One of the most exciting games I've ever witnessed

The 1980s Big East will always be the platinum standard for basketball excitement for me, but I do admit the last 10 years of the old Big East, roughly 2003 - 2013, came close. An awful lot of great hoops was played in the conference then, and that game was near the top of the heap.

Basically, that Big East was so good it put the ACC in the shadows, which is why the ACC had to destroy it.

The ACC used TV money to facilitate destroying it.

Loved the old Big East. Still happy my team found a landing spot

(03-12-2019 11:48 AM)TexanMark Wrote:  One of the most exciting games I've ever witnessed

I was at the tourney that year but was staying out in Brooklyn. I learned the hard way that the subway doesn't run 24/7 in New York (or at least it didn't in 2009!) and that cab rides late at night to Brooklyn are RIDICULOUSLY expensive...

It was still worth it to have been there for such a memorable game! I still have a t-shirt I wear from the tourney that year!

USFFan

Yeah didn't start watching until the end of regulation. Just an incredible situation.

And to have the guys calling the game- Raft, Bilas- wow 2 of the best. With a good for basketball pbp guy in Sean McDonough...... One of the best announcing teams ever IMO.

I remember bar hopping that night and it was crazy seeing that game keep going and going.

Even after poaching Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Louisville, the ACC could not eliminate Big East Basketball. Pretty remarkable, considering you toss in West Virginia, Rutgers, UConn, Cincinnati and USF, and the league still gets sell-outs at MSG for the conference tournament.

Nothing beats the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.

The NCAA should change the rules so that after 4OT, they just go to single alternating possessions to determine the winner :)

Either that or just declare the game a tie after 4OT. Why does everybody hate ties :)

(03-12-2019 11:48 AM)TexanMark Wrote:  One of the most exciting games I've ever witnessed

It was a fantastic game! I watched every minute. Seriously. Great fun and excitement. And the team I was rooting for WON.

Watching the highlights, I even miss playing UConn in meaningful games. I texted a few folks kinda late and told them to watch...it was riveting seeing how each OT ended.

(03-12-2019 12:19 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  The ACC used TV money to facilitate destroying it.

Yes, that's why it was so dumb for the Big East to have turned down that ESPN deal in spring 2011. That would have provided ballpark money compared to what the ACC was getting, which just *might* have made schools like Pitt and Cuse not receptive to the ACC offers.

Might.

(03-12-2019 12:19 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  The ACC used TV money to facilitate destroying it.

Loved the old Big East. Still happy my team found a landing spot

I miss the Big East. I wish we were all still together.

(03-13-2019 09:13 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(03-12-2019 12:19 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  The ACC used TV money to facilitate destroying it.

Yes, that's why it was so dumb for the Big East to have turned down that ESPN deal in spring 2011. That would have provided ballpark money compared to what the ACC was getting, which just *might* have made schools like Pitt and Cuse not receptive to the ACC offers.

Might.

ESPN and the ACC had a few moles already in place that helped make sure that deal got killed.

USFFan

The FB/BB hybrid in a BB first league was never going to work in today’s world where FB drives the bus

The best that might have happened was Joe Pa’s eastern football league with PSU as the major anchor and maybe two BB only like Georgetown and Villanova plus a few key additions that grew it to a 12/14 league

Something like

Rutgers
Syracuse
Boston College
Temple
UConn
Navy

Penn State
Pitt
Maryland
West Virginia
Virginia Tech
Cincinnati

(Georgetown)
(Villanova)

That league might have survived and even be thriving today

(03-13-2019 10:06 AM)10thMountain Wrote:  The FB/BB hybrid in a BB first league was never going to work in today’s world where FB drives the bus

The hardest part was getting the 9th football team in. I can somewhat understand why Marinatto was pushing for a Villanova upgrade to 1A -- no "real" expansion and the football teams have an 8 game conference schedule. But it was still a marriage of convenience, with BE 2.0 set up for an easy divorce. Still played great basketball in a part of the country that's basketball mad.

We'll see how Rutgers does once it gets the full share of B1G money but they are built to play NE schools not Midwest Behemoths.