Big East Player, Coach Still Blissfully Ignorant to the Conference’s Disappointing Season

Before the season started, there was much talk about the superiority of the Big East; that the conference could get as many as 10 teams in the NCAA Tournament this year. Fast-forward three months and it looks like the Big East will earn more like seven, maybe eight, bids. And quite possibly field fewer teams than the ACC. ↵↵Clearly, the Big East has underachieved this season, due in large part to the struggles of Notre Dame and Georgetown. Louisville forward Terrence Williams and WVU coach Bob Huggins aren’t ready to accept the Big East’s inferior fate, however. Both still contend that their conference is the best in all the land. ↵

↵↵First, Williams had this to say in an interview, which appeared in SN Today this morning:↵

↵↵⇥Q: Where do you stand on the debate about which conference -- the Big East or ACC -- is college basketball’s best? ↵⇥↵⇥A: The Big East. I don’t know how you could even ask that. That’s easy. That’s not even a question. ↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥Q: Why is that? ↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥A: Look how physical we are. The ACC, that’s not physical. Our last-place team in the Big East could win in the ACC. We’re the toughest conference. ↵⇥

↵↵

The Big East’s last place team could win in the ACC, you say? Alrighty, let us take a look-see. DePaul is dead last in the Big East right now, and hasn’t played an ACC opponent all season, so we can’t test Williams’ theory there. However, the Big East teams that are currently 11-15 in the standings are a combined 0-7 against the ACC this season. This includes losses to both the big guns -- UNC and Duke -- but also to teams like Boston College, Virginia Tech and UVA. You have to go all the way to the middle of the standings to find a Big East win over an ACC opponent -- Seton Hall defeated Virginia Tech by four.↵↵So yeah, the worst teams in the Big East can totally win in the ACC. But I guess they just don’t feel like it, or something.↵

↵↵Then there’s Huggins, who was even more delusional about his conference during a recent interview with SN’s Matt Crossman:↵

↵↵⇥Crossman: It’s a good year for the Big East this year, don’t you think? ↵⇥↵⇥Huggins: A good year? Try maybe the best conference in history. ↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥SN: How many teams do you expect will make the NCAA tournament from the Big East? ↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥Huggins: Probably 10. ↵⇥

↵↵Won’t it seem odd when the “best conference in history” doesn’t even get the most NCAA Tournament bids this season?↵