The Hoopies were widely expected to dominate in a weakened Big East in the first season after Miami and VT left for the ACC. Instead, Mountaineers repeatedly spit the bit. Ultimately going down to Pitt in the Backyard Brawl, when a win could have still clinched the BE. Lame duck BC was on the verge of claiming the Big East as a final FU, before completely choking against Syracuse (something that still brings a smile to my face). The final standings of the BE actually had a 4-way tie with Pitt, WVU, Syracuse and BC. Pitt, however, finished with the best record amidst the group.
Already there is a feeling that the Big East could be heading to a similar fate — though hopefully without the dead hooker. The conference is wide open for practically anyone (outside of Rutgers and Syracuse) to claim the title. The negative, at least as far as perception goes, is that it would signify how weak the Big East is this year. No dominate teams, and if the winner of the conference finishes with two conference losses, it likely means the highest ranked team would be somehwere near #20.
Of course the way to avoid that fate would be for either Pitt, WVU or USF to run the table in the conference.
RIght now Pitt and USF are the only two teams ranked in any polls so if they win out in the Big East, they will be at least decently ranked (and by decently, I mean somewhere in the #10-15 area) in the polls at the end of the season. WVU gets in the discussion because they still have one non-con game with any meaning. They still play Auburn in a couple weeks on Thursday night.
Really, it’s too early to be overly worried, but there is this bye week. So there needs to be something to discuss.
I would posit — and not just because I am a Pitt partisan — that Pitt should be the team the Big East should be backing if this is really a concern. Pitt has the one early loss. They are unbeaten in conference play early. They actually still have a meaningful non-cons at Navy and Notre Dame. A strong finish and the argument can at least be made that the team improved as the season went on.
So, really for the good of the conference, we would all appreciate it if Rutgers, Louisville, Cinci, WVU and UConn would all just roll over at the appropriate times.
Chas, I didnt see any mention of this article from the PG:
Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt is regarded as one of the top recruiters in the nation and he has signed top-rated recruiting classes in the Big East in each of the past three seasons, even though the Panthers have not registered a winning season during that period.
That brings up an interesting question: If Wannstedt can recruit as well as he has without winning, how much better could he be with a successful season?
This past weekend might have given him and his staff a taste of it as they were out recruiting (the Panthers are off this week) on the heels of their 26-21 upset of then No. 10 South Florida.
“I got several e-mails and calls from recruits after the game, and we had a recruiting meeting and [the other coaches on the staff] had the same experience,” Wannstedt said yesterday via teleconference. “We had two coaches stay and recruit in Florida after the game and it was very receptive. And then we had guys in New Jersey and we had guys in eastern Pennsylvania last week and everybody was echoing the same sentiments about how positive it is out there, and that’s good.”
If Pitt keeps winning, the rest of the home games will be sellouts and their facilities over in the South Side are as nice as any facilities in the nation. They will definitely end very strong if they keep on winning.
