How Big East array of games is shaping up

02:31 PM EST on Sunday, December 28, 2008

By KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer

PROVIDENCE — After a summer and fall spent creating new, lofty levels of hyperbole concerning its super-power depth and strength, the Big East basketball season is finally at hand. Let reality begin.

Tomorrow night, Georgetown invades the Hartford Civic Center for a big-name matchup against the undefeated Connecticut Huskies. It’s the first of what promises to be an almost never-ending string of games that ESPN and its sister channels will pump into your TV sets. Over the next 10 weeks, fans from Philly to Milwaukee and down to Tampa will find out whether their teams deserve to be in the conversation when coaches such as Rick Pitino and Jim Calhoun speak of a conference they dubbed “the greatest in the history of college basketball” before this season even began.

Now that the 16 Big East teams have provided everyone a six-week sneak peek into their pluses and minuses, let’s cut through the madness and supply a Big East Holiday Primer.

RANKINGS MEAN NOTHING

Seven Big East teams sit in the AP poll this week, with Marquette knocking on the door as an eighth. Those eight will beat each other up so much that pollsters will incorrectly slice their votes as the season unfolds so that number won’t hold up. The chance of any Big East team finishing 15-3 like Georgetown did a year ago appears very slim, so expect plenty of blood in the waters.

More important are the RPI numbers. Ten Big East schools lie in the top 70 and they are the 10 who figure to be in the NCAA Tournament hunt. Barring disastrous skids — which are possible — all 10 will see their power numbers rise as they play one another.

The clear downside to depth like this will come in seeding. While UConn and Villanova were No. 1 seeds in 2006, the Big East hasn’t earned a top seed in the last two seasons.

NONLEAGUE SUCCESS

While some media have focused on the struggles of DePaul, South Florida and Rutgers, those teams do not matter. It is impossible for the Big East to ever be the best top-to-bottom conference. It is simply too large. What matters is how the NCAA-caliber teams are faring; with the notable exception of Louisville, everyone owns a good win or two. Last year, Big East teams finished 5-12 in nonleague play against teams ranked in the top 25 of the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls. This season, that record is 10-8, the best record of any major conference thus far, and only 2 of the 10 victories came at home. The conference is 18-17 versus the other five BCS leagues (10-3 against the Atlantic 10).

KILLER STARTS

Virtually everyone owns a death march sometime in the league schedule. How about Georgetown, which opens with UConn on the road, Pitt at home, at Notre Dame, home to Providence and Syracuse, and then a trip to Duke. The good thing is the Hoyas can handle it. St. John’s cannot and the Red Storm opens at PC on Wednesday, home to Notre Dame, at Pitt, UConn at home and then at Villanova.

Providence’s killer stretch runs over its final five games: at Louisville, home against Notre Dame and Pittsburgh, at Rutgers and at Villanova.

REVENGE OF THE BIG GUYS

Remember all of the talk in recent years about college basketball being a guard’s game? That’s only because those teams didn’t have big men such as Hasheem Thabeet, Luke Harangody or DeJuan Blair. If you want to do any damage in the league this season, lining up with good, beefy big men is an absolute necessity.

The future of the league looks big, too. Each of the rookies of the week has been a big guy: Louisville’s Samardo Samuels, Georgetown’s Greg Monroe, WVU’s Devin Ebanks and Cincy’s Yancy Gates.

LONELY AT THE BOTTOM

What may separate the Big East from other power leagues is how difficult it is to escape the bottom of the league. In the three seasons since the league expanded, four schools have never posted a winning record: PC, St. John’s, Rutgers and South Florida. Three other programs — Cincinnati, Seton Hall, DePaul — find themselves linked in a group of seven that is fighting to escape the bottom of the conference and somehow scratch into the top 10.

The best candidate from the group appears to be Cincinnati, with PC and Seton Hall looming as contenders. Cincy (RPI of 52) is off to the best start. The Friars open with four of their first six league games at home, so a fast start is absolutely necessary for Keno Davis’ team.

HOW MANY ARE DANCING?

This has been the question tossed around for months now. First, a history lesson. As a 16-team group, the Big East received eight bids in both 2006 and ’08 and a stunning six in ’07. The eighth team in `06 (Gerry McNamara’s Syracuse) may not have made the tourney if it didn’t win the conference tourney. So getting eight is hard.

Even so, 10 teams are in excellent shape. The problem is team No. 9 or 10 is bound to own a 9-9 or 8-10 record (at best). That means the selection committee will go looking for quality non-league wins and make sure that some of your eight or nine Big East victories came against Syracuse or Pitt, and not Rutgers and St. John’s.

BEST CONFERENCE EVER?

The media is all about hype, and the Big East has ridden the hype for all its worth. Can these teams collectively measure up as the best conference ever? That remains to be seen. If the Big East breaks its own record and gets nine teams in the NCAAs, that’s a major achievement. There are certainly 9 (maybe 10) contenders coming into conference play.

But the measuring stick lies in the postseason. That’s where historic labels are won, and history tells us that the 1985 Big East was the greatest ever. St. John’s joined finalists Villanova and Georgetown in the Final Four, where the Wildcats pitched the perfect game in Patrick Ewing’s final game. Fans may forget that a Boston College team that posted a 7-9 Big East mark squeaked into the tournament, advanced to the Sweet 16 and lost to Memphis by 2. The Tigers went on to the Final Four.

Are there three potential Final Four teams, and a candidate for a fourth, in this year’s lineup? Absolutely. Can it happen? We’ll all be watching.

Interesting article. But it's too short to go into the depth required for this subject. It's a nice synopsis though...