I am worried when I see a team in the Big East finish 5th in conference with a 10-6 record with 22 wins and not make the tourney. The Big East is way to big with 16 teams. Last year we all felt UC got snubbed because the NCAA didn't want to take a 9th team. This year we only get 6 in.

I'm just worried because basically the NCAA is saying if you go 22-8 in the Big East conference with 9 or 10 wins in the conference, you are a bubble team and might not make it.

Next year the conference is going to 18 games. So if a Big East member goes 10-8 or 11-7 with 22 wins and finishes 6th or 7th in conference that still might not be good enough?

How long before we see the split? Boeheim is already going nuts from what I've been reading. I don't see this 16 team thing working for much longer. Any thoughts?

SORRY i just noticed the other post on this topic!

HuggsRules Wrote:I am worried when I see a team in the Big East finish 5th in conference with a 10-6 record with 22 wins and not make the tourney. The Big East is way to big with 16 teams. Last year we all felt UC got snubbed because the NCAA didn't want to take a 9th team. This year we only get 6 in.

I'm just worried because basically the NCAA is saying if you go 22-8 in the Big East conference with 9 or 10 wins in the conference, you are a bubble team and might not make it.

Next year the conference is going to 18 games. So if a Big East member goes 10-8 or 11-7 with 22 wins and finishes 6th or 7th in conference that still might not be good enough?

How long before we see the split? Boeheim is already going nuts from what I've been reading. I don't see this 16 team thing working for much longer. Any thoughts?

Blame the committee, not the conference.

The conference deserves better. There is an obvious disdain for the Big East, and I'm not sure why.

Something wrong is going on here. That's the only answer to this situation.

I was giving this some thought last night and I haven't come to a conclusion how a smaller conference would help.

So let's say the Big East splits with 8 football schools splitting off. Would it really help get more teams in? UC would likely have to then play everyone twice so trading games against St Johns, Nova, and Marquette for second games against Cuse, UConn, and Pitt is really not making it any easier to get more wins.

Part of me still thinks its great we're in the BE for hoops. But part of me thinks we're gonna be going 10-6 or 9-7 with 22-23 wins and still sweating the selection process. Whereas a team like Memphis, plays some good nonconf games, kicks ass in a weak league and ends up a 2 seed and not worrying about getting in. They're in an enviable position come tourney time. The trade off is that they have to recruit to an utterly crap conference but Cal looks like he's going fine.

I like where the big east is right now but I think the conference as a whole needs to take a closer look at scheduling. I think they need to go a little weaker in the non-con b/c more years than not if you are good you will get enough wins inside the big east. I think we might have to play a few true road games but maybe against weaker comp. instead of not leaving your home arena until jan.

This all revolves around UC last yr. and Syracuse this yr.

If UC would have beaten Dayton or Seton Hall they would have been in, I know we all felt we got screwed and we might have but those were 2 games they should have won.

Syracuse did a good job beefing up their non league schedule but lost the 2 marque games they played to Witch St. and Drexel both at home, they also lost at UCONN and at St. Johns, I know both on the road but also both non-postseason teams.

I would rather be in a power conference b/c I feel in the long run it will pay off, once we can get back up toward the top I think they will go further in the tourny. Not looking at the seeds but the actually teams the scale is tilted heavy to the power con. reaching the elite 8 and beyond compared to mid majors. George Mason and the every so often Gonzaga are going to happen less than people think

As a strategist, everything mentioned makes a good point.

As a fan, the reason I love the Big East is because I like being in a conference where Georgetown, Villanova, Syracuse, UConn, Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh, etc., etc...........come visit us periodically and you know there will always be good games once conference play starts unlike the pathetic CUSA use to be.

There were so many throw away games. But now we have atleast double the number of quality teams that make you want to go down to the Shoe and watch.

It's just better basketball competition night in and night out.

