Kevin Willard No Authority on Big East

The New York Times snagged a quote today from one of the Big East's new kids on the block. After all, 27 days on the job is all it takes to suddenly become an expert on your new conference.

"I'll be honest with you...You look at the non-football schools in the league, and they're some of the greatest basketball traditions that you have. You look at the core of what makes the Big East, it's the non-football schools," (NY Times Online, pg. 1).

Kevin Willard, which decade are you referring to? The 1980s, when there were only basketball schools? The 1990s, when your statement probably would have been accurate? You can't be talking about the Big East today or even the league after expansion in 2005.

What Kevin has quickly picked up on, though, is the attitude of the eight private Catholic schools who believe they will thrive without Pitt, West Virginia, and Syracuse and all the problems football brings to their once sacrosanct basketball league.

The two highest ranked programs over the past five years are Pitt and West Virginia. 

The Big East football schools take home about seven million each. The non-football schools net about two and a half million. The competitive disadvantage will most likely continue to keep the best basketball playing football programs on top.

Using Jeff Sagarin's final team rankings for college basketball from 2005-2010, the eight Big East football schools average 60.65 overall. The rankings would be significantly higher if stats for the two bottom dwellers on the list South Florida (135.8) and Rutgers (148) are thrown out.

The eight non-football schools average 63.72. The lowest ranking member in their group is DePaul with 121.2. 

Big East fans have ragged on DePaul. They misfired. They should have taken aim at Rutgers, the school purported to be the Big Ten's lead expansion candidate.

Here's how the 16 teams stack up:

Big East Member	2009-10	2008-09	2007-08	2006-07	2005-06	AVG
Pittsburgh	26	03	19	11	12	14.2
West Virginia	05	18	16	17	18	14.8
Georgetown	21	45	10	06	10	18.4
Villanova	18	10	40	31	05	20.8
Louisville	52	04	08	27	45	27.2
Syracuse	04	13	52	47	34	30
Marquette	36	20	17	44	35	30.4
Connecticut	60	02	28	69	03	32.4
Notre Dame	50	59	22	23	44	39.6
Cincinnati	65	71	107	138	33	82.8
Providence	100	74	79	75	86	82.8
Seton Hall	64	76	103	127	66	87.2
St. John's	68	102	140	126	111	109.4
DePaul	186	182	117	45	76	121.2
USF	72	135	132	154	186	135.8
Rutgers	140	161	191	185	63	148

Willard epitomizes coaches and ADs on the non-football side. Until this past Monday, John Marinatto fell in that group. He had been sleep-walking since the Big Ten announced plans to expand in December.

Paul Tagliabue has some hard work ahead of him. He has to banish the elitist attitudes among the small Catholics and give them reality-based therapy. Without the football schools, the eight Catholics will become another version of the Atlantic 10.

Yes, if the Big East breaks in two the non-football programs will be strong at the top with Villanova, Georgetown and occasionally Notre Dame. However, the league will be considered mid-major, especially if the era of the mega-BCS conferences dawns.