It turns out that those who were looking at burial plots for the 16-team version of the Big East Conference from the moment of its birth were extremely premature.
The Big East might not have 16 members on the day cockroaches rule the earth, and league employees will sweat this enterprise’s stability every day they punch their time cards.
But those counting on an implosion — including folks at Memphis, Xavier, Central Florida and Dayton–need to concentrate on thriving in their current leagues. The supersized hybrid Big East — with some programs that emphasize football, some that dabble in it and some that don’t play the game at all–is going to endure.
That may be the best thing for the future of college basketball.
When Memphis, Xavier and others were snubbed in the Big East expansion process, they consoled themselves with the belief that 16 was an unmanageable number and the league eventually would split along football and basketball lines. The notion was that the football folks would need to seek a team or two, the basketball folks would need to seek a team or two and everybody would be fighting over the Big East brand name.
Commissioner Mike Tranghese always bristled when that scenario was advanced, and as it turned out, he was right in believing it wouldn’t play out that way. Three developments in the expanded league’s first 12 months helped secure its future:
The league placed eight teams in the 2006 NCAA tournament. No league ever had more than seven chosen for the field, but the Big(ger) East blew past that in its first attempt.
Half those teams came from universities that do not have access to Division I-A football cash: Marquette, Seton Hall, Villanova and Georgetown.
Most recently, and most importantly, Tranghese and his staff completed negotiations on a boffo new ESPN television deal covering football and basketball.
Nearly every Big East basketball game will be shown on at least one of ESPN’s various outlets. The level of national exposure will be unprecedented, and the combined basketball deals will put the league in the same neighborhood as the ACC, which pulls down $30 million annually.
All this will keep league members reasonably content and give them the time and energy to make the Big East more successful. This also is in the best interest of teams in the Atlantic 10, the Missouri Valley and Conference USA. The existence of a powerful conference that does not rely primarily on football revenue will help keep high-level basketball from being restricted to schools with access to Bowl Championship Series football wealth.
The Big East still must deal with the anxiety of coaches concerned that any one of them could field a decent squad yet finish in 16th place. Only 12 go to Madison Square Garden for the Big East tournament, and coaches contend that could lead to some of them getting fired.
Every league has a bottom, though. It’s just a longer trip to get there in the Big East.
