Two years later, Big East still looks like a major conference - ESPN Insider

[JoeSmith1721]

Two years ago when the Big East was forced to reconstitute itself as a league that doesn't play FBS-level football, no one really knew what would happen to the conference in terms of basketball. After all, the teams that left the Big East comprised a regular who's-who of college hoops: Connecticut, Louisville, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Cincinnati all departed in search of greener pastures. (While the league was hemorrhaging teams, two somewhat less storied basketball programs also chose to head out the door: Rutgers and South Florida.) Within the span of just three seasons, the one-time 16-team "super conference" lost over half its members.

There's simply no precedent for a conference losing that many quality teams, and observers could be forgiven for doubting whether the Big East would survive at all. In fact, in 2013 when the so-called "Catholic Seven" (DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall and Villanova) decided to hang on to the "Big East" name, there was some confusion regarding who owned that particular two-word sequence and/or whether those persons had the "right" to sell it. Did Connecticut, Cincinnati and South Florida "leave" for the American or did those programs actually stay put and welcome seven new members to a renamed version of the "old" Big East? It depends on your point of view.


NCAA tournament success has eluded Villanova recently, but the Wildcats won an average of 31 games over the last two seasons. Elsa/Getty Images
Certainly the last thing that anyone expected was that the backward-looking, football-benighted and under-funded Big East would acquit itself quite well where basketball is concerned. But now, with two full seasons of hoops in the books and new members Butler, Xavier and Creighton well established in the league, we can state with confidence that this is precisely what has taken place. The new-format Big East is still what we in basketball term a "major conference" -- and the American, it turns out, very likely is not.

In terms of average KenPom ratings posted by teams over the past two seasons, the Big East trails only the Big 12, Big Ten and ACC in terms of overall statistical strength. Meanwhile, the American ranks No. 8, behind not only the six traditional major conferences but also the Atlantic 10.

Avg. Ratings: '13-'14 And '14-'15
1.   Big 12   .8045
2.   Big Ten   .7926
3.   ACC   .7836
4.   Big East   .7590
5.   Pac-12   .7508
6.   SEC   .7424
7.   Atlantic 10   .6528
8.   American   .6443
9.   West Coast   .6015
10.   Missouri Valley   .5656
11.   Mountain West   .5569
Source: KenPom.com
Not that we should read too much into top-to-bottom statistical measures, of course. Such metrics often benefit smaller conferences that have fewer football-oriented programs, and certainly the Big East leads the nation in that particular category.

Still, there's no getting around the fact that the Big East has fared surprisingly well in its new, smaller configuration. Note for example that the statistical gap between Nos. 6 and 7 (the SEC and the A-10) is far larger than that between Nos. 1 and 6 (the Big 12 and the SEC). Over the past two seasons there's been a clear distinction to be drawn between Division I's top six conferences and the rest of the country, and the Big East is on the good side of that line.

Last season Villanova won its second consecutive Big East regular-season title, while Georgetown, Butler, Xavier, Providence and St. John's joined the Wildcats in earning NCAA tournament bids. The performance of the league's top half was enough to offset down seasons from Marquette (in Year 1 of Steve Wojciechowski's tenure) and Creighton (enduring Year 1 of the post-Doug-McDermott era).

Nevertheless, if there's a perception issue bedeviling the Big East it's that the league lacks a flagship program. The ACC might fairly be termed a league of flagships, whether you're speaking of two of the past three national champions (Duke and Louisville), the conference's two-time defending regular-season champion (Virginia), or a likely preseason No. 1 in the national polls (North Carolina). For its part the Big Ten can claim 2015 Final Four entrants Wisconsin and Michigan State. Similarly, the SEC has Kentucky, the Big 12 has Kansas, and the Pac-12 has Arizona.

And the Big East? Other things being equal, Villanova should be this league's flagship program, at least at the moment. The Wildcats earned No. 2 and No. 1 seeds in the 2014 and 2015 NCAA tournaments, respectively, which certainly sounds impressive enough. Alas, Jay Wright's team failed to reach the Sweet 16 in either bracket. Tournament success has been elusive for the Big East these past two seasons, but if history is any indication, that dry spell may come to an end sooner rather than later. Butler, Xavier, Villanova, Georgetown and Marquette have all won at least 11 NCAA tournament games since 2000. Only the Big Ten (with seven such teams) can top that number. What the Big East lacks in flagships it makes up for in depth.


