NCAA Tourament 2012: Big East Ready to Prove It on the Court

For a conference that is having a major down year, it's somewhat hard to tell judging by the nine teams from the Big East that reached the NCAA Tournament. But, that is the perception that has been placed on the conference this season.

While they are certainly down, compared to last season, the conference is still as dominant as any other in the country.

With four teams ranked in the Top 15 of the RPI and all four seeded very high in the tournament, if this is a down year, then this conference has some serious talent.

The conference certainly has the talent up top that it has had in years past, but after the top six or seven teams, there is a drop off in talent that the league did not have last season.

With that being said, the Big East has a chance to prove itself once again in this year's Big Dance.

Certainly the team with the best chance is the Syracuse Orange, but the recent suspension of Fab Melo leaves a lot of questions to be answered.

Marquette is an intriguing team that has the chance to make a run at the Final Four in the coming weeks, if they can limit their turnovers.

South Florida already showed how deep the Big East is as they were the ninth team from the conference selected, yet they had their way in the first round against California, the best team from the Pac-12.

While we will not know for a few weeks whether or not the Big East warranted nine teams in the NCAA Tournament, it is almost a guarantee that they will be well prepared after a grueling 18-game Big East conference schedule.

If the Big East wants to prove it is still the best conference in the nation, the time to do so is now.