Save The Best Conference In America - Rick Pitino Wants The Big East To Add 7-9 Teams, Turn It Into A Basketball SuperLeague In Order To Survive
I've said it before but the Big East is the best conference in major college basketball, it's easily my favorite. It's simple really. You have basketball schools playing a double round-robin and then the tournament at MSG. It's what we grew up with when it came to the Big East. Sure, teams have changed, but the new teams feel like they 'fit.' Xavier, Creighton, Butler, they all feel like Big East teams at this point.
But this? Come on. We gotta stop the nonsense. Who are we even talking about here? The obvious answers are Dayton, St. Louis and VCU. That gets you to 14 assuming they say yes. If you create this SuperLeague you're talking about 4-6 more teams still. Then it becomes what? Taking over this new Pac-12 where the Big East gets Gonzaga, St. Mary's, Boise State, Oregon State or something dumb like that? No thank you. I'd listen to Gonzaga and St. Mary's, since Gonzaga was linked to the Big East for years. Dayton, St. Louis and VCU? Sure. They are at least somewhat east and basketball schools.
But the key to the Big East has always been this basketball first mentality. Once you start talking about teams like Boise State, New Mexico, Oregon State, Washington State, any of those you lose it all. Then you lose what makes the Big East the best conference in college sports.
I get what Pitino is saying. You have to stay alive in college sports these days. It's dumb as shit, in fact it's the dumbest thing in all of college sports. All these conferences worrying about making the most amount of money and TV deals. It worked before! I know it's crazy, but it worked before when teams played in a conference with other colleges around them. I don't get why we had to ruin that - and by we, I mean the NCAA and their institutions.