Big East gets schooled

The conference must defend itself, providing reasons why it has, um, flamed out a little bit. That is, if you consider nine of its 11 teams losing in the first two rounds a flameout. Which it is, of course.

Was the league exposed? Not quite. The Big East has more depth than any other conference; it’s why 11th-seeded Marquette and No. 3 Connecticut, both of which finished with 9-9 Big East records this season, are still alive. In the regular season, St. John’s dismantled Duke, which followed a three-game losing streak in the Big East. Do Big East teams wear each other down? Maybe, but when teams go far, the line is that playing in the Big East toughened them up for a long run.

There’s also little doubt the Big East — or maybe more accurate the teams at the top — was overrated. Pittsburgh was a good team without a great player; UConn has the great player but was not a great team. The depth was there; the elite team was not. Hence, six Big East teams were eliminated by lower seeds — one of which was a fellow Big East squad (Marquette over Syracuse).

Injuries played a factor, too, in the demise of one-and-dones Georgetown and St. John’s. Chris Wright returned for Georgetown, but it wasn’t enough to stop the slide. And the Red Storm, with little margin for error, were stung when D.J. Kennedy was hurt.

There’s no excuse for what happened to Louisville.

This makes the Big East look like many other conferences, all of which can make their own excuses for teams that lost. In a one-game season, conference affiliation is irrelevant.

But does anyone outside of Seth Greenberg and Gary Williams really think the ACC is now better than the Big East because it has three teams remaining? Two of which needed late misses by teams seeded much lower to win? The Mountain West has as many teams remaining as the Big East.

The Big East was the best during the regular season. This month, it’s not about the conference; it’s only about the school.

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