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Probably a bit early for this, but the new big east is pretty much laying an egg right now. The schools they thought were not good enough for them in basketball have 5 teams in the espn top 50, and guess what....the big east has 5 in the top 50 also.

Other than Villanova, all schools seem evenly matched. I think SMU could beat all but nova pretty handily. If they are just an average basketball league can they sustain their conference?

As long as they are successful in attendance and TV ratings it doesn't really matter and so they will have been right.

gostangs wrote:Probably a bit early for this, but the new big east is pretty much laying an egg right now. The schools they thought were not good enough for them in basketball have 5 teams in the espn top 50, and guess what....the big east has 5 in the top 50 also.

Other than Villanova, all schools seem evenly matched. I think SMU could beat all but nova pretty handily. If they are just an average basketball league can they sustain their conference?

When SMU and UH were asked to join the Big East, the basketball schools complained that both schools could never be competitive. This week, UConn went o-fer against both schools.

Digetydog wrote:

gostangs wrote:Probably a bit early for this, but the new big east is pretty much laying an egg right now. The schools they thought were not good enough for them in basketball have 5 teams in the espn top 50, and guess what....the big east has 5 in the top 50 also.

Other than Villanova, all schools seem evenly matched. I think SMU could beat all but nova pretty handily. If they are just an average basketball league can they sustain their conference?

When SMU and UH were asked to join the Big East, the basketball schools complained that both schools could never be competitive. This week, UConn went o-fer against both schools.

most of those same people don't remember that back in the 80's, SMU and Houston could play with anyone in the country. Have to admit that being invited to the Big East was part of what helped get Coach Brown interested in SMU, so hopefully this will work out well for everyone

Digetydog wrote:

gostangs wrote:Probably a bit early for this, but the new big east is pretty much laying an egg right now. The schools they thought were not good enough for them in basketball have 5 teams in the espn top 50, and guess what....the big east has 5 in the top 50 also.

Other than Villanova, all schools seem evenly matched. I think SMU could beat all but nova pretty handily. If they are just an average basketball league can they sustain their conference?

When SMU and UH were asked to join the Big East, the basketball schools complained that both schools could never be competitive. This week, UConn went o-fer against both schools.

If that was indeed a motivation for them leaving, then i would say that thus far they made a rather hasty and unwise decision in leaving.

well of course they left because of money - or the expectation of more money - and i am pretty sure if they don't put at least three in the tourney it will not pencil. Others may know more of that than I, but if they are viewed as lesser quality basketball schools they will not sustain their income from tourney revenue or more importantly ultimately their TV revenues.

The Big East overall record is better than the AAC's. They do not have 1 team under .500 at this point and have more teams that have 10 or more wins.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/standings

New big east is 1-12 vs teams in the top 25 RPI. Not exactly distinguished

gostangs wrote:New big east is 1-12 vs teams in the top 25 RPI. Not exactly distinguished

Just curious as to what the AAC is in that area.

gostangs wrote:New big east is 1-12 vs teams in the top 25 RPI. Not exactly distinguished

Do you have the data on what the AAC vs top 25 RPI teams? I hope our conference is better than that.

gostangs wrote:well of course they left because of money - or the expectation of more money - and i am pretty sure if they don't put at least three in the tourney it will not pencil. Others may know more of that than I, but if they are viewed as lesser quality basketball schools they will not sustain their income from tourney revenue or more importantly ultimately their TV revenues.

My Big East friends (I work with a lot of Uconn, BC, and Syracuse alums) could not imagine that SMU and/or UH would ever be able to compete in the Big East. I was told that SMU would be a permanent "bottom half" team.

Furthermore, they were viewed as horrible draws. For example, Uconn plays most of its "Big" games at the XL Center. The SMU and Houston games are both in Storrs.

Memphis beat Okie St, so I know the AAC has at least one win vs. RPI top 25

AAC is 3-8 vs. RPI top 25. And 6-7 vs. RPI 26-50

LA_Mustang wrote:Memphis beat Okie St, so I know the AAC has at least one win vs. RPI top 25

Memphis has 2 (LSU, OK St)
Louisville has 1 (Southern Miss)
UConn has 1 (Florida)

I'm not sure how many losses we have against the RPI top 25.

LSU is no longer top 25 after losing to Rhode Island, who we beat by 30.