Ramifications from Villanova win

[WarriorInNYC]

And Nova won it all by beating the ACC champs.

But but but, according to Doug Gottlieb, Nova wouldnt even crack the top 4 of the ACC

[Hubert Davis]

Will them winning help Marquette get back to the big dance? That’s all I care about. As happy as I was for Nova and the Big East, I am still worried about the state of our beloved program. Wojo hasn’t done much to make the fan base happy and with Henry leaving (no surprise there) we lose our best player/rebounder and will be small again next year. Need better athletes, basketball players, coaches, etc. etc.

Step it up Wojo. Just win baby.

[Coleman]

Nova and X both have Final Four caliber teams next year.

What if they both made it? Could happen.

[Badgerhater]

Will them winning help Marquette get back to the big dance? That’s all I care about. As happy as I was for Nova and the Big East, I am still worried about the state of our beloved program. Wojo hasn’t done much to make the fan base happy and with Henry leaving (no surprise there) we lose our best player/rebounder and will be small again next year. Need better athletes, basketball players, coaches, etc. etc.

Step it up Wojo. Just win baby.

I will live vicariously through another Big East team for exactly one year, now it is time for MU to get to work.

[willie warrior]

As MU fans, we have been whistling past the graveyard a little bit.  'The Big East is still a major conference.'   'MU is still relevant and can still compete for national championships.'   

I know in the back of my eternally optimistic mind, I had little corners of doubt.   

Now?   Hell, yeah!   Wojo, get to it!    MU CAN compete!   The Big East is still a top conference!    Get busy!

It justifies the decision of the Catholic 7 to grab like-minded schools and separate.   The original Big East model as well as the current model is validated.  Now it is up to the schools and the coaches to leverage this momentum.

The question is:
Is Wojo up to it?

[Stretchdeltsig]

Big East rules!!!

[TSmith34, Inc.]

And from my personal viewpoint the BE fans are much more ready to root for another school in the league.  I don't believe Wisconsin fans have the same desire to support Mich St or Iowa going to the Final 4. 

Nor will we once it becomes a regular occurrence.  Right now our league esprit de corps is a function of needing to convince ourselves and the world that the BE really is a power conference, along with healthy dose of Jay Wright being a class act and easy to cheer for.  But once that is firmly established by BE teams commonly making deep runs, that will end IMO.

At least I hope so.  I hope the league, and of course MU, is so successful we can re-establish rivalries worthy of hate-filled invective a la Georgetown-Syracuse and MU-ND.

[brewcity77]

Will them winning help Marquette get back to the big dance? That’s all I care about. As happy as I was for Nova and the Big East, I am still worried about the state of our beloved program. Wojo hasn’t done much to make the fan base happy and with Henry leaving (no surprise there) we lose our best player/rebounder and will be small again next year. Need better athletes, basketball players, coaches, etc. etc.

Step it up Wojo. Just win baby.

Honestly? It may. Not a guarantee, but if the Big East can turn in similarly positive results on a yearly basis, we might be able to be that league where 9-9 or 8-10 gets you in. Hopefully by then we'll be ahead of that curve and in regardless, but if we want to get more than 4-6 teams in, we need to show we can win in March and that the league's strength reaches all the way down.

[damuts222]

I think there is something to be said about the Big East being a stable conference for the near future. My opinion, but I don't think any current members of the conference are looking around for better options. The teams are in it together, and figure F the guys that left.

[GGGG]

I think there is something to be said about the Big East being a stable conference for the near future. My opinion, but I don't think any current members of the conference are looking around for better options. The teams are in it together, and figure F the guys that left.

At this point, there are no better options for non-football schools.  That doesn't mean in the future there won't be.  Conference membership has always been fluid for one reason or another.  No reason to expect that will change.

[tower912]

The question is:
Is Wojo up to it?

The big question.  Nobody knows at this point.

[barfolomew]

1.   ESPN with egg on their face.    Not that they will let that stop them from continuing to belittle the Big East.  But fans other than Big East fans will begin to notice the bias. 

Was out and about this morning and saw Bob Ley interviewing Dana O'Neil on OTL about the Big East, and what the win means for the conference.
I unfortunately didn't have any sound from the show, but the crawls looked like they were saying nice things.

Dana's beat used to be the Big East when ESPN used to actually cover it. Also a Philly area native, I think.

[Coleman]

FOX certainly has to be pleased with the results of this year's tournament. They can market a ton of games next year featuring the defending national champions.

[Herman Cain]

FOX certainly has to be pleased with the results of this year's tournament. They can market a ton of games next year featuring the defending national champions.

