In Season Three The BIG EAST Is All Grown Up
By Richard Finn
Special to BIG EAST.com
NEW YORK - The BIG EAST is all grown up.
In just year three of its new alignment, the BIG EAST has all the right stuff of blossoming new stars and nostalgia, traditional rivalries and fresh new marquee match-ups, perennial powerhouses and up and coming contenders and packed arenas and an innovative national TV package to continue to take its rightful place among the premier basketball conferences in the country.
“I can report to you that the conference is strong and stable and fully committed to nothing short of a national title in basketball,” BIG EAST commissioner Val Ackerman declared in her opening remarks at the annual BIG EAST basketball media day at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
“This was a conference that was built on respect, rivalries and doing things the right way and most importantly -- playing basketball at the highest level,” Ackerman said of the conference that debuted as the brainchild of the late Dave Gavitt in 1979 as a seven-school alliance.
“Fast forward to 2015 and I can tell you that not a lot has changed. This is a group of schools that are committed to basketball, which are prepared and equipped to be nationally competitive. Our schools are all in to do what is needed to uphold the BIG EAST tradition.
“What’s old is new again and what’s new is old again, “ said Ackerman
But none of that is new to Georgetown coach John Thompson III, who in starting his 12th season is the second longest tenure coach in the league.
“The BIG EAST will always be the BIG EAST,” said Thompson, whose Hoyas were selected second behind Villanova in the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches’ Poll for the second consecutive season.
“At the end of the day we will always be one of the better, if not best basketball conferences in the country,” Thompson said of the conference that sent six teams to the NCAA tournament last season. “That is just how this league has been built. We didn’t go anywhere. We are a basketball conference and that is not going to change. That is old, that is new, and that is the future.”
For those yearning for the past all they will have to do is look at the St. John’s bench this season. One of the game’s great champions and a BIG EAST icon, Chris Mullin will be prowling the sidelines of his alma mater after being named head coach on March 31. The sharp-shooting southpaw is the only player to win BIG EAST Player of the Year honors three times and as a member of the famed 1992 “Dream Team” won the first of his two Olympic gold medals.
“It has been a somewhat surreal in coming back, “ said Mullin, who led St. John’s to four NCAA tournaments appearances and the 1985 Final Four. “A lot of the fundamental things are the same. I have been surprised with the similarities that exist over that long of a time.”
The strongest thread that connects the past to the present is the BIG EAST signature style of play that has never changed and never will according to Thompson.
“This is a man’s league, a tough physical aggressive mental tough league. That is who we are and that is who we have been,” said Thompson. “That is what you have to be to win this league, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, today.”
Providence junior Kris Dunn, the preseason Player of the Year and one of the present and future stars of the BIG EAST scattered about the room knows that there is one way to play and win in the BIG EAST.
“The BIG EAST is always going to be gritty and going to be tough, that is never going to change and that will never go out of the BIG EAST,” said Dunn.
Joining Dunn to showcase the depth and quality of players throughout the league were Preseason All-BIG EAST first team selections Villanova senior Ryan Arcidiacono, Butler senior Roosevelt Jones and Preseason All-BIG EAST honorable mentions Georgetown sophomore Isacc Copeland and Butler junior Luke Fischer.
Original BIG EAST stalwarts Villanova, Georgetown and Providence enjoyed banner seasons last year as the trio made the big dance and were ranked nationally at some time during the year. The Wildcats (33-3) were the conference’s elite squad, capturing the BIG EAST regular-season title for the second consecutive year, ending the season winning the last 12 games and then beating Xavier in the BIG EAST tournament championship game.
But newcomers Xavier, Butler and Creighton have quickly established themselves as top-tier teams in the league and national. The three schools have earned four NCAA invitations and Xavier (2015) and Creighton (2014) have reached the BIG EAST tournament title game. The Musketeers used their runner-up showing in March as a launching pad to make the Sweet 16 round in the NCAA tournament.
“What is great is how quickly the three new schools have assimilated,” said Ackerman.
With their success have come new rivalries.
“Butler against anybody,” quipped Ackerman. “That is a school that our Eastern schools fear and that is great. Xavier and how well they did last year and now they will be watched a bit more closely. “
Fans flocked to BIG EAST arenas last season. The conference ranked fifth in the country with an average attendance of just less than 10,000. Creighton showed the way by averaging 17,048 fans at the CenturyLink Center, sixth best in the nation. Villanova has sold out 158 consecutive games at The Pavilion and Xavier played to nine sellouts at the Cintas Center.
For those who couldn’t get to the games, FOX Sports -- the home of the BIG EAST -- will once again be bringing all of the action to viewers with wall-to-wall coverage on all of FOX’s platforms from the season-opening Gavitt Tipoff Games against the Big Ten conference to the BIG EAST tournament finale at Madison Square Garden.
For the first time since 1995, the BIG EAST tournament finale will be back on broadcast television as FOX will increase its coverage of the league to 12 weekend games. FS1 will carry more than 100 BIG EAST games.
The seasoned duo of Bill Raftery and Gus Johnson will return as the lead broadcast team.