Big East coaches see strong, competitve year ahead

By MIKE ANGELINA

NovaNationHoops.com

@MikeAngelina

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In previous posts, Philahoops broke down both the series of events that led to the “New” Big East and the outlook of it, as well as the potential effects on teams in the conference, including Villanova. This post will discuss what others within the conference are saying about the new league, speculating on how everything, from competition to the television network will be and whether the conference can remain at the top in the nation.

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Although it may be branded externally as the “New” Big East, the conference will do whatever it takes to get back to the ways of the “Old” Big East from its inception. The league understands the status it has around the nation, and because of how respected, and at times feared, it was, those from within will attempt to maintain the elite status the conference has earned over history.

That challenge will be something that the top end of operations will take head-on, and facilitate to let the lower tiers, including the basketball operations, be consistent with the original standards of the league. It is something that new commissioner Val Ackerman made a point of emphasizing how committed the league is to ensure it remains a force, just as founder Dave Gavitt built it up to be.

“We are going to do everything that Dave Gavitt set out to do when he brought this league into being in 1979,” she said as part of her welcoming remarks. “We’re going to make this basketball conference a force”.

Listening to some of the coaches and people in each of their season tip-off parties talk about the league in which they are, the additions to the conference seem to be satisfactory enough to maintain the elite nature of the Big East. Many coaches talked in great excitement and admiration for each of the teams joining the conference.

“For the three new teams joining the Big East, we’re excited about Butler, Creighton and Xavier,” Ed Cooley, head coach of Providence said.

Jay Wright echoed Cooley, pointing out that each of the three programs has strong basketball traditions. Because of everything they bring, DePaul head coach Oliver Purcell said the teams bring “tremendous cachet” right now. The timing, if he’s correct, would be crucial for keeping the Big East atop and not suffer any type of letdown, on or off the court, for losing the many tradition-rich programs.

The entering teams have even fared well recently in this current decade, as Wright’s predecessor Steve Lappas, now the head coach at St. John’s points out.

“Butler’s played in the championship game two of the past four years,” he explained. “Creighton has the best player in the league.”

The player he was referring to was the Blue Jay’s Doug McDermott, a two-time All American. McDermott, an accomplished collegiate athlete, talked about the excitement from the players’ perspective. They are playing in a few different cities, different arenas with different crowds, and competing against new players. Among those little things, players such as McDermott, who played in the much smaller, less competitive Missouri Valley Conference previously, are excited about the new travel and playing at historic venues.

“I’m really looking forward to going to the [Madison Square] Garden,” he explained. “But I’m really looking forward to the travel, playing against a lot of new teams, new fan bases, it should be a lot of fun.”

Another thing that could keep the Big East on top as far as interest and keeping it consistently on everyone’s radar is its new television network, Fox Sports 1. The network, which launched in August, will give the conference some of the most thorough coverage in the land of college sports. So far, FS1 has received tremendous reviews for its programming – Sports Illustrated Media Analyst and Reporter Richard Deitsch, an expert in sports media, has called the new network “Team Fun” several times. The network, which shares the coverage with the rest of the nation, could be a game-changer in keeping the conference on top.

“FOX Sports 1 has changed the game, changed the landscape,” Cooley said. “Our exposure will be second-to-none, and I feel we have the best conference in America.”

There will be plenty for the network to cover and use to highlight the strengths of the conference, according to the coaches. Many predict the league to be very deep this year and go wire-to-wire in vying for post season berths.

“I think we’re going to have seven teams coming down the stretch that will be vying for NCAA tournament teams, and there is no reason we shouldn’t get five or six teams on a regular basis when you look at the coaching, the history of the universities in this conference, the personnel, and the urban recruiting basis in this area,” Lappas said.

He predicted that ultimately half the league would make the NCAA tournament.

“So we expect to get five or six in this tournament field, but seven, at a minimum, will be vying, and probably eight teams, nine teams will be vying for a postseason berth when you throw the NIT out there, as well, as a postseason tournament.”

It sounds like any college basketball fan’s dream: tremendous coverage of what should be tremendous competition. According to Lappas, you will not want to miss a game.

“If you’re a basketball junkie, you’re [going to] want to tune in and watch,” he declared.

So the coaches are very optimistic there will be no hangover from the split of the conference. Instead, many teams are poised for big, successful years.

“In this league, I think we have some teams that can have great years,” Wright said.

So there will be fun basketball on a fun network, with many aspects to be covered and many resources to cover them? At the very least it should be fun, if not elite.