Hello, Big East Conference Fans!
It's Tournament Week at Madison Square Garden!
I will admit I am biased being from Philadelphia and a big Villanova Wildcats fan so I am cheering for them tonight and to take home the title although I feel they a #1 seed for the upcoming NCAA Tournament wrapped up. There might be a question as to whether they are the overall first, second, or third #1 seed depending on how 'Nova, Xavier, and Virginia do. The hope of Villanova fans is they wind up in Pittsburgh in the first two games (that seems to be a lock) although last time it didn't work so well and Boston for the regionals (the hope is that they wind up ahead of Xavier, it won't matter if they are ahead of Virginia since they likely would rather play in Atlanta anyway).
The Big East Conference has not been the same since the breakup of the football schools after the 2013 season. It certainly isn't your father's Big East or the Big East when it was first founded. For one thing, the term "East" is probably a misnomer as half of the teams could be considered Midwestern teams: Xavier, Butler, DePaul, Marquette, and Creighton, which is west of the Mississippi River. Creighton isn't that much farther away from the West Coast as it is from the East Coast.
The Big East has done well in the NCAA's. Last year, seven teams out of ten made the NCAA Tournament. This year there should be at least six and possibly seven, depending on whether or not Marquette gets in. Villanova of course won the National Championship in 2016 and Xavier made the regional final last year and a Sweet 16. On the other hand, Villanova suffered three second round losses in four seasons seeded #1 or #2 and Xavier also was upset as a #2 seed in the second round in 2016.
There are two questions I have to consider.
1) Should the Big East expand?
They can add markets they do not have right now and programs they don't have. Big East commissioner Val Ackerman said the Big East is open to expansion but they have no plans to. The University of Dayton would have been a slam dunk expansion choice before Archie Miller left for Indiana and they fell back to the middle of the pack in the Atlantic 10. If you are going with Catholic universities, the other obvious choice would be St. Louis University. Taking the two of them would take the two Midwestern universities away from the Atlantic 10 and make them exclusively an Atlantic conference (I'm not sure whether that would be hurting them or doing them a favor).
If you are considering markets, Duquesne sucks in basketball but would give you Pittsburgh. St. Bonaventure is in contention for the NCAA's but they're pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Or you can go outside the A-10 with the Detroit Mercy out of the Horizon League, the only private school in that conference. If you are willing to go outside of Catholic schools, you might want to consider Virginia Commonwealth or Richmond or Rhode Island or Massachusetts.
Right now the Big East is fine and there is a case for a double round robin schedule. On the other hand, Wichita State joined the American Athletic and improved the strength of that conference and there is rumors Gonzaga may join the Mountain West Conference. It might get to the point that standing pat could be falling behind and these conferences might be moving ahead.
2) Should the Big East Tournament move around?
This question is a moot point at least until 2026 as the Big East Tournament's contract runs until then. But many major conferences rotate their conference tournaments. This year, the Big Ten Tournament was held in MSG last week and the ACC Tournament is being held at the Barclay's Center. This is to keep new members happy. The Big Ten expanded east to Maryland and Rutgers and held the tournament in Washington DC last year and New York this year. The ACC held its tournament in the Barclay's Center the last two years after adding teams like Syracuse, Boston College, and Pittsburgh.
Meanwhile after adding teams like Xavier and Butler and DePaul years before the "new" Big East. they've still had the tournament in the Garden. It's great for St. John's and Seton Hall. But do DePaul and Marquette like it? Wouldn't they like having the Big East Tournament in say Chicago or Indianapolis once in a while? Hey. I would love to see the Big East Tournament in Philadelphia once in a while. We have six city schools and never get any tournaments here. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany hinted the possibility of the Big Ten Tournament coming to Philly. But no conference tournament would make more sense in Philly than the Big East as Villanova owns the city when it comes to college basketball. Why can't we have it once? If we can have it once in a while, I would gladly go to Chicago, Milwaukee, or even Omaha in a rotation.
You can say "tradition". But that's the "old" Big East's tradition. Is it Xavier's tradition? Is it Butler's tradition? Is it Marquette's tradition? You can say well that's what they signed up for. But they're half the Big East now. If they don't like the rules, they can change them or they can leave. Obviously St. John's wants it in the Garden and Seton Hall doesn't really gain much having it in the Prudential Center as opposed to MSG. Villanova would gain a lot having it in the Wells Fargo Center right now. Georgetown if they got good again would love to have it in Washington. I think it would be good to rotate it to other cities and be fair to the other schools in the conference. I'm not sure if Omaha should ever host it (who wants to spend four days there?) but I'd have no problem with Chicago or Indianapolis (have to schedule opposite the Big Ten) hosting the tournament. Or give Philadelphia/Washington some turns.
