Honest Question about the big east

[hallfan101]

I will always be a Big East supporter and will be the last to call the conference overrated, however I have an honest question. Early Big East play has been very inconsistent, does the inconsistency reflect the toughness of the conference or more so the top teams in the conference are very good but not as elite as thought?

Some examples: Villanova, their best win is still Gonzaga and they lost to Butler on the road.
Butler: Beats Nova who was the number 1 team in the country but then losses to Seton Hall and Creighton: Has looked very good for parts of games this season but then is prone to blowing large leads.
Xavier: It has been said multiple times on this site how Xavier is a very good team, but they have not looked elite at all this year and have earned that ranking as a result of their name.
Seton Hall: We know how the early part of Big East play has played out.

We will not know truly the answer to this question in March when we see how the conference stacks up against the rest of the nation. But in my opinion you want to see some consistency from the top 2 or 3 teams against the rest of the conference .

 

[Piratz]

League is tough.

 

[shufan1993]

Xavier is a good team. I agree the conference is tough. But we looked dismal tonight. Our bench has to get better. We aren't going far with a 6-7 deep bench come March. Obviously showed tonight that we were worn out. Creighton game is really important now.

 

[Jerry1992]

Creighton is excellent at home and will be determined after a tough loss at the Rock. Sorry but have a hard time thinking we have a good shot in that one. Hope they prove me wrong.

 

[cernjSHU]

This league has no cupcakes. The worst team in the league is StJohn’s. St John’s is a pretty good team with a lot of talent. This might be the best league in the nation as a whiole 1-10

 

[shu09]

This league has no cupcakes. The worst team in the league is StJohn’s. St John’s is a pretty good team with a lot of talent. This might be the best league in the nation as a whiole 1-10

Big 12

 

[Section112]

It's a tough league from top to bottom. The bottom teams are talented and don't quite know how to win and I think that is what separates the teams. But your post mentions some really good teams (Creighton, Xavier, Nova, SHU, Butler).

The difference I see with those other teams vs. us are a) better bench with a few key contributors (Crieghton, Butler, Marquette) or b) more consistent defensively (Nova, Butler, Xavier) or c) better point guard play (unfortunately 6-7 of the other teams in the BE). We have to look in the mirror and step up if we want to finish strong in BE play because folks have our number now.

 

[NYShoreGuy]

Big 12

Shaka smart may see the door

 

[urbanecane]

The sixth best big east rpi is Marquette at 31. Providence is 45. 3 teams in the top 10. Conference seems very strong to me.

Take 5 out of 6 against the bottom 3 and take care of business at home against the rest.

 

[radecicco]

The league is tough every metric supports that. But because there is no football and no “big name” state universities the league still suffers some perception issues.

 

[dcPirate]

It's not just the Big East, "upsets" are happening in all the major conferences, especially on the road. See Duke at NC State, Michigan State at Ohio State, etc. It happens, but I think the Big East is a tough league all around right now. Depaul looks better than they have, GTown is showing signs of life (granted against Depaul and STJ) but they won both of those games on the road. There aren't many/any gimmes this year. If you sleep walk into a game you will get beat.

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

Take 5 out of 6 against the bottom 3 and take care of business at home against the rest.

Play to our potential and we won't need a formula. Considering how we have played we are lucky to be 3-1. The next 3 games are not about Georgetown, Creighton, or Xavier. They are about us, taking pride in our defense, taking pride in each offensive possession, and establishing a level of play necessary to play our best basketball in February.

 

[Corny T.]

Of course then there is this take: https://johngasaway.com/2018/01/09/...-to-be-the-most-entertaining-conference-ever/