Outside of WVU, the Big East Mightily Underachieved

The majority of the experts spread throughout the country largely believed and perceived the Big East Conference to be the premier conference in college basketball. After all, an unprecedented eight teams from the conference made the tournament, while nine different teams from the Big East were ranked at some point in time this year. Even Connecticut, who missed the tournament by a landslide, nearly cracked a top-15 ranking heading into 2010. Thus, with eight so-called “high-caliber” teams in the NCAA Tournament, the Big East was primed to have a monstrous tournament.

However, everything crumbled right from the first day of the tournament. Three out of the four teams in the conference playing on the first Thursday (Notre Dame, Marquette, and Georgetown) all lost, while the fourth, Villanova, needed overtime to defeat 15th seeded Robert Morris. First, after playing three outstanding games in the Big East Tournament, Notre Dame was playing its best basketball of the season heading into the first-round matchup against Old Dominion. However, they absolutely came out flat, as former All-American Luke Harangody only scored a paltry 4 points in Notre Dame’s 51-50 loss to Old Dominion.

Then, Marquette, after tremendous victories over Villanova and St. John’s in the Big East Tournament, finally discovered its identity as a team. Lazar Hayward, Darius Johnson-Odom, and Alex Acker were playing the best basketball of their careers, as Marquette was primed to take advantage of a favorable bracket. However, they too crumbled, blowing a double-digit lead in the 80-78 loss to Washington.

At least Marquette and Notre Dame lost to somewhat quality teams. The same cannot be said for Georgetown, who absolutely embarrassed themselves after receiving a 3 seed for their stellar performance in the Big East Tournament. The Hoyas were obliterated by the Ohio Bobcats , who had a losing record in the MAC Conference, 97-83. Before the tournament even started, Georgetown coach John Thompson III believed his team was playing the best basketball of the season. Well, he was proven completely wrong by the tournament.

Villanova displayed an equally poor effort in the tournament, after receiving a generous two seed. After receiving a number of favorable calls at the end of regulation, the Wildcats were able to squeak by Robert Morris 73-70 in the first round. However, their luck ran out in the second round, as Saint Mary’s, led by Omar Samhan, defeated the Wildcats 75-68.

The next day’s teams fared somewhat better, as three of the four teams opening on Friday advanced to the second round. However, with the exception of West Virginia, the other three teams clearly failed to meet their expectations. First, Louisville, who defeated top-ranked Syracuse twice during the regular season, played with no passion in a 77-62 first-round loss to California.

Second, Pittsburgh, who equally was given a generous 3 seed, was ousted by Xavier in the second round 71-68. The Panthers could only shoot 39% from the field and could not contain Xavier guard Jordan Crawford, who erupted for 28 points.

Finally, Syracuse, which was ranked number one for a good part of the season, came out flat in their Sweet Sixteen matchup against Butler. After two convincing performances in the first two rounds of the tournament against Vermont and Gonzaga, the Orangemen believed that they had a legitimate shot at capturing the National Championship. All those dreams were wiped away by the Butler Bulldogs, who ended the game on a 13-5 run to defeat Syracuse 63-59.

With these seven teams underachieving, several questions could be posed to the quality of the Big East Conference. Was the Big East clearly the most overrated conference in America? After the dismal performances in the tournament, why did the committee over-rank a number of these teams? How did eight teams from this conference make the tournament?

Each and every one of those questions is extremely valid, as the Big East embarrassed itself in the tournament. A strong case can be made about this being the most overrated conference in America, which was largely overhyped by the immense media markets in the east coast. When eight teams make a tournament, one must believe that these teams should be well-prepared for this event, especially considering that each team in the conference plays each other. Clearly, this was not the case, as several teams could not justify their high seed. Without West Virginia’s run to the Final Four, a strong case could be made that this was arguable the worst performance by a single conference in NCAA Tournament history.