Big Year For the Big East
April 08, 2003 11:36 AM | General
April 8, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Not a bad a year for the Big East -- a basketball conference deemed worthy of just four NCAA tournament teams this season that lumped it into the same category as Conference USA.
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| Syracuse freshman forward Carmelo Anthony may be the nation's best player. (AP photo) |
The similarities between the two leagues stop there.
Although Marquette downed Pitt on the way to its first Final Four since 1977, the Golden Eagles proved against Kansas that they were no match for the big boys. On the other hand Syracuse, with its collection of under-aged stars, showed why it is one of college basketball’s heavies.
Syracuse reached the top of the mountain Monday night by defeating Kansas, 81-78 for its first-ever NCAA basketball title. Only one of ESPN.com’s six basketball experts predicted Syracuse to beat Kansas: Fran Fraschilla.
Now Dick Vitale won’t stop talking about Syracuse, baby!
The Orangemen have the most productive freshmen duo in the country in Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara.
In Anthony, a wondrous 6-foot-8 talent, Syracuse probably has the best player in the nation and a sure-fire NBA lottery pick. The only question is whether or not NBA scouts believe Anthony is better than high school phenom LeBron James for the No. 1 pick.
As for McNamara, last year he was playing for the Pennsylvania high school championship.
What a remarkable journey for a Syracuse basketball team picked to finish third in its division during the preseason and wasn’t even in the Top 25 in late February. The Orangemen, which lost in the semifinals of the Big East tournament, were the first No. 3 seed to win the crown since Michigan did it in 1989 and the first team since Villanova in 1985 to begin the year unranked and then win it all. Syracuse literally had to go through the Big 12 conference to get its first national championship.
Most basketball experts considered the Big 12 to be the deepest and most talented conference in the country this year.
“Yeah, we take pride in that," said Syracuse forward Keuth Duany. “I guess we need to say we're a Big 12 team.
“I'm sure all the Big East teams are probably cheering for us. It's a pride thing.”
In succession, Syracuse beat Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas. During the regular season the Orangemen also downed Missouri, another Big 12 team that made the NCAA tournament.
Overall, the Big East was 8-3 against the Big 12 and its six NCAA tournament participants. For that matter, the Big East finished 7-1 against the Big Ten, which happened to get five teams into the Big Dance.
The Big East was the only conference to have four teams advance to the round of 16 this year and the Big East finished NCAA play with an outstanding 11-3 record. When the final rankings come out, look for all four of the Big East East’s NCAA tournament teams to finish in the Top 20.
Syracuse, of course, will be at the top of the heap.
And because the NCAA tournament selection committee snubbed one -- and maybe even two Big East teams -- a deeper and more talented field of Big East teams made up the National Invitational Tournament.
That’s why St. John’s and Georgetown advanced to the NIT finals with St. John’s capturing the crown in Madison Square Garden.
It was the first time teams from the same conference won both national basketball tournaments since the ACC did it in 1992 when Duke beat Michigan for the NCAA title and Virginia downed Notre Dame in the NIT finals.
Yes, it may be a stretch to call the Big East the nation’s best basketball conference this season. But then again, it’s not as bad as some people made it out to be either.
And yes, for the last time the league deserved more than four teams in the NCAA tournament this year.
For his part, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim doesn’t worry about conference ratings.
“If you understand there are six or seven really good conferences in this country, (you can) stop arguing about it. I stopped 20 years ago. I realized 20 years ago I was stupid because I was trying to say, ‘Well, we can do this, our conference won this game.’ I woke up. I figured that out. Some other people should figure that out someday.”
As for next year, the talking heads and national experts are hedging their bets with Connecticut, a team full of young talent that advanced to the “Sweet 16” this year.
Other Big East teams expected to field strong teams include Syracuse, Pitt and Notre Dame.
West Virginia, 14-15 under first-year coach John Beilein, is the only team in the conference to return all five starters and will welcome the arrival of four talented freshmen and 6-foot-11 transfer D’or Fischer.
Maybe the Mountaineers are ready to make the big jump next season?
We’ll see.
