College Basketball Notebook: Bigger and better?
Big East could become too good for its own good with expansion
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
By Paul Zeise, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Big East will grow into a 16-team mega-conference next season when Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette, DePaul and South Florida join and Boston College heads for the ACC.
That has many people already calling the Big East the best conference in basketball history. There are predictions of record-setting numbers of NCAA tournament berths (could we see 10 teams make it?) and multiple national championships.
That might be true, but then again, it might not.
If, for instance, those teams had joined this season, the Big East (six -- four currently ranked minus Boston College plus three newcomers), not the ACC (five --four currently ranked plus Boston College), would have the most teams in the most recent Associated Press poll.
And what's most impressive is half of the Big East's ranked teams would be among the five coming in -- No. 14 Louisville, No. 16 Cincinnati and No. 25 Marquette -- and the other two newcomers have winning records.
That shows the Big East is adding quality and not just quantity. That is not a shock with Louisville and Cincinnati, which are perennial top 25 programs, and Pitt fans have seen how good Marquette is.
The two surprises, however, are South Florida (8-6) and DePaul (10-4). DePaul, which has tradition, had been in a bit of a tailspin in recent years and there was some thought that perhaps the program had seen its best days.
But last season the Blue Demons returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time in four years and won their first tournament game since 1989. They could be heading back to the tournament this season.
DePaul's resurgence means the Big East might be adding four NCAA tournament teams to a conference that might have as many as six now. With Boston College gone, the Big East could begin next season with nine tournament teams, probably at least three more than any other league.
That suggests the league will be a powerhouse for years to come.
But here is the catch -- the addition of so much strength could have the opposite effect on the Big East. It could become very difficult to get victories. Parity could rule the conference and eventually turn into mediocrity.
If teams beat up on each other constantly, it might become tough to justify more than four or five NCAA berths and thus the idea of a 16-team league will become a whole lot less appealing.
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