Westwolf, I beg to differ on your assessment of this year's Big East hype. First of all, we can not put too much emphases on the final four as only four teams can get there. The same hold true for winning or losing BCS games. If your statement had merits, your ACC would be behind the new Big East in both revenue producing sports.

Less look more closely at the new Big East from a national fans perspective. I live in Phoenix and could watch Big East basketball just about any day of the week and CBS selected Big East games most of the time in Phoenix when a Pac 10 was not in the running. This was not true of the ACC, where CBS picked up other conferences when ACC games were an option.

The new Big East is going to bring in lots of NCAA revenue for getting half of its 8 bids to the sweet 16.

WVU and Georgetown were very exciting and made the first rounds and sweet 16 some of the most memorable in years.

One final point for you to think about, the two teams playing in the final on Monday have a huge Big East influence. Both coaches either played or coached in the Big East.

And one final point, a Big East team knocked the last standing ACC team out of the tournament.

For that one point it was a success for all Big East basketball fans this year.

Your simply can not get to the final four every year and that goes for the ACC, Big 12, and Big Ten as well.

Take care and always enjoy your negative view of the Big East as its provides much needed material for posting.

I have no negative view of BE BB. It is a fascinating agglomeration of strong programs. But, given all the bombastic comments made about it in November, the experience of 8-in-8 out before the Final Four was a bit amusing. No hiding the fact that the ACC and Big 10 bombed as well.

a potential BE-SEC matchup as reported in the papers would certainly be intriguing. I hope it happens.

The first year of the BE was great during the BB-regular season and the BE tourney. But certainly, the BE 'flopped' in the tourney, especially with two #1 seeds.

Of course, the same could be said for the Big10 and ACC. I mean, the Big10 had a higher percentage of teams (6/11 versus 8/16) and I think had a higher overall conference RPI too before the tournament!

Will a set of such games lead to a BE/SEC in season match ups? or to a bowl game match up?

Agreed and they both have contracts with CBS. It would be great for the Big East to work at a deal with the SEC in a challenge for basketball and play some OOC football games as well. A bowl would soon follow. The SEC wanted the Big East in the Liberty bowl.

I would like to see the Big East move its football games to CBS and its newly acquired CSTV.

This would provide more options to view Saturday football games from other regions of the country without pay per view.

ESPN is looking like its going to offer the Big East a very good basketball TV contract so this could squash any attempts to move Big East football to CBS/CSTV.

ESPN would probably get the rights to BE/SEC challenge as well for basketball.

When are we going to get a Pac 10 and Big 12 basketball challenge going. Both have Fox football contracts which is interesting.

FB matchups?

Hard to say. I know that WVu and UL have future contests against Auburn, Miss St, and Vandy.

UC has games against UGA but its a 2/1.

It is certainly really RARE to see a SEC team travel to the NE to play a game. Auburn and UT have played at the dome but I am not aware of any SEC team playing in Pittsburgh or NJ for a game - within the last 20 years or so. As a matter of fact, when Pitt was in it's heyday in the mid 70s - mid 80s they had to travel south to play against SEC teams.

Pitt has played UT, South Carolina, UGA, and Florida a total of 8 games that weren't bowl games and only one game, against South Carolina in 1985, was played in Pittsburgh.

A SEC-BE bb challenge sounds interesting. The ACC-Big 10 bb challenge gets much publicity and apparently TV money.

I wonder how they will select 8-10 teams for the format.

If the SEC had inquired with the Big 12 as well, I wonder why they are the fall-back since with the Big 12, all teams from both conferences could be matched? Maybe they did not want to do that for unannounced reasons.

Dognthings, it will probably work just like the ACC Big Ten challenge that only take 10 teams with two ACC teams not playing and one Big Ten team not playing.

Every team does not have to play.

Another option could be to have the top 12 teams the previous year in Big East play the 12 members of the SEC.

Any way you go would be a great series for basketball with SEC/Big East challenge.

Congrats to U of Florida on winning the national championship.

Andy Katz has some comments about the BigEast-SEC challenge:

SEC challenge: The SEC couldn't reach an agreement with the Big 12 on a challenge. The SEC wanted a handful of teams. The Big 12 wanted all of them. So, instead, the SEC has approached the Big East. But the interest there is very tepid.


Omnicarrier (BE BBS site) has speculated that this maybe due to the number of games that the SEC wants - 8 maybe? The other issue is also that perception is that the ACC is tops and the BE is second even though the SEC won the NCAA this year and had 2 teams in the Final 4 (obviously the SEC is strong).

http://www.ncaabbs.com/forums/bigeast/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=15139&highlight=

Omnicarrier's thoughts:
The ACC/B10 could get away with it when the ACC had only 9 (2 B10 obviously had to be left off each year), but how does the SEC tell Mississippi year in and year out they aren't 'marketable enough' to be one of the 8 teams involved with the series?

As for the Big East being tepid - they have been involved with a Challenge Series in the past against the ACC and things did not go well. I'm sure the majority of coaches don't want to get involved with another, especially with the SEC. Losing to the ACC might be acceptably, but losing to the SEC (and make no mistake about it, the SEC is good enough to win - not saying they would win, just that they could) is a no-win situation for the Big East which is trying to overtake the ACC as the premiere college basketball conference.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06196/706071-175.stm

Pitt bb coach Dixon discussing the BE, after '07, may be going to an 18-team schedule in which all teams play once with three home-and-home games.