Big East May Dominate NCAA

By Anthony Sellers
With the NCAA tournament starting up, the debate begins: Which conference in college basketball is the best conference this season? Three conferences that come to mind are the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big East Conference, and Big Ten Conference. Each conference has made strong cases for themselves, but the Big East has made a very strong argument to be the best conference.

The conference has the chance to send an unprecedented eight teams to the NCAA tournament. That is half of the conference! Furthermore, this is the first year that the Big East fielded 16 teams. At any point throughout the regular season, there were four to five teams ranked in the top 25.

The top teams, Connecticut and Villanova, have been virtually unstoppable. Even the bottom half of the conference, teams like Notre Dame and St. John’s, have been competitive most of the season. Notre Dame lost six of their first seven conference games by a total of 24 points. The only team in the Big East that really was not competitive throughout the season was South Florida.

The Big East will also have the best chance to have a team win the NCAA tournament. Connecticut and Villanova will easily dispose of there opening round games. West Virginia will be the hardest for teams to prepare for, but has shown that when there 1-3-1 zone’s weakness is exposed, they can be challenged, not disposed of completely, but having to fight to have a chance to win. Cincinnati proved that.

Speaking of Cincinnati, they have been competitive to finish out the season. Senior Eric Hicks and freshman Devan Downing are leading the team right now, and will continue to do so in the NCAA tournament.

Of the teams making it in the NCAA tournament, Villanova will be the toughest to beat, as well as West Virginia. Cincinnati will make a good run in the tournament, with a good chance to get to the sweet sixteen.

As for being the Big East being the best conference in college basketball, just watch the teams in the big dance from the conference.