Big East Quickly Becoming a Mid-Major

[Eldon]

Since the split and formation of the NBE every team has been to the NCAA Tournament at least twice, except DePaul. That doesn't happen in mid-majors. The BE tourney champion doesn't knock the regular season champ, or another high achieving team, out of the tourney. The regular season champ gets in every year, tourney championship or not.  The conference tourney champ doesn't get a 13 seed.  The NBE doesn't need the conference tourney champ to get a second bid.

The Big East has outperformed the Pac 12 since the formation.  They're a Power 5. A few years ago they didn't get their regular season champ in despite a 14-4 conference record.  I'd say that overall they've outperformed to been equal with the Big 12.  The BE is NOT a mid-major by any stretch of the imagination. Even in a down year we got 4 bids (3 who did not get automatic bids). More than the Pac 12 (who needed their conference champ to get to 3).

The sky is not falling. Buzz wasn't right. Next year we're looking at 6. This is the best conference for MU.

Nailed it!  Nice work, WarriorDad  Billy.

We can all pine for the Old Big East--it was the greatest basketball conference ever assembled (11 teams in the tournament...ELEVEN!).  All good things come to an end.  We got lemons and made lemonade.  Pretty good lemonade, to boot.

One thing I will point out about Creighton and Xavier is that they are located in respectably-sized metro areas that do not have fall/winter pro sports teams.  At the very least that should translate into at least some level of sustained success.

[Galway Eagle]

Nailed it!  Nice work, WarriorDad  Billy.

We can all pine for the Old Big East--it was the greatest basketball conference ever assembled (11 teams in the tournament...ELEVEN!).  All good things come to an end.  We got lemons and made lemonade.  Pretty good lemonade, to boot.

One thing I will point out about Creighton and Xavier is that they are located in respectably-sized metro areas that do not have fall/winter pro sports teams.  At the very least that should translate into at least some level of sustained success.

The bengals are still a pro football team right?

[Eldon]

The bengals are still a pro football team right?

lmao.

I meant to say no basketball teams.  But then I thought to myself "well, those cities don't have any fall/winter sports."

I completely forgot about the Bengals.  Can you blame me? 

[Billy Hoyle]

The bengals are still a pro football team right?

that's debatable. And, to give Eldon some leeway here, the Bengals never play past early January.

[Herman Cain]

Galway
Do you know the history of the program's I am referring to? If MU, with a very storied history, can have a 5-7 down periods over 40 years, why the hell are you convinced it cannot happen to X, Butler or Creighton? I do not want them to fall back to mid major programs, but it is quite possible they do. If the Wojo era rebuild is not proof on how hard it is to build a program, I don't know what is.

It is very hard to stay in top form when coaching changes happen. Both X and Butler have avoided the fall after a coach leaves, but it happens every where over time. What the BE is lacking is the 3-4 go to programs. Every big conference has a couple, or more, blue blood programs. BE has 'nova and a few flavors of the year. That is not a rip, just facts.

I have been around long enough to remember when X was solidly mediocre.

The breakthrough  for their program came when they became a member of the Midwestern City Conference and by 1982 they were a winner, this winning started to accelerate when Pete Gillen became coach in 1985. They have never looked back. They just reload when a new coach comes through and keep rolling. .
I am thoroughly impressed with how Travis Steele ran their team this year. Faced with major holes in the lineup he went and recruited 3 graduate transfers to fill the gap. Then over the course of the season he coached the team up and had them performing at their best when it counts the most. Steele has 5 solid recruits coming in next year and a core group of solid veterans. 

Bottom line in the 37 years since 1982, X has been an important and respected factor in college basketball.