ESPN again trying to tear down the Big East

[TheHall]

@Bill Marsh: Significant drop, not big drop. Going from frequently being in the discussion for best conference in basketball to that probably becoming a rare to never occurrence is a significant drop, there's a clear difference in quality. Projecting our set of teams back the last ~15 years never gets us better than 3rd best conference via Sagarin.

I think people may be forgetting that not only did the OG BE tremendously outperform expectations from pundits & critics, but so did it's flagship network...If the BE wasn't a threat ESPiN wouldn't spend it's time attacking it.

The new winners & losers have yet to be decided no matter what the spin cycle says.

[yorost]

Talking about a drop in quality does not imply attitude on the matter. There is a clear drop on the surface and in computer numbers, that doesn't mean I am saying the conference has become poor.

[TheHall]

If all the pundits are talking only about a "dip" on the surface or computer numbers then who the cares? ESPiN is trying to re-brand the BE as a mid-major period.

[marquette]

I can't possibly imagine a scenario in which Marquette, Georgetown, Creighton, and Villanova don't go to the NCAA tourney this year. I also have a very strong feeling about Providence, St. John's, and Xavier as well. Seton Hall is showing signs of life with some new recruits, an NIT bid could easily be in the cards for next year and an NCAA bid might not be too far off. DePaul is on the trail of a recruit or two, but they may be in need of a complete overhaul. I have no idea what to think of Butler until I see them play this year, but based off their history of replacing coaches I am hopeful. We have a strong league and 6 or even 7 bids is certainly not out of the question.

[mel ott]

People need to start tweeting Goodman back. He was pretty friendly with the CU guys ( as I remember) when we had Doug last year and were just a nice mid major. Now that we are trying to be a little uppity by moving in to a bigger house, he doesn't seem to like us as well.

[billyjack]

The ACC had turned into a 2-team conference.

Only 2 of 12 schools have made an Elite-8 out of the ACC since 2004. Duke. UNC. That's it.
But 5 of 10 Big East schools have made the Elite-8 from 2007 to today. Half our conference.

Someone tweet this to Goodman.

[Daffron24]

The ACC had turned into a 2-team conference.

Only 2 of 12 schools have made an Elite-8 out of the ACC since 2004. Duke. UNC. That's it.
But 5 of 10 Big East schools have made the Elite-8 from 2007 to today. Half our conference.

Someone tweet this to Goodman.

That is true but once the ACC gets Louisville next year, that'll 5 be teams that have won the national championship since 2000. BE 0. Don't get me wrong I hate everything associated with ESPN (at least the garbage they have been putting out the past 5 or so years), but the quality of the BE has dropped. I still think we will be the 2nd or 3rd best conference next year and hopefully for many more. The best thing thing for the BE is for Fox to really shine and market our conference. Winning a national championship in the next 2-3 years wouldn't hurt either.

[NCWildcat]

I'll give the ACC credit. In the last 15 years they have national champs in 2001 (duke), 2003 (cuse), 2005 (unc), 2009 (unc), 2010 (Duke), 2013 (Louisville). Sorry but that is impressive and they'll have more championships and #1 rankings in the future. If your school was invited to join the ACC, dont tell me you wouldn't jump at the chance!

The Big East: No nat champions since......1985?!?!? We're small time compared to the Big Boys. I do hope we do something in the tourney, but I'll honestly say I'm not expecting much. I agree with ESPN.

[DumpsterFireA10]

F ESPN.

Need I say more?

[Bill Marsh]

I'll give the ACC credit. In the last 15 years they have national champs in 2001 (duke), 2003 (cuse), 2005 (unc), 2009 (unc), 2010 (Duke), 2013 (Louisville). Sorry but that is impressive and they'll have more championships and #1 rankings in the future. If your school was invited to join the ACC, dont tell me you wouldn't jump at the chance!

The Big East: No nat champions since......1985?!?!? We're small time compared to the Big Boys. I do hope we do something in the tourney, but I'll honestly say I'm not expecting much. I agree with ESPN.

Why would anyone want to be in that conference? And how does it help the individual members?

Expansion of the Big East crushed many of the conferences charter members while it helped newcomers like West Virginia which hadn't been to a Final Four in 50 years when it's BE membership vaunted it back to that level in 2010. Or Louisville whose BE membership brought it back to the championship circle, a place where it hadn't been in more than a quarter century when it won the title last year.

As ACC members will soon find out, there's still only one conference title when a league has 15 members. And there are still only a few spots available in the upper echelon. And there are a lot more members to climb over to get back to that level when a program falls into a down cycle.

This trend toward super conferences is going to kill a lot of programs in both major sports. I think that the Big East has hit the sweet spot with 10. There really is no reason for a basketball conference to go beyond that.