As the greatest conference tournament in college basketball begins, myself, Chris from Notre Dame blog Rakes of Mallow and Mike from Louisville blog Card Chronicle figured this was the perfect time for some inter-bloggal Big East hoops talk.
Chris got the ball rolling last night with a discussion on the All-Big-East team and Mike picked up the ball and ran with it, naming a Cardinal his pick for POY (natch) and making a pick for BET champion.
Now it's my turn.
So Mike, you take issue with Luke Harangody not being on the All-Big-East-First-Team and I'll have to play the homer card and wonder why Jonny Flynn isn't there as well. I mean, if you asked me to take one of those guys off the First-Team and replace him with Flynn, it's a tall order. But can someone at least define exactly what the Big East First Team is consisting of?
Six players? Why six players? Why not five? Then again, why not seven? Or eight? It just seems kind of arbtrary.
And I guess we're just naming five guys and not the best player at each position? Cause the current All-Big-East team is going to have a helluva hard time at the guard spot. I just wish someone who lay down the ground rules. It's like the Heisman trophy. One year it's about the guy with the best stats, the next year it's about the guy who was the best leader and another year it's about the guy who had the best overall career. I demand definitions!
Leaving that alone for a second, let's talk about who's going to win the BET. First of all, it's not going to be anyone from that first day. It's cute and all, seeing DePaul and St. John's here, but honestly I don't see the point. It's not like their making a lot of money off of it (one person in the building for the DePaul - Cincy game said it's likely 1,000 people). And truthfully, I don't want to see a DePaul or a South Florida make a run to the BET finals. It cheapens the conference and the season we had. It feels like a lose-lose to me, to be honest.
I'd love to say Syracuse but I'm realistic that this just isn't the year that a lesser seed wins the whole thing. That top four is just too strong and even if you beat one of them, you've got to play another one the next night. I cannot imagine any team in this nation can beat UConn-Pitt-Louisville or Villanova-Louisville-Pitt in consecutive nights, let alone any other team in the Big East.
So among those top four, I have to give the nod to Pittsburgh. I just think they've got UConn's number and there's something about them and the Big East Tournament. They rise up, especially recently. Then again, any of the top four seeds winning it all would not surprise me.
You're up, fellas. Here's the question...if "only" 7 Big East teams make it into the tournament, is that a disappointment for the conference?
Update: Card Chroincle steps up to answer...