can happen in the ncaa tourny. uconn wasnt that great at the beginning of the season, now they are hot. hands down big east is still the most powerful conference, and u cant base the “overrated” stuff on losing one game at the end of the season.
Seems to me everyone is just hyper-sensitive to any criticism of the Big East because of SU’s affiliation. Not easy for me to admit either, but if we don’t criticize the BE when it fails, why do we take credit when it succeeds? I didn’t hear anyone dismiss WVU making the Final Four last year (or BE defenders this year with UConn) by saying it’s all arbitrary in the NCAA tournament b/c it’s a one game series. Which one is it? When the NFC wins the Super Bowl for 13 straight years, we accept that it was superior to the AFC. The BE teams didn’t just lose in the tourney, they were almost all upset by lesser regarded teams. Let’s own up to it.
DA- I dont think people are hyper-sensitive i think ppl are just sick of hearig about it. I feel atleast you guys should have waited to see how the rest of the tourney played out before piling on. The BE is the only conf. in the top 4 ranking wise that has a team in the final 4. So b/c the ACC, Big12 and big10 dont have a team in the final 4 are they overrated? Did all 9 of the possible BE teams that could have advance to the sweet 16 need to win to avoid this kind of talk? Because the percentage of BE teams left in the 2nd weekend of the tourney was just slightly lower then when the tourney started. Also isnt the NC tittle game the superbowl for college basketball? What if uconn wins? Wouldnt that make the BE superior? One last thing, an “elite” team in college basketball just doesnt exist anymore b/c college basketball teams change over so much b/c of the 1 an dones and b/c of that rule it has made the ncaa tournament a crapshoot and one out of the handful of good teams win.