OMAHA, Neb. — When the Big East underwent its metamorphosis in 2013 and returned to its basketball-centric roots, the question was whether the conference could recapture the magic of its heyday.
The initial answer wasn’t promising. Four of its 10 teams reached the NCAA tournament and none made it past the first weekend.
“I was one of those saying, ’This is being called the Big East, but it’s not the same league,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said.
Year two saw six teams make the tournament, but No. 1 seed Villanova lost in the round of 32 for the second consecutive season and only Xavier advanced to a regional semifinal.
How the Big East fares in the NCAA tournament this year will determine how far the conference has come in terms of perception. With three teams among the top 10 in The Associated Press poll this week — No. 6 Villanova, No. 7 Xavier and No. 10 Providence — the season has been more like the Big East brass envisioned when the conference was made over.
In the RPI, Villanova is No. 2, Xavier is No. 4, Providence is No. 21 and four other Big East teams are in the top 90.
The Big East’s .591 winning percentage (26-18) against opponents from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC — the so-called power five — was second to the Big 12’s mark of .612 (19-12). The Big East’s 7-8 record against top-25 nonconference opponents is the best in the nation.
“I’m really excited where the conference is,” said Jay Wright, who has coached Villanova since 2001. “I’d like to say this is what we all predicted. I think it’s what we all hoped.”
The Wildcats saw their 22-game win streak against Big East opponents end on Sunday when they lost to Providence, 82-76, in overtime. Xavier, Providence, Creighton and Georgetown all started this week tied for second place, 1.5 games behind Villanova.
Last year marked the first time since the previous conference was founded in 1979 that none of its players were taken in the first round of the NBA draft. There is no shortage of star power this season.
Providence point guard Kris Dunn is considered the best player in the league and is joined by conference scoring leader Ben Bentil. Josh Hart is putting up big numbers for Villanova, which also has Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu.
Xavier’s Edmond Sumner and Marquette’s Henry Ellenson are among the league’s top young players. Butler has a force in Roosevelt Jones and one of the nation’s premier shooters in Kellen Dunham. Georgetown again is led by D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera.
Few people represent the Big East’s glory days of the 1980s more than Chris Mullin, the first-year coach at St. John’s. The Big East had nine teams when Mullin, Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing and Villanova’s Ed Pinckney were the league’s biggest stars. It had 15 in 2012-13, the season before it was reconfigured.
“It got to a point where there were so many teams, I didn’t know who was in the conference,” Mullin said.
When the conference was revamped, eight football-playing schools departed and the seven schools whose No. 1 sport is basketball were joined by like-minded Butler, Creighton and Xavier.
“I really like the way it’s set up now,” Mullin said. “I like the fact that you play each other home and away. I think that will develop real rivalries. I think given time, it’ll be what [Big East founder] Dave Gavitt created.”
The Big East probably needs a couple of its teams to make long postseason runs to silence critics who contend the conference has lost elite status. Georgetown coach John Thompson III, whose father became the league’s No. 3 all-time winningest coach in 20 years with the Hoyas, said the Big East doesn’t need validation.
“Our identity has never changed,” Thompson said. “The Big East is the Big East. What I think is happening is that possibly the rest of the world is realizing, ’Oh, wow, they didn’t go anywhere.’ Without a doubt, we have some of the toughest, some of the best teams in the country. That has always been the case. The rest of the country, who for some reason thought we were going to go away, is now realizing we’re not.”
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