Louisville Big East Champions.....doesn't seem right

[ChicosBailBonds]

I have to say, it doesn't seem right.  Louisville played Marquette, UCONN and Pitt one time each and the games were all at UL.

UCONN destroyed UL at UL. 

I know that's just the way it goes with the unbalanced schedule but I'd take UCONN and PITT over UL.

On the other hand, it is kind of cool to see one of the CUSA teams capture the Big East title so quickly.

[ecompt]

Hey, they took advantage of the schedule they were handed, and as Bill Parcells said, "You are what your record says you are." But this is a team that lost at ND by 30 points and is my eyes no better than the third-best team in the conference.

[77ncaachamps]

Exactly ecompt...it was pointed out on ESPN (by Gottlieb?) that this was a UL team that went down to Western Kentucky by 14, lost to UNLV (w/o a key player) at Freedom Hall albeit by 1, got blown out by ND (NIT bound) by 33 at Freedom Hall, and didn't have to travel to UCONN or PITT.

[79Warrior]

I have to say, it doesn't seem right.  Louisville played Marquette, UCONN and Pitt one time each and the games were all at UL.

UCONN destroyed UL at UL. 

I know that's just the way it goes with the unbalanced schedule but I'd take UCONN and PITT over UL.

On the other hand, it is kind of cool to see one of the CUSA teams capture the Big East title so quickly.

This is why you will never have a true BE champion because the schedules will always be uneven. Unless you can play every team an equal number of times, the system is inherently flawed.

[NavinRJohnson]

Yop, their lucky year I guess. If it was MU, it would seem awfully right to me.

[CaptainHavoc]

Yeah, that white suit (with brown shoes, no less) should have disqualified them right there.

[The Truth]

I just could not let this go unanswered because I think it is an absolutely ridiculous assertion that Louisville does not deserve the Big East Championship!  In the Big Beast, the mentionables that Louisville beat were: Villanova (#17), Syracuse (#8), G'Town, and WV away, not to mention Marquette (#10), Pitt (#1), ND (#13), and WV (again) at home.  They have won the last 17 out of 19 games.  On top of the Big Beast wins, UL has racked up wins against UK (arguably the toughest rivarly in America UK/UL), Ole Miss, and UAB by 20 (Conf. USA's 2nd best).  Regarding the losses that you want to delve into so heavily, 3 of those were at the beginning of the season before teams were seasoned.  Don't we all agree that the end of the season, getting close to March Madness, is much more important?  I think all the experts would.  One of the late losses was to #1 UConn, who we all agree deserves the utmost respect.  The other loss was at Notre Dame to a team that had lost their last 7 games, so they came out needing a win on their home court.  You must remember that ND had the record for home court wins before they lost to #3 UConn this season.   

Let's take a look at Pitt.  Pitt has beaten about everybody except for Providence (who UL beat) and Vill (who UL) beat.  Not to mention, Pitt beat UConn twice as we know, but UL still beat Pitt.

Look at UConn.  They got beat by a G'Town team by 11 points at UConn - a G'Town that we now know was a farce, but did we believe that when they beat UConn?  No we didn't, and UL beat G'Town by 18 at G'Town.

Louisville absolutely deserves the Big East title and they have it - OUTRIGHT!!  No matter what happens in the tourney, UL are Big East Champions in the toughest conference ever, as stated by most experts!!

[GooooMarquette]

I have no problem with UL being crowned the champs.  Whether they're truly the best or simply capitalized on a favorable schedule doesn't matter -- they won more conference games than any other team, so they earned the right to call themselves conference champs.  Heck -- I'd have no trouble calling MU conference champs if we had won the most games, even though our mirror games included an overrated GTown team, and some D-II school out of Chicago.

[AlumKCof93]

Louisville won the Big East and they deserve it as they won their games that were scheduled.  But to be appalled that others wouldn't think Louisville is the best in Big East based on your message is foolish.  Let's count the reasons why;

1) Beating Kentucky, UAB, and Ole Miss are not great feats.  Will any of those make the tourney?  Being 2nd best in  Conf USA is akin to finishing 12th in the Big East.
2) On the one hand, you suggest Lvilles losses should be dismissed as they occurred before "teams were seasoned".  Then you point to UConn's loss to Gtown which was the first game of the BE season.  To further the point, Uconn lost to Gtown on Dec 29th, 2 days before Lville lost to UNLV and 9 days after they lost to Minn.
3) Lville's loss to ND by 30 pts can't be explained by the fact ND had lost their previous 7.  Wasn't ND desperate after they lost 4 in a row, 5?  By that measure, shouldn't have DePaul won a few games?

