Should we really be surprised this is happening?
Entering the 2014-15 college basketball season, the Big East conference had this outlook: Villanova, a potential Final Four team, as the easy favorites. After that, it was anybody’s guess.
Thus far, the outlook has been exactly that, though the conference is a bit deeper than most had anticipated. While Villanova is the best team in the conference as expected, they are not alone at the top. In fact, they may have a harder time winning the conference than Wisconsin has in winning the Big Ten. That’s not saying much about the gap between Nova and the Badgers, rather it says more about the team depth between the Big East and the Big Ten.
How crazy has the first week or so of Big East play been? Consider the following: only DePaul has not lost a game through three games. DePaul entered conference play on a six-game losing streak,which included a 31-point loss to Oregon State, but have promptly put away Marquette and Xavier at home and upended Creighton on the road by 10. They now sit the top of the standings, and are loving it.
Not much is certain in college basketball, but as CBSSports’ Jon Rothstein likes to say, “College basketball — where the unexpected becomes the ordinary.” The Big East has been the living embodiment of this statement so far.
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This all sort of began in non-conference play, more correctly Nov. 19 when Creighton, a team few expected to rise above the losses of Doug McDermott and Ethan Wragge, knocked of then-No. 18 Oklahoma, a team some saw as a potential Big-12 champion. That win for the conference ingnited a month-long excursion from teams that came away with numerous high-profile victories over ranked opponents.
A quick rundown of some of the wins from the Big East in non-conference play outside of Villanova: Seton Hall knocked off George Washington, Providence crushed Florida State and Miami (FL), Georgetown outed No. 18 Florida and narrowly missed on knocking off No. 2 Wisconsin in back-to-back days, Butler dominated No. 5 North Carolina for a win and St. John’s got a big road win at Syracuse.
Add all of these games to Villanova’s schedule, which included 13-straight wins to open the season and wins over No. 16 VCU, No. 19 Michigan and Syracuse and you have one conference that tore it up outside of Big East play.
With all of these teams playing tough non-conference schedule, every Big East team is battle-tested, which makes them stronger during conference play. That, in turn, makes every conference game more difficult and very exciting. That’s what we’ve gotten through three games, and we can expect more of the same as the season moves along.
Putting things in perspective can be a bit difficult, even impossible, to explain what is happening out east, even though the conference is technically not really in the east anymore. With the states of Nebraska and Indiana both represented in this conference, the Big East isn’t very east-oriented, but the action, and the implications of every game, are still very big.
Villanova, while nationally prominent and one of the best offensive teams in the country, has fallen victim to this improved conference in just its second game in Big East play. Seton Hall took them down in overtime after defeating St. John’s, giving the Pirates two of the conference’s seven total wins over ranked opponents this season (four of them occurred this past week with Nova’s loss and St. John’s three losses).
Of the Big East’s 10 teams, eight of them have over 10 wins already and none have a losing record. Xavier (20th) and Villanova (30th) are in the upper echelon of the nation in scoring. There’s a lot of talent in this conference as a whole, but the offense belongs to the Wildcats and Muskateers.
Now, there is some question that could be raised as to whether the conference is really good, or if it’s medicority rising up, appearing to be better on paper than they areally are. That question should be put to bed. The strength of the conference is there, and has more overall talent than say the Big Ten or the SEC has to offer. Strength in numbers is what takes a conference to the top of the mountain in collge basketball, and the Big East isa conference once again on the rise.
While this conference may never reach the heights of its old form, the Big East has quickly turned into one of the most intriguing, and surprisingly powerful conferences in college basketball.