Your Average JoeBig East Overrated?
March 11th 2011 01:07
I will start this by saying I am a New Yorker and have been all my life. I root passionately for my NY teams-some would say the wrong ones (Mets, Jets, Knicks). That being said; no one can accuse me of East Coast Bias when it comes to college basketball. In fact, the Big East, and the way they are covered, sickens me. The Big East probably has the best conference in the country this season, but the gushing and superlatives from many make it seem that the winner of this week’s conference tournament will next play a best of seven against the Lakers.
There are so many ways to judge which conference is best, but the NCAA tournament offers us a chance to look at conferences competing against each other on a neutral floor without home court advantages. Since the Big East expanded to 16 teams after the 2005 NCAA tournament, they have been regarded as the best conference in America, even though they have not produced a national champion since UCONN in 2004.
Okay, I get it; just because their team wins it all doesn’t make their conference best. Let’s look deeper. From 2005-2010 of the 12 possible NCAA tournament finalists, the Big East does not represent any of those spots either while the ACC and Big Ten have 3 apiece. Taking one step further back, there have been 24 final four teams since 2005 and the Big East only accounts for 4 of those spots (Louisville was still in Conference USA in 2005). Meanwhile the Big Ten had 5 and the ACC also had 4. I just don’t see the superiority of the Big East.
Now seeding has a lot to do with how a conference performs in the tournament. Using the same time frame, since 2005 only George Mason (#11) has made the final four as any seed lower than 5. However, during this time, the Big East has littered to bracket with high seeds. Last year featured 5 Big East teams with a #3 seed or better and 2009 also had 5, with 3 Big East teams receiving a 1 seed. Most of these teams played well below their seed, and do not represent a dominant conference.
Enough with the numbers. I guess what I am trying to say is that it’s time for the Big East to put up or shut up come tournament time. With 11 teams likely to make the Dance, the Big East had better improve upon their 8-8 record and total of 2 Sweet 16 teams from last year. Heck, maybe have a team play for the national championship. If not, ESPN’s obsession with the Big East will begin to fall on deaf ears.
* images on this page were taken from the following Wikipedia pages:
Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
The picture is licensed under the GNU Free Document License
Big East Champions don't always fair well in the NCAA tournament (from Wikipedia)
There are so many ways to judge which conference is best, but the NCAA tournament offers us a chance to look at conferences competing against each other on a neutral floor without home court advantages. Since the Big East expanded to 16 teams after the 2005 NCAA tournament, they have been regarded as the best conference in America, even though they have not produced a national champion since UCONN in 2004.
Okay, I get it; just because their team wins it all doesn’t make their conference best. Let’s look deeper. From 2005-2010 of the 12 possible NCAA tournament finalists, the Big East does not represent any of those spots either while the ACC and Big Ten have 3 apiece. Taking one step further back, there have been 24 final four teams since 2005 and the Big East only accounts for 4 of those spots (Louisville was still in Conference USA in 2005). Meanwhile the Big Ten had 5 and the ACC also had 4. I just don’t see the superiority of the Big East.
Now seeding has a lot to do with how a conference performs in the tournament. Using the same time frame, since 2005 only George Mason (#11) has made the final four as any seed lower than 5. However, during this time, the Big East has littered to bracket with high seeds. Last year featured 5 Big East teams with a #3 seed or better and 2009 also had 5, with 3 Big East teams receiving a 1 seed. Most of these teams played well below their seed, and do not represent a dominant conference.
Enough with the numbers. I guess what I am trying to say is that it’s time for the Big East to put up or shut up come tournament time. With 11 teams likely to make the Dance, the Big East had better improve upon their 8-8 record and total of 2 Sweet 16 teams from last year. Heck, maybe have a team play for the national championship. If not, ESPN’s obsession with the Big East will begin to fall on deaf ears.
* images on this page were taken from the following Wikipedia pages:
Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
The picture is licensed under the GNU Free Document License
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