Big East and the Elite 8

[Hoya]

I'm borrowing this info because I thought it was pretty exciting to see how strong the C7 + 3 have been in years past. I wish the talking heads would look at this instead of spouting nonsense.

We all know who the Final Four teams have been because they grab the headlines and our memories can store only so much. But a run to the Elite 8 is pretty impressive in its own right. I thought it would be interesting to go back 10 years to 2003 and see which schools from the new Big East have been in the regional finals in that span. Here's the list:

2003 - Marquette
2004 - Xavier
2005 -
2006 - Villanova
2007 - Georgetown
2008 - Xavier
2009 - Villanova
2010 - Butler
2011 - Butler
2012 -
2013 - Marquette

That's 9 trips to the Elite 8 in 11 years. Only 3 conferences have done better - The new ACC, the new SEC, and the Big XII with 10 apiece. (I'm using the post-expansion membership. So, Louisville, for example counts for the ACC.). Here's the list by conference:

ACC - 10 years (19 total appearances)
B12 - 10 years (17 total appearances)
SEC - 10 years (14 total appearances)
BEC - 9 years (9 total appearances)
B1G - 8 years (10 total appearances)
Pac - 6 years (7 total appearances)
AAC - 5 years (6 total appearances)*
A10 - 4 years (4 total appearances)
MVC - 1 year (1 total appearance)

[marquette]

That puts us 5th in total appearances. Not a bad showing. I'd generally slot us in at 3-5 most years if we continue our current performance.