Big East, Big Beast: 10 Reasons Why The Conference Owns College Basketball

On Monday, ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi put out his most recent "bracketology" prediction. Of the 68 teams, he predicted 11 teams from the Big East Conference would make the tournament.

Over the past few years, the Big East had been dominant in college basketball, and may have reached its peak of strength this year.

Flip through this slideshow and find out ten reasons why I think it has been able to reach and sustain this dominance.

If you have a reason of your own, or don't agree with one of mine, feel free to post it on the comments section.

Coaches of the Big East

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SALT LAKE CITY - MARCH 25: Head coach Jim Boeheim of the Syracuse Orange coaches against the Butler Bulldogs during the west regional semifinal of the 2010 NCAA men's basketball tournament at the Energy Solutions Arena on March 25, 2010 in Salt Lake City

The first place to look when thinking about the reasons for such dominance is the coaches. The players rotate through every four years, but these coaches have been around for some time.

The Big East has some of the best motivators, and most successful coaches of all time.

The conference features Jim Boeheim at Syracuse, Bob Huggins at West Virginia, Jim Calhoun at Connecticut, Rick Pitino at Louisville, Jay Wright at Villanova, Jamie Dixon at Pittsburgh and John Thompson III at Georgetown.

Aside from all of these big names in college basketball, the conference has some up and coming coaches as well.

The Big East has most of the best coaches in the country, and these men behind the benches lead their team to great success.

Fans/Location

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PITTSBURGH, PA - DECEMBER 11: Pittsburgh Panthers fans hold up a picture of Jamie Dixon's head against the Tennessee Volunteers during the SEC/BIG EAST Invitational at Consol Energy Center on December 11, 2010 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.The Volunteers d

Another reason that the Big East is so successful is because it has some of the biggest and best fan bases in the country. At Syracuse, the Carrier Dome routinely is breaking its own records for the largest on-campus crowd, and even some of the smaller arenas around the conference have the best student sections in college basketball.

The Oakland Zoo at the University of Pittsburgh is one of the best student sections in the country, even though it only holds 1,500 students.

The Georgetown Hoyas play at the Verizon Center in downtown DC, and I can tell you from experience that when games are exciting, its pandemonium behind both baskets.

Throw in the fans dressed like Mountaineers at West Virginia games and the marching band at Notre Dame and you have a conference filled with top notch cheering sections.

A lot of these schools are also located (to put it bluntly) in the middle of nowhere and therefore the college basketball games are the hottest tickets in town.

Bigger Is In Fact Better

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DALLAS - NOVEMBER 29: Texas Christian University Chancellor Dr. Victor J. Boschini, Jr. talks with the media after Texas Christian University accepted an invitation for full membership into The Big East Conference on November 29, 2010 in Fort Worth, Texa

Plain and simple the Big East conference is massive. For basketball it currently has 16 schools, and will be adding TCU, making it 17 schools.

With so many teams in a conference, you are bound to have a few top 25 teams. The Big East actually takes this a step further, and currently has eight teams in the top 25.

The Big East manages to be prestigious while still being large.

Filled With Tournament-Prepared Teams

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LOUISVILLE, KY - JANUARY 26: John Flowers #41 of the West Virginia Mountaineers grabs the ball while defended by Terrence Jennings #23 of the Louisville Cardinals during the Big East Conference game at the KFC Yum! Center on January 26, 2011 in Louisvill

Because the Big East is home to so many top teams, almost every game is against a potential Final Four opponent. The teams are playing against the best competition in the country night in and night out, and are learning what it takes to win a big game before they have to win some of the biggest games of the year.

The second part of the Big East that prepares their teams so well for the NCAA tournament is the Big East tournament. With a grueling schedule of non-stop basketball, the teams get a chance to get their legs in top shape while still dealing with a tournament atmosphere.