Shabazz Napier led the UConn Huskies to a national title in 2014, raising the profile of the American Athletic Conference. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
As for the American, granted, things may not be quite as dire as they appear numerically. The league did claim a national title in its first season, only to follow that up with a truly and maybe even aberrantly dismal season of hoops in 2014-15. You won't often see Connecticut post a 20-15 record, and goodness knows the conference's statistical strength was done no favors last season by a 9-23 South Florida program that just three years ago came within a few possessions of the Sweet 16.

Regardless, the American's numbers from last season actually aren't all that dissimilar to the rolling five-season average recorded by the 10 teams that currently comprise the conference. In fact, one factor behind the league's year-to-year statistical decline was simply the departure of Louisville to the ACC after the 2013-14 season. One might go so far as to speculate that in the first two seasons of the league's existence we've already seen both the best (2013-14) and the worst (2014-15) that the American has to offer in terms of basketball. If this indeed turns out to be the case, you can mark down the American as a "high" mid-major, on about the same level as the Atlantic 10.

After two seasons of post-realignment basketball, then, it appears that the new landscape may turn out to be rather similar to the old one. There are still, it seems, six major conferences, and while the Big East can no longer host epic showdowns between, say, Connecticut and Syracuse, the league still plays basketball at a fairly high level. It's been a long and wild ride for the conference founded by Dave Gavitt in 1979, but somehow the Big East is comfortably ensconced among the nation's basketball elite in 2015. Soon, one presumes, the league's success in the NCAA tournament will once again reflect that fact.

- John Gasaway

[mu03eng]

Who wrote that?  Thought it was a very reasonable and well thought out article.  So I'm sure it wasn't Benny B/Myron Metcalf

[JoeSmith1721]

Sorry forgot to add that - John Gasaway wrote it

[source?]

Thanks for posting. Great read.

[tower912]

..."fairly high level".....       According to the number cited, just behind the ACC and ahead of the PAC 12 and SEC.    Perhaps I am nitpicking, but that is more than just a "fairly high level", which to me indicates surprise and skepticism on the part of the author. 

[geps]

And I am still skeptical as well, bad TV ratings and very little March success thus far.

[bradley center bat]

Big East doesn't get bad tv ratings. Regular season college basketball does. Of the 979 games on the networks only 25 had a rating of 1.5 or higher. 57% of the games had a rating of 0.0 to 0.1.

[The Sultan]

Not to mention that television ratings are irrelevant when determining how good a conference is.  The March success is something to keep an eye on though.

[MuMark]

Article would have been better if he wouldn't have stated that Uconn, Cincy, and South Florida had left the Big East.

Everyone knows that's not what happened.

[MU82]

But ... but ... but ... ESPN never says anything good about the Big East.

[Dawson Rental]

Not to mention that television ratings are irrelevant when determining how good a conference is.  The March success is something to keep an eye on though.

Not long term.  Significant TV dollars are needed to fund a top program.

[mu03eng]

Not long term.  Significant TV dollars are needed to fund a top program.

Correct, but currently TV revenue is seemingly unanchored from actual ratings.  So we should be good for a bit.

Side note, this is why sports television is a major bubble that will burst but thats a panic item for another day.

[HouWarrior]

....It's been a long and wild ride for the conference founded by Dave Gavitt in 1979, but somehow the Big East is comfortably ensconced among the nation's basketball elite in 2015.....

- John Gasaway

This was a very good, and fair article.

The above quote caused me a moment of pause...but then it struck me...to have the national historical perception this BE has its roots going back to Dave Gavitt 36 years ago... is great. That brand value acquisition was well worth it. We are bootstrapping on a great history/legacy, by still being the BE.
Long live MU and the BE!

[Dawson Rental]

This was a very good, and fair article.

The above quote caused me a moment of pause...but then it struck me...to have the national historical perception this BE has its roots going back to Dave Gavitt 36 years ago... is great. That brand value acquisition was well worth it. We are bootstrapping on a great history/legacy, by still being the BE.
Long live MU and the BE!

I agree completely.  Spending the bucks to get the Big East name during the breakup was well worth the investment.  Adding the adjective "new" before Big East shall eventually fall into the dust bin of history.

I find it interesting that the American Athletic has less than half as many former Big East members as the ACC.

