Which BEast programs NEED to succeed

[MUBoxer]

The Big East is as good as all of its members are.

That said, everyone needs to play well OOC. That will happen. The Big East will be a Top 3 league next year. I have zero doubt in that.

ACC, Big 10, Big East, Big 12, SEC, Pac-12. Then other irrelevant entities.

In all fairness the American is good at the top and the MWC is good

[DumpsterFireA10]

The Big East is as good as all of its members are.

That said, everyone needs to play well OOC. That will happen. The Big East will be a Top 3 league next year. I have zero doubt in that.

ACC, Big 10, Big East, Big 12, SEC, Pac-12. Then other irrelevant entities.

In all fairness the American is good at the top and the MWC is good

AAC will be good next year, but the MWC is no better than the A-10.

[Bill Marsh]

The Big East is as good as all of its members are.

That said, everyone needs to play well OOC. That will happen. The Big East will be a Top 3 league next year. I have zero doubt in that.

ACC, Big 10, Big East, Big 12, SEC, Pac-12. Then other irrelevant entities.

In all fairness the American is good at the top and the MWC is good

Let's take a look at the AAC at the top.

1. UConn has been the best program of the past 15 years. Calhoun is gone; Ollie looked good in his rookie season.

2. Memphis has been one of the dozen best programs in the country in recent years BUT that was with a major boost from an ineligible player. Without their vacated trip to the championship game, there are a handful of Big East programs that have been better than they have in recent years

3. Temple has gone to the tournament 6 straight years and 6 of the past 12, but they have done just about nothing once they got there. That puts them pretty much on par with Creighton, who has also gotten to the tournament 6 times in the past dozen years. Temple is not the program of JohnChaney any more, a program that used to regularly get to Elite 8's, a program that was once rated #1in the country when Chaney was coach. that temple program is ancient history now and they're facing a rebuilding season next year.

4. Cincinnati is another once top program when a legendary coach still worked there but a program that is still trying to rebuild to that level but which has not yet arrived . Again, their recent history wouldn't qualify them to be in the upper half of the new Big East.

So strong at the top? Sure. If we define UConn as "the top" and if we cut Memphis some slack for a cheat who got them to the top. But beyond that? Maybe once, but not recently.

[MUBoxer]

The Big East is as good as all of its members are.

That said, everyone needs to play well OOC. That will happen. The Big East will be a Top 3 league next year. I have zero doubt in that.

ACC, Big 10, Big East, Big 12, SEC, Pac-12. Then other irrelevant entities.

In all fairness the American is good at the top and the MWC is good

AAC will be good next year, but the MWC is no better than the A-10.

You're kidding right? The MWC was the highest rpi confence last year. Everybody talks about non conference wins here and that's what they did sure nothing in the tournament but they killed everybody in the regular season.

[GumbyDamnit!]

You're kidding right? The MWC was the highest rpi confence last year. Everybody talks about non conference wins here and that's what they did sure nothing in the tournament but they killed everybody in the regular season.

The MWC RPI rankings last year shows the flaws in the RPI as a whole. Go back and really look at some of those OOC schedules. For the life of me I can't figure out how the MWC could have been ranked so high other than the fact that it was a handful of decent teams and no real slop (aka Rutgers, USF) to hold them down. But I think the tourney showed that the MWC was 6th or 7th best.

[DumpsterFireA10]

In all fairness the American is good at the top and the MWC is good

AAC will be good next year, but the MWC is no better than the A-10.

You're kidding right? The MWC was the highest rpi confence last year. Everybody talks about non conference wins here and that's what they did sure nothing in the tournament but they killed everybody in the regular season.[/quote]

14 Games vs. D2 schools. They gamed the system and are causing rule changes. Boise beat by Lasalle. New Mexico (double champion) handled by Saint Louis. Their RPI proved to be a mirage when they rolled over and died in the NCAAs. Had Colorado State not been given a bye (Mizzou), they would have all been run out in their first game.

[MUBoxer]

The American is good, you can make all the excuses and explanations but the fact is Memphis, Temple, Cincinnati and UConn (and Louisville this year) are good teams, I'm not saying they're elite or anything but they're good teams that are usually in the tournament. Same with the MWC, while I definitely think it was wayyy blown up, the conference still has a good amount of teams that are always in the tournament.

[DumpsterFireA10]

The American is good at the top.

The Mountain West is the Western version of the A-10. That's not a compliment.

[GumbyDamnit!]

The American is good, you can make all the excuses and explanations but the fact is Memphis, Temple, Cincinnati and UConn (and Louisville this year) are good teams, I'm not saying they're elite or anything but they're good teams that are usually in the tournament. Same with the MWC, while I definitely think it was wayyy blown up, the conference still has a good amount of teams that are always in the tournament.

I'm with Dumpster here. With the exception of UNLV and to a much lesser extent, New Mexcio, I do not think any of those programs are remotely comparable to many of the current A10 schools in terms of BB tradition and success. I mean VCU and George Mason alone have been to FF's within the past decade, and St. Joe's was a #1 seed and #1 ranked in the country a few years back. For God's sake only UNLV has double digit tourney wins ALL-TIME, and the rest have losing records! To say that they have "a good amount of teams that are always in the tournament" is a reach.