Seems like sports writers as a collective have discovered the Big East is ruling. Actually, it just varies. It seems like a week or two ago that plenty of people were singing the praises of the Big 11 for its depth. Then the ACC had received its usual love. Now it’s the Big East’s turn. Obviously aided because of the G-town win over Duke and UConn now being #1.
In the Boston Globe there was a story (sure to piss-off the BC fans) on the BE:
Suddenly, the Big East is getting and feeling the love, with the No. 1 team in the country in the latest polls, for the first time seven teams ranked in the Top 25, and speculation the conference will get a record seven and perhaps eight NCAA Tournament bids. The feeling of warmth has even spread to football, where a league that had to defend its right to get an automatic BCS bid suddenly is hearing that one of its teams could be ranked No. 1 in the major preseason polls.
What’s going on, Mike Tranghese? ”I’m just going to take a deep breath and enjoy it,” Tranghese said with a laugh. ”But it’s all so cyclical. Things change so quickly.”
As commissioner of the Big East, Tranghese knows cheers can turn to boos in a heartbeat. Football is a prime example. Through the early part of the fall, Tranghese had to endure complaints that the Big East did not deserve one of the six automatic berths to BCS bowls.
Then West Virginia won, and won, and won again, and defeated Georgia in the Sugar Bowl for an 11-1 season. Now the Mountaineers have received a No. 1 preseason ranking by ESPN.com and the Austin-American Statesmen of Texas, of all places, considering the Longhorns are the defending national champions.
Ray Glier at MSNBC talks a little about the Big East versus the Big 11.
Second, no, the Big Ten is not just as good.
The Big East will not get 10 teams because of — the Big East. You are starting to see it now. Louisville, over-rated by everyone including me, is not in the tournament if it starts today. Rutgers is a good team, but plays too many tough games.
Syracuse has lost three straight to Top 10 teams, but the ‘Cuse better get itself together now because they have a tough finish. Syracuse is 3-3 in the league and could end up 7-9. It plays two of its last three on the road and finishes at home with No. 6 Villanova.
Georgetown beat Duke, but the Hoyas still have a gauntlet of teams to run through in the Big East. The Big East is too good for its own good, and too greedy we might add. It will be fitting payback for stuffing itself with so many Conference USA teams.
I wonder how Notre Dame and Rutgers feel about this expansion now?
I think it is more likely the Big East will get eight teams, but it could also slide to seven. If there is a conference that can get a team in the dance with a losing record, 7-9, it is the Big East. Syracuse still has a high RPI (24) so it can manage its way into the tournament with a 7-9 mark.
As for the Big Ten vs. Big East. I’ll take UConn, Villanova, Pitt, and West Virginia over Michigan State, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
The Big East Basketball Blog has a round-up of several other stories on the Big East.
A few other things.
Isaiah Rider arrested, and shockingly it wasn’t for marijuana. He’s been out of the NBA for several years now. His previous 3 teams were the Lakers, Hawks and Nuggets. The picture used in the story, though, in a Jailblazer uni. Of course.
Mike Farrell of Rivals.com writes his POV of what happened at the Baltimore ESPNZone restaurant when Antonio Logan-El announced he was going to Penn State.
His announcement was to be carried on ESPNews and held at the Baltimore ESPN Zone, a public restaurant where anyone could attend. Logan-El and his family invited a bunch of people and they had to have known that numerous Maryland fans would be in attendance. Heck, they even invited the Maryland coaches to attend, surely a sign that he was sticking to his original commitment. No one in their right mind would make an announcement in a public place in Baltimore and invite the Maryland coaching staff if they were choosing another school, right? Wrong.
Lovely. Of course, Penn State fans will never forget Kevin Jones’ little game when he announced he was headed to VT. That’s their defense, and they are sticking to it.
Finally, a Doug Gottlieb update. Gottlieb has stayed purposefully vague on what record Pitt needs to have over the present 5 game stretch for him to accept that they are “for real” finally gives the answer.
I am giving it up to Pitt for bouncing back well from a road conference loss. If the Panthers can win three of their next four, they may prove to be a real player in the top-two seed mix.
There you have it. 4-1 while playing Syracuse, Marquette, UConn, G-town and WVU and then they may be real. Or maybe he might change his mind again.
