Big East Basketball: How Much Does Houston, SMU and UCF Add to Big East Hoops?

The Houston Cougars, the SMU Mustangs and the Central Florida (UCF) Knights will be joining the Big East in all sports.

Even though this decision, like all of the conference realignment movement, is driven by football, it will effect the league's standing in men's basketball.

The Big East has been one of the premiere hoops conferences in the nation.

In 2011, the Big East set the record for the most teams sent to the NCAA Tournament by a single conference with 11 out of their 16 teams qualifying.

Just one year later, they are working to stay basketball-relevant.

The future departures of Syracuse and Pitt to the ACC, and West Virginia to the Big 12 create an uncertain outlook.

Each of these teams has an impressive basketball resume and will leave three canyon-sized holes when they move on.

Does Houston, SMU and UCF add anything to Big East hoops?

Let's take a quick look at what the three new schools bring to the conference:

SMU's Moody Coliseum

SMU's Moody Coliseum is getting a $40 million facelift.

The 8,998 seat on-campus arena was originally built in 1956.

In the 2010-11, the Mustangs averaged just 1,970 in their 22 home games.

Houston's Hofheinz Pavilion

Houston's Hofheinz Pavilion is, like SMU's Moody Coliseum, undergoing a $40 million renovation and expansion.

The 8,500 seat arena originally opened in 1969.

Back in the day, this was the home to Phi-Slamma Jamma.

In the 2010-11, the Cougars averaged a mere 3,281 in their 16 home games.

The UCF Arena

The UCF Arena is a 9,465 seat on-campus venue that opened in 2007.

In the 2010-11 season, the Knights averaged 6,370 in their 19 home games.

That attendance figure would have been good for 14th place in the 16-school Big East.

Big East Conference Average Attendance

The Big East basketball teams have strong fanbases who turn out in droves for home games.

For the 2010-11 season, the conference average attendance per game was 11,656, second only to the Big Ten with 12,826.

These three new teams combined drew an average of 11,621 per home game.

Will these teams draw more when they play a Big East schedule instead of a Conference USA slate? Most likely.

But even if they sold out every game, they would all fall short of where the conference attendance bar is currently set.

SMU's Head Coach: Matt Doherty

Matt Doherty is an 11 year D-I head coaching veteran.

After spending 10 years as an assistant coach at Davidson and Kansas, Doherty has been the head coach at Notre Dame, North Carolina, Florida Atlantic and now SMU since 2006.

SMU's record on Doherty's watch is 68-90 (5-3 so far in 2011-12).

The Mustangs have only made it to the postseason once since Doherty came to Dallas (last season—the Collegeinsider.com Tournament).

Many have suggested that the four-year UNC Tar Heel starter may be gone before SMU debuts in the Big East.

Houston's Head Coach: James Dickey

James Dickey is in his first year as head coach of the Houston Cougars (4-4).

He had previously been the head coach at Texas Tech from 1991-2001, when he posted a 166-124 overall record and a 75-75 Southwest Conference/Big 12 record.

At the end of his run in Lubbock, Dickey tallied four straight losing seasons before being fired.

Houston has only made it one time to the NCAA tournament (2010) since 1996.

UCF's Head Coach: Donnie Jones

Donnie Jones is in his second season at the helm at UCF (currently 5-2).

The Knights went 21-12 last year in Jones' first season.

Before coming to Orlando, Jones was the head coach at Marshall for three years, with a record of 55-41.

Before Marshall, Jones was an assistant with the Florida Gators for 11 seasons.

The Knights have appeared in the NCAA tournament in school history four times: 1994, 1996, 2004 and 2005.

Big East's Cadre of Coaches

The Big East cadre of coaches is as good as any in the country.

Jim Calhoun (pictured) has won three NCAA championships. Rick Pitino and Jim Boeheim have won one each themselves.

Bob Huggins is closing in on 700 wins.

Jay Wright, John Thompson III and Jamie Dixon are some of the countries most successful coaches under 50 years old.

How likely is that these new coaches and their teams will succeed any time soon in this conference?

Conclusion

UCF had some exciting moments last year (beating Florida) and beat UConn in the Bahamas this year.

Houston has a nice recruiting class of 2012.

SMU should be able to draw from a deep Dallas talent pool...they just haven't in a long, long time.

But it's still hard to see how these schools are going to add very much (other than new TV markets) to a conference that is going through some very drastic changes.