The Premature Demise Of The Big East

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The Big East Conference has a long and storied men’s basketball history which dates back to its inception in 1979. The glory days of the Big East were in the 1980’s with iconic players such as Georgetown Hoyas center Patrick Ewing and Syracuse Orangemen point guard Dwayne “Pearl” Washington. In 1985, the Big East became the first and only conference to date to send three schools to the Final Four when Georgetown, along with the St. John’s Redmen, and Villanova Wildcats made it, with Villanova winning the national title.

But unlike other power conferences, the Big East didn’t have the luxury of all of their members fielding a Division-I football team which led to several attempts at expansion by the conference to keep the football institutions happy.

When the Big East dipped its hand into the football arena, they brought in the likes of the West Virginia Mountaineers, Miami Hurricanes, and Virginia Tech Hokies to the conference due to their football prowess. But the Big East would remain a divided conference with some school administrators wanting to concentrate on basketball, while others wanted to focus on football.

In 2004, Miami and Virginia Tech would bolt the Big East in favor of the Atlantic Coast Conference which provided a more lucrative football television deal. The following year, the Boston College Eagles who were a charter member of the Big East Conference in 1979, would also leave the conference in favor of the ACC.

The Big East would be left to scramble as then conference commissioner Mike Tranghese had to find schools to fill voids in both football and men’s basketball. And just as the ACC had raided the Big East, Tranghese would now set his sights on Conference USA as he was able to lure the Cincinnati Bearcats, Louisville Cardinals, Marquette Golden Eagles, South Florida Bulls, and DePaul Blue Demons to come on board as the conference appeared ready to stay afloat.

The Big East would sacrifice their football status, but they would more than make up for in men’s basketball as they became the envy of the college basketball world as the tradition of quality basketball games on a nightly basis would continue.

In 2009, the Big East became the first and only conference to have three schools earn a number one seed for the NCAA Tournament as the Connecticut Huskies, Pittsburgh Panthers, and Louisville pulled off the feat. In 2011, the Big East would set another record as they sent 11 of their 16 basketball members to the tournament. And from 2007-2013, all but one Final Four saw at least one Big East school make it.

But in 2011, after a stellar Big East Tournament which featured the outstanding ability of Connecticut guard Kemba Walker, the curtain appeared ready to drop on the iconic basketball conference when Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (who was a basketball member, but not a football member) decided to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. Shortly after that announcement, the West Virginia Mountaineers agreed to join the Big 12 Conference while the Rutgers Scarlet Knight would be headed to the Big Ten Conference with Louisville joining the ACC in 2014. Tranghese had resigned two years prior to these revelations and his replacement in John Marinatto couldn’t keep school administrators happy which appeared to spell the end of for a once glorious basketball conference.

But of those 16 schools, seven didn’t field Division-I football teams. The Providence Friars and Seton Hall Pirates, along with Marquette, St. John’s, Georgetown, Villanova, and DePaul are catholic institutions who wanted to get back to the basketball roots of the Big East while also wanting to make the conference up of catholic schools. These basketball institutions would keep the Big East name, along with the conference records while they decided to play on. And after getting the Xavier Musketeers and Butler Bulldogs to leave the Atlantic 10 Conference, along with talking the Creighton Blue Jays into leaving the Missouri Valley Conference, a new Big East Conference would be on display in 2013.

As the new Big East made its debut, it didn’t possess some of the historic rivalries such as Georgetown-Syracuse, or Pittsburgh-Connecticut, but it still had a heartbeat as all 10 schools were committed to each other. 2014 would be tough on the Big East as no team from the conference would make the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Last year would see the Big East send six schools to the tournament with Xavier being the conference’s lone representative in the Sweet Sixteen as they were still clinging to their notion of being an upper echelon basketball conference.

When the 2016 NCAA Tournament rolled around, the Big East had five schools in the field of 68, and for the second consecutive year, Villanova would be a number one seed as they were looking to exercise some demons.

