30 Years of Big East Basketball

6/4/09

The Big East was founded in 1979 when Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, and Syracuse invited Seton Hall, Connecticut, and Boston College to form a conference focused on East Coast hoops. Villanova joined a year later and Pittsburgh joined in 1982. It has now been 30 years of basketball, we are going to have a look back, way back.


I will break down the performance of each of these schools during the era and then at the end rank them. Boston College abandoned the league (with football schools Virginia Tech and Miami) and will not be looked at and either will the newer entrants (Louisville, DePaul, Marquette, Cincinnati), no offense to the newer teams, but it isn't fair to compare their work in other leagues. Notre Dame kind of get involved in the middle and are a half member, don't get me started on them. Rutgers and West Virginia, though loyal conference members, were also a little late to the dance. I am going with the guys who were there at the start and have stuck it out since the late 70's/very early 80's...

I have left out some criteria, such as overall records, I did not want to favor teams for traditionally playing weak OOC schedules (Syracuse) over those who have challenged themselves out of the league. Also a NIT invite will not get you any points per say, but your overall post season inclusions will, as I feel it is a sign of strength, that even in your down years you can make the NIT. Now more so than five years ago, but even back in the day, you needed to finish .500. The total post season number will be weighted half of the other categories.

I suspect there maybe some concerns with or suggestions surrounding my criteria, I hope that is the case anyways to generate a little discussion.

I will put the rank for a particular category in parenthesis.

Here are the "old boys," in alphabetical order.....

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Connecticut
Big East Tournament Championships: 6 (2)
Big East Regular Season Championships: 10 (1)
NCAA Appearances: 16 (t4)
Total Post Season: 24 (4)
Sweet 16: 12 (t1)
Elite Eight: 8 (t1)
Final Four: 3 (t2)
National Champions:2 (1)
Big East Record (including BET): 320-218, 59%, (3)
  • Uconn, more or less, missed the first 10 years of league play. Starting in 89-90 they have been the best team
  • Best Player: Ray Allen
Georgetown
Big East Tournament Championships: 7 (1)
Big East Regular Season Championships: 9 (2)
NCAA Appearances: 21 (2)
Total Post Season: 28 (t2)
Sweet 16: 11 (3)
Elite Eight: 8 (t1)
Final Four: 4 (1)
National Champions: 1 (t2)
Big East Record (including BET): 338-217, 61%, (2)
  • The Hoyas have been solid throughout, making it to the FF a league high 4 times. The original top dogs. Thompson put the league on the map.
  • Best Player: Patrick Ewing
Pittsburgh
Big East Tournament Championships: 2 (t5)
Big East Regular Season Championships: 6 (4)
NCAA Appearances: 16 (t4)
Total Post Season: 22 (5)
Sweet 16: 5 (5)
Elite Eight: 1 (t7)
Final Four: 0 (8)
National Champions: 0 (t5)
Big East Record (including BET): 262-240, 52%, (6)
  • Pitt was an up and down program until about 2000, Howland and now Dixon have put them in the current conference elite. NCAA resume is still very suspect.
  • Best Player: Charles Smith
Providence
Big East Tournament Championships: 1 (t7)
Big East Regular Season Championships: 0 (8)
NCAA Appearances: 7 (8)
Total Post Season: 15 (7)
Sweet 16: 2 (8)
Elite Eight: 1 (t7)
Final Four: 1 (t5)
National Champions: 0 (t5)
Big East Record (including BET): 217-313, 41%, (7)
  • Pitino's trip to the Final Four is the highlight for the Friars, who have not had a ton to cheer about
  • Best Player: Ryan Gomes
St Johns
Big East Tournament Championships: 3 (4)
Big East Regular Season Championships: 5 (5)
NCAA Appearances: 16 (t4)
Total Post Season: 20 (6)
Sweet 16: 4 (t6)
Elite Eight: 3 (5)
Final Four: 1 (t5)
National Champions: 0 (t5)
Big East Record (including BET): 286-254, 53%, (5)
  • The early years under Louie were very good, so good that the last decade has not totally murdered the overall resume. The Johnnies need to start keeping the kids home again, like they always did.
  • Best Player: Chris Mullin
Seton Hall
Big East Tournament Championships: 2 (t5)
Big East Regular Season Championships: 2 (7)
NCAA Appearances: 9 (7)
Total Post Season: 14 (8)
Sweet 16: 4 (t6)
Elite Eight: 2 (6)
Final Four: 1 (t5)
National Champions: 0 (t5)
Big East Record (including BET): 210-320, 40%, (8)
  • Before moving to the NBA to get choked by his players, a young PJ had the Pirates on the brink of winning it all. There have been some very poor years of late.
  • Best Player: Terry Dehere
Syracuse
Big East Tournament Championships: 5 (3)
Big East Regular Season Championships: 8 (3)
NCAA Appearances: 23 (1)
Total Post Season: 29 (1)
Sweet 16: 12 (t1)
Elite Eight: 4 (4)
Final Four: 3 (t2)
National Champions: 1 (t2)
Big East Record (including BET): 356-200, 64%, (1)
  • Even if some Boeheim teams underachieve in the NCAA, they are generally always there (23 out of 30). Coleman and Douglas were the best tandem the league has ever seen. Four Elite Eight's is shockingly low, but Melo did bring them their title after a long wait.
  • Best Player: Pearl Washington
Villanova
Big East Tournament Championships: 1 (t7)
Big East Regular Season Championships: 4 (6)
NCAA Appearances: 19 (3)
Total Post Season: 28 (t2)
Sweet 16: 8 (4)
Elite Eight: 6 (3)
Final Four: 2 (4)
National Champions: 1 (t2)
Big East Record (including BET): 304-234, 57%, (4)

  • Jay Wright is leading the troops back to the top, after a hiatus under Lappas. Rollie's teams in the early years were consistently good.
  • Best Player: Kerry Kittles
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Final 30 Year Standings
1) Georgetown, 30 pts
2) Uconn, 34 pts
3) Syracuse, 35 pts
4) Villanova, 68 pts
5) St Johns, 84 pts
6) Pitt, 93 pts
7) Seton Hall, 98 pts
8) Providence, 117 pts

Most/Best
BE Tournament Championships: Georgetown, 6
BE Reg. Season Championships: Uconn, 10
NCAA Appearances: Syracuse, 23
Total Post Season Appearances: Syracuse, 29
Sweet 16s: Uconn, Syracuse, 12
Elite Eights: Uconn, Georgetown, 8
Final Fours: Georgetown, 4
National Titles: Uconn, 2
Big East Record: Syracuse, 64 % winning percentage

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2 comments:

thorough, well researched post. you're a studious chap, dury. well done.

tbone said...
June 5, 2009 at 3:53 PM  

Great breakdown dur, very impressive.

Brian said...
June 13, 2009 at 3:15 PM  

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