Hopefully they put as many as possible on the Fox Broadcast network.

[real chili 83]

Nova won the NC due, in no small measure, to the level of in conference competition they faced. 

[DegenerateDish]

I'm happy Nova won and all, but I think some here are way overthinking things here. Do you know what FS1 was showing after the conclusion of TBS broadcast on Monday night? TMZ Sports.

I don't think the casual college basketball fan is turning FS1 on next year and seeing Nova on thinking "the champs are on, I gotta watch this!" Didn't see that happen after UConn won it all. People next year are going to be glued to Josh Jackson, Tatum/Giles/Duke. Sustained success will help, building guys like Brunson into 4 year stars helps. As great as Nova is/was, having no first round NBA players doesn't help market things for the average fan going forward.

Happy for Nova, but MU is going to have to find NCAA success on its own.

[Herman Cain]

I'm happy Nova won and all, but I think some here are way overthinking things here. Do you know what FS1 was showing after the conclusion of TBS broadcast on Monday night? TMZ Sports.

I don't think the casual college basketball fan is turning FS1 on next year and seeing Nova on thinking "the champs are on, I gotta watch this!" Didn't see that happen after UConn won it all. People next year are going to be glued to Josh Jackson, Tatum/Giles/Duke. Sustained success will help, building guys like Brunson into 4 year stars helps. As great as Nova is/was, having no first round NBA players doesn't help market things for the average fan going forward.

Happy for Nova, but MU is going to have to find NCAA success on its own.

Nova success means more main stream media respect for the conference. Which directly equates to better recruiting for all schools. Better players mean more success for all. More success for all leads to more games being shown on Fox Broadcast channel versus FS1. It is a virtuous circle.

Yes MU has to find its own success. All we need to do is recruit four good kids a year.  We need to use Nova success to our recruiting advantage now.

[hepennypacker5000]

FS1 and Fox need to step up their CBB offering for the Big East to get some recognition. When you only have one conference, you're only going to get fans of that conference and die-hards. The Big 10 contract is up soon (after next season maybe? didn't look it up), if Fox could land that they'd have another power conference, along with the cross-over viewership and coverage that comes with it. They have the pockets to make a serious bid, but time will tell if it's big enough to unseat ESPN. They'll have to pay significantly more than they did for the BE, and idk if they're willing to shell out that kind of money.

[DegenerateDish]

Nova success means more main stream media respect for the conference. Which directly equates to better recruiting for all schools. Better players mean more success for all. More success for all leads to more games being shown on Fox Broadcast channel versus FS1. It is a virtuous circle.

Yes MU has to find its own success. All we need to do is recruit four good kids a year.  We need to use Nova success to our recruiting advantage now.

I just don't buy into any of these theories. UConn has won two of the last six NCAA titles, is the American now this great conference with tons of mainstream media exposure? I was talking to Josh Langford last week, when discussing his recruitment, he said he was only going to ever go to a blueblood program, despite none being relatively close to home. No recruit cares we're playing Nova. FS1 vs Fox...recruits don't care. ESPN has zero financial incentive to promote BE basketball. All of this stuff may matter to some on here, but a lot of this is just white noise.

[mu_hilltopper]

Agreed.  Great point about UConn and the American.

Nova winning is nice.  But just one step on a very long road.

[bilsu]

Uconn won it after the Big East breakup and that did not do anything for the AAC. We need another NCAA championship by a Big East team other than Villanova to make it a conference thing.

[GGGG]

I'm not going to fall completely into the "it's largely irrelevant" camp.  The Big East is a basketball brand.  That brand was greatly diminished with the split, but is now regaining its respect.  That does help with recruiting and the image of the conference. 

That being said, going five years without another Final Four school will render what Nova did somewhat useless.

[goinUptown]

Lots of pressure on Val and her team to take advantage of this.

Val will be speaking in the heart of BTWhatever country soon at The Economic Club of Indianapolis.  I find the timing and location of her speech, well, serendiputous.

goinUptown

[tower912]

I'm not going to fall completely into the "it's largely irrelevant" camp.  The Big East is a basketball brand.  That brand was greatly diminished with the split, but is now regaining its respect.  That does help with recruiting and the image of the conference. 

That being said, going five years without another Final Four school will render what Nova did somewhat useless.

So the other coaches/teams have to look at what's possible and raise their games. 

[MUpugnacity]

Val will be speaking in the heart of BTWhatever country soon at The Economic Club of Indianapolis.  I find the timing and location of her speech, well, serendiputous.

goinUptown

That speech happened yesterday. Should be archived and available for listening on Saturday.