[Tugg Speedman]

Not long term.  Significant TV dollars are needed to fund a top program.

We have a 10 year contract with Fox Sports 1.  Revenue from TV is set.  Ratings do not matter.

(and if you understand the economics of the TV industry, ratings are not really part of the business model anyway.  See the Disney thread in Superbar which talks about the big problems ESPN is having, its not rating but cord-cutting.)

[jsglow]

This was a very good, and fair article.

The above quote caused me a moment of pause...but then it struck me...to have the national historical perception this BE has its roots going back to Dave Gavitt 36 years ago... is great. That brand value acquisition was well worth it. We are bootstrapping on a great history/legacy, by still being the BE.
Long live MU and the BE!

Yep.  And for all you haters out there it is simply fact that Larry Williams played a critical role in the formation of the new (old) league.

[avid1010]

sports are the only thing i watch on tv that is not on my dvr or roku/firestick...and i often find myself watching MU bball on the firestick because we don't have all the fox sports stations at our place up north.  sports are the only thing i view where i watch commercials...i'm always amazed when i'm on watch espn and get the "your program is currently on a break and will be back for viewing soon" message rather than a commercial. 

[bradley center bat]

Article would have been better if he wouldn't have stated that Uconn, Cincy, and South Florida had left the Big East.

Everyone knows that's not what happened.

I thought that was odd and wrong fact in how it was written. Some were mad at the basketball 7 when they left the Big East to form the new 10 team league. Word was that Tulane coming in made that happen.

[bradley center bat]

We have a 10 year contract with Fox Sports 1.  Revenue from TV is set.  Ratings do not matter.

It's a 12 year deal with FOX.

[Benny B]

Who wrote that?  Thought it was a very reasonable and well thought out article.  So I'm sure it wasn't Benny B/Myron Metcalf

I don't have an Insider subscription.  And I'm pretty sure Myron doesn't either.

[Dawson Rental]

I thought that was odd and wrong fact in how it was written. Some were mad at the basketball 7 when they left the Big East to form the new 10 team league. Word was that Tulane coming in made that happen.

Of course it did, Did UConn, etc. really think that we would have forgotten about LeDaryl Billingsley?

[GoldenWarrior11]

The significance and importance of the C7 withdrawing from the Old Big East could never be emphasized enough.  In a conference that was set to lose Syracuse, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Louisville, West Virginia, and Rutgers, the Catholic 7 schools not only fled the disaster that was joining a league with Tulane, East Carolina, UCF, SMU, Tulsa, Houston and Memphis, but they kept the Big East name (worth so much more than the American Conference) and Madison Square Garden as the location of the tournament.  They added quality and strong basketball-only schools in Butler, Creighton and Xavier (who are all similar institutions in big cities), and got a HUGE TV deal from Fox that spans 12 years (totaling over $500 million). 

The Big East of 2013-present is not as good as the Big East of 2005-2012.  However, with the way the landscape changed, Marquette (and the other C7 schools) made the absolute best of the possible situation.  We should be so thankful that the way things turned out the way that they did.

[79Warrior]

Correct, but currently TV revenue is seemingly unanchored from actual ratings.  So we should be good for a bit.

Side note, this is why sports television is a major bubble that will burst but thats a panic item for another day.

People have been saying that for many years yet rights fees (and ticket prices)continue to climb with every contract. They have for decades. Fact is, advertisers love live sporting events. It is about the only thing left on network television that most people watch in real time.

[mileskishnish72]

Having done post-doctoral work at USF after grad school at MU, I have to question the assertion that USF headed "out the door." My memory is that they were sort of left in the lurch after the defections and the move by the C7. Am I remembering correctly or not? I have always felt kind of badly for them since (although they had football) they were about the only ones not maneuvering to move somewhere else.

[Eldon]

Having done post-doctoral work at USF after grad school at MU, I have to question the assertion that USF headed "out the door." My memory is that they were sort of left in the lurch after the defections and the move by the C7. Am I remembering correctly or not? I have always felt kind of badly for them since (although they had football) they were about the only ones not maneuvering to move somewhere else.

I remember hearing their name tossed around when the BigXII was rumored to be looking to expand, but there were so many rumors back then that who knows.  In any case, it's hard to feel bad for them.  Especially in February when it's 76 and sunny on campus.