The Big East's Final Stand

Today marks the beginning of the end for my beloved Big East Conference.  It's the last time that the Big East as we know it will all be together at Madison Square Garden for what used to be the conference's signature event.  (That's one of the reasons it's so sad UConn's ineligible for postseason play this year.)  Sure, the Big East will continue.  But things will never be the same.  Syracuse made sure of that when they decided to leave the conference.

The irony of the situation is that the whole thing could've been avoided.  Back in 2011, the Big East rejected an offer from ESPN that would've quadrupled the league's annual TV rights to roughly $155 million.  The reasoning?  Thinking they could get more, something in the ballpark of the Pac-12's $2.7 billion TV deal.  Two days later, the first domino fell.  Syracuse and Pitt announced they were leaving for the ACC.  We all know what's happened since.  The deal that the conference just agreed to with ESPN is six times! less than that original offer.  If they'd only accepted that original deal, the Big East that we love would've survived.  But hindsight is 20-20, and we all know what's happened to the conference as a result.

The almighty dollar is what killed the Big East.  Syracuse and Pitt saw greener pastures in the ACC.  Despite the fact it's nowhere near the Midwest, West Virginia is willing to do all that traveling if being in the Big 12 means more money.  The Big Ten wanted to keep up and keep Penn State happy by adding another team in the Northeast, which was Rutgers' golden opportunity to bolt.  Then Notre Dame left, becoming the sixth former Big East school to join the ACC.  Louisville became the seventh, and UConn and Cincinnati desperately wanted to be.  And that doesn't even count TCU, which left the Big East before even officially joining.

It's safe to say that the Big East's attempts to keep up were abject failures.  The football-only members on the West coast that didn't make any sense anyway?  Yeah, that's not happening (which is probably a good thing).  With the schools that did agree to join, the Big East was turning into a glorified Conference USA.  The Big East as we knew it was already a thing of the past.  The Catholic schools that helped found the conference knew that.  That's why their group decision to unilaterally break away and start their own league where basketball will be the focus was as inevitabele and predictable as it was necessary. 

Those seven finally made a move looking out for their own best interest.  And they were paid handsomely for it.  To the tune of $500 million over 12 years from FOX, on the condition that the new league starts this fall.  Fortunately, the two conferences did the right thing.  The ones that are breaking off get to keep the name and Madison Square Garden, while the current Big East will have a new name and need a new conference tournament site.  (Is this a Cleveland Browns-Baltimore Ravens type thing?  I'm not really sure how it all works.)

At least the Big East name will stay with the schools we associate with the conference.  Because let's face it, people aren't buying tickets for the greatest college basketball tournament of them all to see Central Florida vs. SMU.  Those aren't "Big East" teams.  You couldn't have Houston vs. Tulane at Madison Square Garden and Georgetown vs. Villanova somewhere else.  It wouldn't have been right.  The schools that made the Big East deserve that history.  And that name.  Fortunately, they get to keep it.

But while it's comforting to know the Big East Tournament will continue, it's also sad to think about the rivalries that will be lost when the conference breaks up next season.  Thirty years of truly memorable moments have taken place at Madison Square Garden.  That six-overtime game between UConn and Syracuse.  Gerry McNamara willing Syracuse to the title as an eight-seed.  Kemba Walker single-handedly winning five games in five days to capture the Big East title, then doing the same thing in the NCAA Tournament.  That Allen Iverson-Kerry Kittles game in 1995.  My first-ever college basketball game--the 1990 final, which was the true birth of the UConn-Syracuse rivalry.

And let's not forget the great players who've come through the Big East.  Patrick Ewing.  Derrick Coleman.  Ray Allen.  Alonzo Mourning.  Dikembe Mutombo.  Chris Mullin.  Gerry McNamara.  Ed Pinkeney.  Richard Hamilton.  Kemba Walker.  They'll forever be a part of the Big East's history.  But, sadly, that's what it will remain.  History.

Sure, we'll still have Georgetown-Villanova and Georgetown-St. John's.  And with the true double round-robin being revived, we've got a chance to see new rivalries like Georgetown-Marquette or Villanova-Butler develop.  But no Syracuse.  No UConn.  No Pitt.  No Notre Dame.  No Louisville, which was clearly the best of the 2005 additions and brought a whole new set of rivalries.  Those are the matchups that made the Big East.  It'll be sad to see them go.

The Big East will continue.  But this is the end of an era.  This weekend, we get one final chance to celebrate the Big East as it used to be.  The Big East that we'll always remember.  The Big East that we fell in love with.  The Big East that we'll miss.