http://mu-bball.blogspot.com/2011/03/few-thoughts-on-2-out-of-11-big-east.html
Of the 7 teams that didn't make the Sweet 16, I feel that Pitt and West Virginia probably should've made it to the Sweet 16 too. If Louisville and St. John's didn't have their injury issues, they probably would've been in the regionals too. Nobody should've expected Villanova to make the Sweet 16 because they would've been drilled by Ohio State, and G-town is a toss-up.
Do the haters out there have a point? Maybe. Did the Big East deserve to get all of these teams in, even though they didn't all advance as far as they should have? I think so. The 37 at-large bids go to the 37 best teams, but does that mean you're not one of the best teams because of one game that you played and lost? Every team in the tournament is just as hungry to win as the teams in the Big East. Just because a team lost to an equal team or was upset by a worse team doesn't mean they didn't deserve to be there in the first place. Given the pedigree, should the Big East have won more games this post-season? Definitely. But don't hate on the conference because it didn't pan out that way.