Bob Knight : East Coast Bias

[bluehenbillk]

The General himself was quoted recently saying that "The quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament may end up being better than the Final 8 in this year's NCAA Tournament".

Enjoy & chew on that one....

[Grizalltheway]

Meh. There's a reason they play the games.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

watch enough big east hoops and you'd be inclined to agree...

difference between the big east and everyone else is significant

they are bigger
they are deeper - most of their benches could start in any other conference (not depaul of course...)
they're generally more physical
and team-for-team, any one of the top 10 teams in the conference would be a legit contender to win any other conference tournament (in many cases, the significantly prohibitive favorite)

the Pac-10 is a 3 bid league, the MWC too - the WCC should get two in... but other than that? the Big West, Big Sky, WAC all are one bid leagues... that's 11 bids from the western conferences - or in other words, the SAME NUMBER OF BIDS as the Big East all by itself... that's not ECB - that's where the best basketball in America is being played in 2011.

[Grizalltheway]

watch enough big east hoops and you'd be inclined to agree...

difference between the big east and everyone else is significant

they are bigger
they are deeper - most of their benches could start in any other conference (not depaul of course...)
they're generally more physical
and team-for-team, any one of the top 10 teams in the conference would be a legit contender to win any other conference tournament (in many cases, the significantly prohibitive favorite)

the Pac-10 is a 3 bid league, the MWC too - the WCC should get two in... but other than that? the Big West, Big Sky, WAC all are one bid leagues... that's 11 bids from the western conferences - or in other words, the SAME NUMBER OF BIDS as the Big East all by itself... that's not ECB - that's where the best basketball in America is being played in 2011.

I'm not saying they aren't the best conference (going away), just that it'll still be really entertaining to watch them against OSU, Texas, Kansas, etc.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

watch enough big east hoops and you'd be inclined to agree...

difference between the big east and everyone else is significant

they are bigger
they are deeper - most of their benches could start in any other conference (not depaul of course...)
they're generally more physical
and team-for-team, any one of the top 10 teams in the conference would be a legit contender to win any other conference tournament (in many cases, the significantly prohibitive favorite)

the Pac-10 is a 3 bid league, the MWC too - the WCC should get two in... but other than that? the Big West, Big Sky, WAC all are one bid leagues... that's 11 bids from the western conferences - or in other words, the SAME NUMBER OF BIDS as the Big East all by itself... that's not ECB - that's where the best basketball in America is being played in 2011.

I'm not saying they aren't the best conference (going away), just that it'll still be really entertaining to watch them against OSU, Texas, Kansas, etc.

thing is - I think EACH Big East team is beatable by the right team on the right court. I don't inherently see the national champion coming out of the big east...

what i love about this years tournament is that there really isn't a team where you say "it's gonna be them" with any significant amount of confidence.

[Silenoz]

The top 8 teams in the Big East are generally in the top 25 at any given moment. It's not that much of a stretch

[Grizalltheway]

I'm not saying they aren't the best conference (going away), just that it'll still be really entertaining to watch them against OSU, Texas, Kansas, etc.

thing is - I think EACH Big East team is beatable by the right team on the right court. I don't inherently see the national champion coming out of the big east...

what i love about this years tournament is that there really isn't a team where you say "it's gonna be them" with any significant amount of confidence.

[DJH]

The Big East has struggled a bit in the NCAA's in the last couple years.