Again, congrats on winning the BE.  But going on other teams msg boards and signing up as a user to defend the title is a bit silly, isn't it?

[The Truth]

Yeah, you can search and read stats and do all that type of stuff you want, AlumKCof93, but when it comes down to it this is the ONLY page that I could find that in any way denounced Louisville's Big Beast championship by its title.  Do you think I went looking for this page?  The answer is "No."  I simply google searched "Louisville 2009 Big East Champions" and BOOM, this was like the 3rd link that popped up.  The unbelievability factor was just too great to look over.  If Marquette had won the title outright, I would have been congratulating you guys, but since someone else won - it seems as if you guys think it is undeserved.  THAT, AlumKCof93, is what I think is "a bit silly." 

[CTWarrior]

I think they're the third best team in the Big East.  They got to play us (without DJ, though all three top teams were afforded that luxury), Pitt and UConn at home.  Their mirror games were ND, USF and WVU, none of the top 6 in the conference.

That being said, the eeked out wins against Pitt and at Nova, and those are tough games and that is why they won the conference, so hats off to them.  

[AlumKCof93]

I don't think anyone said it was undeserved, just that it doesn't seem right as Pitt and UConn seem to have better teams and both have been ranked #1 at various times during the year.  Its not disrespectful to Lville - they won it and its a significant accomplishment.

[The Truth]

While I'm on here, I'd like to get your thoughts on Tom Crean vs. your new coach, Buzz Williams.  Wasn't Buzz a recruiter under Billy Gillispie at one time?  I dare say that Gillispie is certianly on the hot seat right now with the UK fan base.  What do you guys think about Crean's record with IU this season vs. your record with Buzz?  Do you think Crean is really as good as he is puported to be?  I'm seriously having my doubts after IU's debacle this season.  What do you think?

[MU B2002]

While I'm on here, I'd like to get your thoughts on Tom Crean vs. your new coach, Buzz Williams.  Wasn't Buzz a recruiter under Billy Gillispie at one time?  I dare say that Gillispie is certianly on the hot seat right now with the UK fan base.  What do you guys think about Crean's record with IU this season vs. your record with Buzz?  Do you think Crean is really as good as he is puported to be?  I'm seriously having my doubts after IU's debacle this season.  What do you think?

Search for Crean on this site and you will get approximately 1000 threads letting you know what "we" think, and you will see both good and bad commentary.  As far as Indiana this season, he got about all he could out of that team, IMO.  I don't think anyone expected them to put many Ws on the board. They were competitive at times, and also pathetic at times. (Which can be said about a lot of the Big 10)


As for myself, I like where Marquette is as far as coaching is concerned.

[The Man in Gold]

The answer is "No."  I simply google searched "Louisville 2009 Big East Champions" and BOOM, this was like the 3rd link that popped up. 

Top 3 on Google?  Congrats Scoop!

[rocky_warrior]

Top 3 on Google?  Congrats Scoop!

Yup - I was feeling mighty proud of that.  We do get awesome Google page rankings.  Must be from all the super-duper members that we've got 

[rocky_warrior]

I just could not let this go unanswered because I think it is an absolutely ridiculous assertion that Louisville does not deserve the Big East Championship! 

Welcome Truth - UL clearly took care of business to have the best record in the BE, and win the BE championship.    I'll be honest that I don't think UL is as good as I thought they would be at the beginning of the season - but that's not to say you don't deserve the title.

All I think people are saying - is that there are two teams in the big east ranked above UL (by ALL traditional rankings method - the AP, ESPN, RPI and Pomeroy), so it's surprising to see UL's record beat those two teams.

Nonetheless, you took care of business, so congrats.  Good to see at least two members of the CUSA guard do well.

[Buzz Williams' Spillproof Chiclets Cup]

It's an unbalanced schedule. crap happens.

Marquette didn't deserve to be the 2003 C-USA Conference Champions. They beat DePaul twice but didn't have to play Memphis.