NCAA Basketball: Figuring Out the Big East

Over the past few days, I've heard many questions about the Big East, and answering them seems to become more difficult as time progresses.

Who's the best team? Who's for real?

All these questions, yet so few answers. I don't see this changing any time soon.

Throughout this season, we've seen Big East teams beat up on each other from the top to the bottom end of the standings. With this in mind, another intriguing question has been proposed: Is the Big East an outstanding conference overall, or is it just filled with a bunch of overrated teams?

This seems to be the question many are asking, whether they are so-called "experts" or just plain Big East haters. Coming from a guy that covers the Big East, I must say it's no cupcake conference, and definitely tough.

At the top of the conference, Syracuse and Villanova are fighting for No. 1 seeds in the tournament. Both teams are solid and competitive, but like all, they have their flaws.

The Orange of Syracuse have beaten some of the best teams in the country this season, storming onto the scene out of nowhere. If any team can make a run to the Final Four in this conference, I think it's Boeheim's.

Villanova sits in a similar position. However, they are prone to failure given their size. The Wildcats' lack of big veterans could hurt them, and was very apparent in Monday night's loss to UConn.

After those two, the list downward becomes unpredictable.

West Virginia, Georgetown, and Pitt are the next three in line. While they all have great shots at being good, setbacks have held them down.

The Mountaineers haven't lost to many so-called "bad teams," but they still have five losses. Despite that, they could still be huge contenders. Bob Huggins is a great coach and will have his players ready at the right time.

Ah...my Georgetown Hoyas. The true definition of inconsistency, and college basketball's Jekyll and Hyde. One minute, the Hoyas can look like the nation's best, but at other times, they lose to USF and Rutgers. For lack of a better finite reason, the best explanation for this may be their inconsistency, along with lack of leadership at the point guard position with Chris Wright.

Friday night, Jamie Dixon's squad, Pittsburgh, proved they can play in big games by making it evident with a triple-overtime win against West Virginia. However, they still have their downers. Losses to Seton Hall, USF, and Indiana make you question them, along with their rather easy out-of-conference schedule to start the season. With a young team, the Panthers seem to be pretenders at this point.

Now you get to easily the most interesting part of the conference with the bubble teams at the bottom. Several are still fighting for a bid to the tournament while others vow to be spoilers.

There are five serious contenders on the bubble: Marquette, Louisville, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, and USF. All have great things going on, but two of them scare me most.

Notre Dame and USF have something on their teams that many lack—true born scorers. The Irish have the reigning Big East Player of the Year in Luke Harangody, while USF possesses an unlikely newcomer to college basketball in Dominique Jones.

Notre Dame doesn't have many impressive wins outside of their win against West Virginia, but it doesn't mean they can't win big games. Coming down the home stretch, they have a chance to easily boost their resume to get into the big dance if they can win against good teams. Even with his injuries, Harangody alone gives them the ability to pull off upsets.

The Bulls have a freak athlete down in Tampa. I don't know where Dominique Jones came from, but he's definitely a tremendous story. He's already led them to a few upset victories this season, most notably against Georgetown on the road. He can do anything once he puts his mind to it so the NCAA Tournament better watch out. Dominique Jones and the Bulls have a good chance to stampede in.   

Behind the teams fighting for tournament bids, you have those usually missed—the lower end of the totem pole. However, this season, these teams have pulled off some great upsets to keep their school's hearts beating.

I have to give it to Rutgers, St. John's, DePaul, and Providence. They always fight their hearts out, and give good teams their best.

Just this week, we saw Rutgers come out victorious against Georgetown, probably saving head coach Fred Hill's job. A few weeks before, DePaul gave Syracuse a great run until the end of the game. Nonetheless, that proves that the bottom of the conference has fight in them and can play not only with the big dogs of the Big East, but the nation as well.

With all these teams, the Big East is just crazy. Maybe more questions should arise, like: Why doesn't the best Big East team automatically get the No. 1 seed in the East Regional?

Believe it or not, I've heard it before.

With all this in mind, I hope I proved that the Big East is a serious force to be reckoned with. As for figuring out the Big East itself, that's a question that no one can answer. You can't fully diagnose a conference when its teams always beat up on each other.

If you think you can figure out the mayhem of the Big East, I'd love to hear it. I firmly believe this question will go unanswered.