Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

Kind of curious what folks think.

B+, expected was elight eight but nova got to final four, 7-6 overall.

Gave the conference a B... However, it was a tough call as I wanted to give a C+.

Six BE teams made the dance. Nova, Prov, SH, UConn, Cr8n, Marq. Half lost in the 1st Round.
Only 2 made the Sweet 16 or better. Prov & Nova.
Nova the only team further than the SS.

We can do better, MUCH better.

I think B+ is fair. Definitely did better than about half of the other power conferences (B1G, SEC, PAC12) in the NCAA. Also collectively exceeded the success of the league on most years post-2013.

Big 12 had the champion, but only one other team in the Sweet 16.
ACC had 2 teams in the FF and 3 in the EE, but only 5 bids total.

That might be a B+ by their standards

League is judged by the top. Villanova to the F4 is enough to warrant an A grade.

Jet915 wrote:B+, expected was elight eight but nova got to final four, 7-6 overall.

I'll be a "hard grader" along with you Jet.

On the one hand, getting a team to the F4 is a major achievement. You could argue that making it to the F4 warrants an automatic "A." The problem with that is that we are a major conference, so the standards are higher. It's an impressive achievement no doubt, and though it isn't or shouldn't be expected every year, it is reasonable to expect that it will happen frequently enough, albeit with more than one conference member pulling the weight to achieve that. So, no less than a B+ for that.

Six teams to the NCAAT? About 55% of the conference. With UCONN in the mix now, 6 or 7 should be the expectation. We at least achieved the expectation, though Xavier soiled this criterion by fading away late in the season - we should have had 7.

Two teams to the Sweet 16. But, as gtmo pointed out, half the participants lost in the first round. Not exactly a great look for the conference, notwithstanding the fact that the NCAAT can be a crap shoot.

Finally, as you pointed out, 7-6 overall, which certainly beats sub-500 on that measure.

Of course, Xavier winning the NIT contributed about 5% of the plus sign that comes with the B+ - maybe, maybe not.

B+ seems about right.

The NCAA Div 1 playing field is unlevel, unequal - that's a given. But there is one standard. The Top 6 -8 conferences
have decided advantages, in terms of money, recruiting prowess/power, media exposure/money, etc,; over everyone else.
After the Top 6 there is a huge gulf between those few haves and the other 280 or so schools. We all know the story.
See: MidMajority.com's "the Red Line" (2014) - pull it up on Google or DuckDuckGo.

However, all 351 or so schools are still playing for that same sole championship. Now after the Top 8-10 conferences,
the reality is that the other conferences are generally "Glad to be here" in the dance. But St. Peters EE is the same as
UMiami's, Texas Tech's, and UMichigan's EE. The accomplishment is the same. St Pete's run seems to be more, due to the
severe handicap schools in the non-power leagues have, in terms of money, recruiting, media exposure, etc which I alluded
to above. Schools in the power conferences, plus the next 2-3, can oftentimes repeat such success (see: Butler, VCU,
Gonzaga), while the vast majority of schools (George Mason, St Peters, St Bonaventure) cannot repeat such runs with any regularity.

Omaha1 wrote:League is judged by the top. Villanova to the F4 is enough to warrant an A grade.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion - you have yours.
You are speaking in terms of 'external judgement' by outsiders and the general public, I presume. That is a/those are biased view(s),
mainly from ESPN cronies, competitor leagues, a jaundiced major media, poorly informed lesser media and poll voters, and a lazy
ill-informed public.

I thought this is a well-informed, internal review sort of exercise by expert BE fans/pundits. Internally, we should hold our conference
to the highest of standards. The Big East is NOT a one-man band...all due respect to JW & the Radnorites.

Wizard of Westroads wrote:Big 12 had the champion, but only one other team in the Sweet 16.
ACC had 2 teams in the FF and 3 in the EE, but only 5 bids total.

That might be a B+ by their standards

Wiz. Is there more than one "standard"? There can be ONLY ONE!! The Big East should be held to the
same standards as the other Major Conferences. After all - we are they. (Please don't double count NCAA
results).

ACC: Puke & UNCCheat - FF, UMiami - EE, Notre Dame 2&out, VT 1&Done,
B12: KU Champ, TT Sweet 16, other 4 out in 1st two rounds. Very similar to the BE showing... 3/2&O, 1/1&D.
BEast: Nova - FF, Prov - SS, other 4 out in the 1st two rounds...1/2&0, 3/1&D.

I am tending towards the harsher side as well... it has been a few years now, most have some level of dance experience. We should collectively do better.

Expectations were high. We all know how tough this league is, but too many flamed out early. Injuries hurt Creighton big time and Nova as well... but everyone has injuries. I lean towards a solid B given the missed high expectations. .

B- if it was an option. We can’t have GU, SJU and UCONN underperforming….