Physical Play

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WASHINGTON, DC- JANUARY 12: Chris Wright #4 of the Georgetown Hoya drives to basket during a college basketball game against the Pittsburgh Panthers on January 12, 2011 at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. The Panthers won 72-57. (Photo by Mitchel

I used to always joke with my brother that the guys who want to just go and shoot in college should go to the ACC, and the guys who want to really play nitty-gritty basketball should go to the Big East.

The conference is home to some of the most physical presences in the country, and also to some of the most lenient referees.

The conference stands for hard fouls and strong takes to the basket, and everyone benefits from it. The players learn to play through contact, the fans get an exciting game, and the TV ratings love it.

Exposure

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PITTSBURGH, PA - DECEMBER 27: Kemba Walker #15 of the Connecticut Huskies battles for a rebound against Talib Zanna #42 of the Pittsburgh Panthers at Petersen Events Center on December 27, 2010 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh defeated Connecticu

As I said in the previous slide, the Big East sells on TV. It seems that almost every night, ESPN is broadcasting a Big East game, and on the weekends CBS picks up a few as well.

The Big East may not have its own official network like the Big Ten, but it does fine in TV and press exposure.

The players in the league are learning to play under the bright lights of the media, and as I also said earlier, they will be more prepared come tournament time.

Current Players

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HARTFORD, CT - FEBRUARY 13: Kemba Walker #15 of the Connecticut Huskies drives toward the basket against the Cincinnati Bearcats at the XL Center on February 13, 2010 in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

The Big East is also home to some of the top players in the country right now.

Many consider Kemba Walker to be the front-runner for player of the year, but the conference is home to many other great players.

Pittsburgh has Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker, Syracuse has Kris Joseph, Villanova has both Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes, the list goes on and on.

With a league full of top teams there are bound to be some good players, but the Big East is bursting with them.

It Beats Other Conferences In Games

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NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 07: Brandon Triche #30 of Syracuse Orange goes up for the dunk against the Michigan State Spartans during their game at the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden on December 7, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty

The Big East is the best conference, and it has no problem beating teams from other conferences to prove it. It seems like every top team in the conference has that one win against a solid non-conference opponent.

Some examples are: Pitt beating Texas, Syracuse beating Michigan State, Louisville beating Butler and most recently St. Johns beating Duke.

Big East teams may not finish the season with some of the best records in the country, but that is only because they have to play each other.

Strength From Top to Bottom

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NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 30: Dwight Hardy #12 of the St. John's Red Storm fakes in front of Kyle Singler #12 of the Duke Blue Devils at Madison Square Garden on January 30, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

The Big East has teams that can flat out play from top to bottom. Besides that lowly team known as DePaul, and soon the addition of TCU may even give them a win, the rest of the teams can all play the game.

Even the lower teams in the standings, such as Rutgers, St. Johns and Seton Hall, have either played a top ten team close or beaten one. 

Throw in the middle of the pack teams that do well like West Virginia and Cincinnati and Marquette and you have a strong conference from top to bottom.

Recruiting

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LOUISVILLE, KY - JANUARY 19: Peyton Siva #3 of the Louisville Cardinals defends D.J. Kennedy #1 of the St. John's Red Storm during the Big East Conference game at the KFC Yum! Center on January 19, 2011 in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville won 88-63. (

In my opinion the first nine parts of this list are what make this tenth part, and probably the most important part, successful.

Although it seems that every year the top high school player in the country goes to either Duke or Kentucky, the Big East routinely pulls in plenty of top 25 recruiting classes.

It also seems that every year a different Big East team has managed to out-due its competitors and pull in an incredible class. This year, it's St. Johns, who managed to convince enough top players to come to NYC that they currently have the second best class in the country.

Another oddity is that Rutgers, another team that is usually in the basement of the league, has the 15th best recruiting class in the country. It seems that the strong and weak are both getting stronger in the Big East.

Recruiting is a big reason why the Big East is the most dominant conference in the country, along with everything else that is on this list.