In 2014, Villanova struggled in the postseason as they lost in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament in spite of having the best record in the conference. That loss would cost Villanova a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament as they fell to the two-line. But in the round of 32, the Wildcats would run into a former conference foe in UCONN, and the familiarity with one another was too much for Villanova to handle as they lost 77-65. In 2015, Villanova would get that one-seed, but they fell once again in the Round of 32; this time to the North Carolina State Wolfpack who had too much size for them.

And although that Villanova had won 62 games in their first two years in the new Big East, they couldn’t help the conference get the full respect that it was seeking as they were coming up short in March.

Jay Wright

This year’s Villanova team entered the NCAA Tournament with a record of 29-5, but a loss in the Big East Tournament Championship Game to Seton Hall cost them their chance at a one-seed and the East Region which went through their home city of Philadelphia. Villanova would find themselves with a two-seed, but they wouldn’t have to travel that far for their first game as it would be at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. However short trips to open the tournament have not always equated to success for Villanova as they were eliminated on the first weekend in 2010 by the Saint Mary Gaels in Providence, Rhode Island, while their lost to Connecticut in 2014 came in Buffalo, New York, with last year’s loss to N.C. State coming in Pittsburgh.

But Villanova entered this NCAA Tournament with a chip on their shoulders as they won their first two games by and average of 24.5 points. The Wildcats would not cool down when the Sweet 16 rolled around as a barrage of perimeter shooting and solid defense stifled Miami en route to a convincing 92-69 victory. And now all that stood in the way of a Final Four berth for Villanova and the Big East would be a meeting in the South Regional Final against the Kansas Jayhawks.

Kansas is one of the blue bloods of college basketball as they’ve won three national championships, to go along with 14 Final Four appearances, and a litany of All-Americans over the years which includes Basketball Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain.

But after the first half of play this past Saturday night, Villanova led Kansas 32-25 as the scrappy team from Philadelphia was dictating the pace. As expected, Kansas would start the second half with a surge which saw them take a five-point lead on the Wildcats. And just when you expected Villanova to wilt under the pressure, they were able to rise to the occasion as they dictated the pace down the stretch to get past Kansas 64-59 for their first Final Four berth since 2009.

The win by Villanova was vindication for their head basketball coach Jay Wright who has taken his fair share of criticism as his program has come up short in the NCAA Tournament while also showing that the Big East Conference can still be a player in college basketball. Wright has done it his way which means that he recruits player to fit his system, and unlike other programs, he rarely brings kids to Villanova that will leave school early for the NBA Draft.

Ryan Arcidiacono

Coming out of high school, Villanova senior guard Ryan Arcidiacono had offers from big programs such as Syracuse, but he chose Villanova due to the fact that he is a native of Pennsylvania while it is also the alma mater of his parents. Arcidiacono has been a four-year starter at Villanova, along with being a four-year captain which also saw him be named as the Big East Conference Player of the Year in 2015 as he is an extension on the court of Wright. Junior guard Josh Hart is a versatile player for Wright as he is the team’s leading scorer with 15.3 points per game while junior forward Kris Jenkins gives the Wildcats a needed toughness. But Villanova wouldn’t be in the Final Four if it were not for the recent emergence of senior forward Daniel Ochefu.

On the season Ochefu is averaging 10.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, but he gives Villanova a presence in the middle at both ends of the floor which is something that the Wildcats have not always had under Wright as that has typically been their demise in the NCAA Tournament. In the victory over Kansas, Ochefu had 10 points and 8 rebounds, but it was just his overall presence in the middle that prevented Kansas from getting easy baskets close to the rim.

So now we have a Villanova team that will be playing the Oklahoma Sooners this Saturday evening in the National Semifinal, just two victories away from their first national championship since 1985. And whereas that we’ll see the Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conferences also represented in the Final Four, here is the Big East that was left for dead just a few years ago as these power conferences raided their football schools. When the Big East rose to prominence in the 1980’s, they did it while competing against basketball powers such as the ACC and Big Ten. The Big East didn’t back down then, and the same can be said now as they are solely focused on basketball. When Villanova takes the floor this Saturday at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, not only will they be representing themselves, but they’ll also represent the other nine schools in the Big East which will open doors for the conference as far as national exposure, and recruiting as this is a conference that is here to stay.

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