Fansided

Look out: Big East Basketball is Back

By Andrew Garda

Dec 31, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; A general view of the Big East logo on the wall as the Xavier Musketeers take the court prior to the game against the Georgetown Hoyas at Cintas Center. Xavier won 70-53. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 31, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; A general view of the Big East logo on the wall as the Xavier Musketeers take the court prior to the game against the Georgetown Hoyas at Cintas Center. Xavier won 70-53. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /
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Once upon a time, Big East basketball was dominant.

Now it’s been so long since that was the case, even typing that sentence shows my age. Where once UCONN and Syracuse led the charge and dominated the landscape, in recent years the only consistent team has been Villanova.

St. John’s, Seton Hall, Georgetown – all have seen better days Cincinnati and Louisville have come and gone along with schools like UCONN and Syracuse as the conference was stripped over time as schools like left for greener football pastures.

They’ve been declared dead, but if you’re watching college basketball, you should know the conference is very much alive.

The 2014-15 season has seen a tremendous resurgence in Big East basketball. Right now three teams are ranked — No. 4 Villanova, No. 21 Butler and No. 24 Providence – and at various times this season they have been joined by St. John’s, Seton Hall and Georgetown.

Jan 10, 2015; Villanova, PA, USA; Villanova Wildcats forward JayVaughn Pinkston (22) and guard Ryan Arcidiacono (15) celebrate a last second basket against the DePaul Blue Demons during the first half at The Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 10, 2015; Villanova, PA, USA; Villanova Wildcats forward JayVaughn Pinkston (22) and guard Ryan Arcidiacono (15) celebrate a last second basket against the DePaul Blue Demons during the first half at The Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

While teams get ranked and fade all the time (Hello, Seton Hall), the fact that three teams have been able to remain in the running throughout most of the season – even if those team names changed – says a lot about how tough the conference is.

It’s not easy to win in the Big East – something outside schools are aware of after the non-conference schedule from this fall.

Yes, the Big East went out of its way to schedule challenging schools for their non-conference schedule this year. Seton Hall traveled to Wichita State (now No. 8 on the AP Top 25). Providence took on Kentucky. Butler took on North Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana (albeit in a down year).

The Big East went out into the college basketball world to let them know that no, the conference was not dead.

That helped create the second highest RPI of any conference in college basketball.

According to CBSSports.com, the Big East is only behind the Big 12 in terms of RPI, and not by much.

By itself, RPI may not seem to mean much, but when you consider that it takes nearly every team playing tough teams to keep it high – especially in a small conference like the Big East, with just ten teams – it’s impressive.

People talk about how good the Big 12 is, or how tough it is in the ACC or Big Ten, but the Big East can hold its own with any of those conferences.

Right now, the conference has six teams in the top 50 in RPI: Villanova (4), Providence (20), Georgetown (22), Butler (26), St. John’s (33), Xavier (41). That’s more than half the conference.

Not surprisingly then, there are expectations that up to six teams could get invites to the NCAA Tournament. While Villanova, Butler and Providence seem assured of it, St. John’s has been playing very well and Xavier and Georgetown could sneak in with runs in the Big East Tournament next week.

Looking at the future, the Big East seems poised to continue its winning ways. Seton Hall, for all it’s chaos this year, has one of the best young group of freshmen to come along in years. St. John’s is losing a bunch of seniors, but they have a solid underclassman group. Villanova is, well, Villanova while Georgetown, Providence and Xavier have shown they have the depth and skill to hang with the best the country has to offer.

So it doesn’t look like this is a flash in the pan. In fact, it looks like the Big East is poised to remind everyone that this conference was once the place to see college basketball played at the highest levels.

The Big East is back, and its here to stay.