Did the Big East make a mistake adding Butler?

[DanofXav76]

Awesome post Hoosier Pal. As a Xavier season ticket holder since Cintas opened in 2000 I think it's safe to say we are usually between 90-95% capacity on any given season. So excited about our 9 home league games. I don't see a one that won't carry a high degree of excitement. No knock on Fordham,LaSalle,Duquense or Rhode Island but give me DePaul, Seton Hall, Providence or St.Johns any day. Wether it's a noon Sunday game during the NFL season or a 9:30 Wednesday nighter I look for the "Tas" to be Rockin. If your a college bball fan of a certain age all of the original Catholic 7 stir memories from past glories. Also X has plenty of recent history with both Creighton and Butler to round things out. Not to wish what's left of summer away. but I can't wait for the games to begin.

[Noonzy]

As an answer to the question asked by the heading of this thread-my answer is HELL NO! Great to have 3 quality additions to make a great BB league.

[Bill Marsh]

Butler is a great addition. I'd rate their performance in recent years as top 10 in the country. And it started before Stevens got there. The key guy for that program is their AD, Barry Collier. He's a basketball guy, who played at Butler and started their emergence as coach. He's hired the last couple of coaches. It's the Butler track record of Butler hiring great coaches - Thad Matta. Todd Lickliter, and Stevens being the last three - that makes me confident in what they will bring to the Big East. Butler at this point is truly a program, not the creation of a single individual.

7000 may not sound like big time attendance, but it's not bad and is better than some other schools already in the Big East as well as other P5 schools. Butler offered as good a combination of attendance and on court performance as could be found out there. Dayton, for example, has better attendance but there record on the court over a sustained period of time has really been woeful. Would the conference really add Dayton just for their attendance?

From a marketing perspective, Butler was a very smart addition, giving the league instant credibility as a power conference, a conference that has brought together the best non-football schools in the eastern half of the country to compete. Schools like St. John's and Providence probably have better immediate prospects than Butler and both have great histories, but they still have to overcome a decade or more of sustained poor performance and therefore lowered expectations. First impressions are important. The new Big East had to make a big splash, had to have instant credibility. Butler helps to give them that. As long as Lavin and Cooley hang around, St. John's and Providence may actually sustain Big East success longer in the immediate future, but the conference needed first what Butler could give them immediately.

[Friarfan2]

Butler was good before brad Stevens. They should be fine.