Big East Takes a Nosedive... What Happened?

There's a lot of head-hanging and soul-searching going on in the Big East - not to mention some roughed up brackets - after a brutal start to the first round.

Third-seeded Georgetown was embarrassed by an energetic Ohio team. Marquette and Villanova were punched out in close games. The only team that came out victorious was Villanova. And that was an overtime win. Over a 15-seed. With some very favorable calls. Not something that inspires a lot of confidence.

Even President Obama must have been surprised by the upsets. His bracket was otherwise flawless, except getting hit hard from the three Big East losses. (Georgetown might have lost some major political allies.)

There are four more games in the 1st round for the beast conference to redeem themselves. But that little bit extra amount of pressure is now on them.

So what happened to get the Big East to get them to this point? What made the most favored conference have such a dismal showing in their first four games?

CBS's Mike Freeman doesn't offer any excuses, Hoyas and others messed up:

This isn't meant to be disrespectful to Ohio, but teams like Georgetown aren't supposed to lose to teams like the Bobcats. It's like the Road Runner losing to Wile E. Coyote... Yet here they are, just like a bunch of their Big East counterparts after a jaw-dropping Bloody Thursday.

NBC's Josh Alper finds humor, but offers the same put-up or shut-up attitude for the East:

If things don't get better in a hurry for the beasts of the East, we might be stuck rooting for Kansas State to make a deep run simply because they are from Manhattan. Manhattan, Kansas, of course, but beggars can't be choosers.

A writer at FOX sports thinks they were over-seeded going into the tournament anyway:

I heard it all season. The Big East this, the Big East that. The league got eight teams in the Big Dance and was also vastly over-seeded - with Villanova earning a No. 2 despite losing five of its last seven [and] Notre Dame going from an NIT team to a No. 6 in the span of three weeks...

Blogger Jerry Carino from Jersey thinks their own conference tourney is still in the back of their heads:

What happened here? Notice that the three losing teams all had strong showings in the Big East Tournament. That’s not a coincidence. The BET is a great event for fans and hype, but it’s a drain on the players who advance deep into it. West Virginia beware.

I tend to agree with Freeman and Alper. No matter all the other factors, there is an intensity level required to win in the NCAA tournament. These top seeded teams have no reason to expect their previous record to float them into the elite eight or better. They have to be up for every game as if it is their last. They have to turn that sh*t up to 11. Is that a coaching concern? Possibly. But that doesn't excuse the players on the floor from that disgusting effort, especially when we know how they are capable of playing.

Seniors going home have to live with that regret. Those at Villanova better deflate that ego and start acting like a top-seeded team. And those at Syracuse, West Virginia, Louisville, and Cornell better take this as a warning.