The level of competition has increased but you really go too far when you call Conference USA pathetic. Two regular season games each year with Louisville, , Marquette , and Memphis made things very entertaining. Also the Big East will have their own botton feeders each year which will not be that exciting to fans. Hopefully we are not in that category too often.

With the advantages of the Big East schedule also comes the negative that we have fewer openings for quality out of conference games.

Hmm...over 1/3 of the Big East teams made it to the big dance. I believe that is probably a higher percentage of the number of teams that made it from ConfUSA when we are a part of it. So, the percentages--I think---favor the Big East.

I think a couple of our teams (WVU and Syracuse) fell maybe one game short of the Big Dance.

Just my musings,

Bearcat Chad

BearcatChad Wrote:Hmm...over 1/3 of the Big East teams made it to the big dance. I believe that is probably a higher percentage of the number of teams that made it from ConfUSA when we are a part of it. So, the percentages--I think---favor the Big East.

I think a couple of our teams (WVU and Syracuse) fell maybe one game short of the Big Dance.

Just my musings,

Bearcat Chad

WVU and Syracuse deserved to be in it. That was a sham.

West Virginia did not deserve to be in, and Syracuse dug their own grave.

West Virginia- beat two quality teams all year UCLA(great win), and Villanova. Their nonconference schedule was ranked 279...that is awful. Practically all their wins came at the Big East bottom Seton Hall, Rutgers, South Florida, Cincinnati... They also lost to Cincinnati. This was not a tourney team.

Syracuse- They were 3-7 vs. the RPI top 50... That is first. Their non-conference SOS was below 100 and they never left Syracuse... never. They lost at home to Drexel(4th in the CAA), and at home to Witchita State(5th in the Missouri Valley)... yea there you go for those crappy conferences.... The wins over Georgetown, Marquette and Villanova are very good wins... But again those were THREE wins... in 10 tries against the RPI top 50... That does not scream tourney team.

Based on some of the teams that got in.........they did. The bracket is a joke.

Explain..I do a pretty in depth analysis. West Virginia has no case really. Too terrible a non-conference schedule..not enough good wins.

Syracuse has a better case but it's easy to see why they were left out

The Biggest Mistakes i saw were Illinois, and Arkansas...Illinois in particular was an awful choice.. But there were other teams that had just as strong a case as syracuse waiting

bearcat1965 Wrote:

BearcatChad Wrote:Hmm...over 1/3 of the Big East teams made it to the big dance. I believe that is probably a higher percentage of the number of teams that made it from ConfUSA when we are a part of it. So, the percentages--I think---favor the Big East.

I think a couple of our teams (WVU and Syracuse) fell maybe one game short of the Big Dance.

Just my musings,

Bearcat Chad

WVU and Syracuse deserved to be in it. That was a sham.

I agree with Bearcatmark that West Virginia did not belong and Syracuse's resume was very borderline and I think many other teams who were snubbed had better arguments. The Orangemen lucked out last year to our detriment.

Also when we were in Conference USA there often was four or five teams named to the field. There was nothing weak about the top half of our former conference year to year.

Murph29 Wrote:Part of me still thinks its great we're in the BE for hoops. But part of me thinks we're gonna be going 10-6 or 9-7 with 22-23 wins and still sweating the selection process. Whereas a team like Memphis, plays some good nonconf games, kicks ass in a weak league and ends up a 2 seed and not worrying about getting in. They're in an enviable position come tourney time. The trade off is that they have to recruit to an utterly crap conference but Cal looks like he's going fine.

In theory, with the extra two games on the schedule next year, if every team won 1 and lost 1 of the extra two games, Syracuse would have 11 wins and not go to the NCAA. In UC's case having to play 18 Big East games and having to win 10 or 11 of them is a real test. To me the players UC has now, plus the ones coming in, don't look to have a shot of winning 10 games in the Big East for at least the next couple of years. At that point in time you might look at the players and see another couple of years where they won't win 10 games. UC looks to be in the NIT area for quite awhile but that's better than nothing. Don