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The Daily OrangeMBB | Tournament snub still burns Big East coaches
By Kyle Austin
Posted: 10/24/07, 11:32 PM EST Section: Sports
Georgetown's Roy Hibbert was picked as the consensus Big East player of the season.
But the majority of the media wanted to talk about the conference's size. Another dimension will be added to the issue of this year, when the Big East add two more conference games, making a total of 18 games each team has to play. Each team will face every conference opponent once, and three of them twice. Concerns have been voiced about whether the schedules will be fair, to which Tranghese has no answers.
"It isn't perfect and it certainly isn't fair, and I'm the first to tell you that," Tranghese said. "That makes it even harder for our more talented teams. And that's what we're faced with."
The Big East is one of three conferences - along with the Big Ten and Pac-10 - to switch to the new format. No one is sure yet how this will affect the league's showing in the dance, but all agree that it will have some effect.
"I think we have to make sure that it doesn't hurt us," Villanova coach Jay Wright said of the new schedule. "I think we as a league all have to work to make sure it enhances our chances. Because it should."
John Thompson III, Hibbert's head coach at Georgetown, said he hoped the conference did not have a maximum number of teams that the NCAA selection committee would allow in. He, along with most of the other coaches, felt the league's size warrants extra spots.
"It definitely is a concern. It is my belief and my hope that as the league grows - ages opposed to grows - that the committee will understand that we are different, that the committee will understand that you cannot look at a finite number for this league," Thompson said. "Because I think this year will show that this league will have some of the better teams in the country."
While focusing on the upcoming season, most coaches were using Syracuse's story as a cautionary tale and were taking lessons from it to ensure their teams do not fall victim to a similar fate.
"To see what happened to Syracuse last year was just a travesty, and it's really a huge warning sign about how we have to approach the future," Providence coach Tim Welsh said. "I don't know what we can do about it except to talk about it and try to get the people to understand that just because you're in ninth place doesn't mean you're not a good team. You can be in ninth place and be a very, very good team."
But the majority of the media wanted to talk about the conference's size. Another dimension will be added to the issue of this year, when the Big East add two more conference games, making a total of 18 games each team has to play. Each team will face every conference opponent once, and three of them twice. Concerns have been voiced about whether the schedules will be fair, to which Tranghese has no answers.
"It isn't perfect and it certainly isn't fair, and I'm the first to tell you that," Tranghese said. "That makes it even harder for our more talented teams. And that's what we're faced with."
The Big East is one of three conferences - along with the Big Ten and Pac-10 - to switch to the new format. No one is sure yet how this will affect the league's showing in the dance, but all agree that it will have some effect.
"I think we have to make sure that it doesn't hurt us," Villanova coach Jay Wright said of the new schedule. "I think we as a league all have to work to make sure it enhances our chances. Because it should."
John Thompson III, Hibbert's head coach at Georgetown, said he hoped the conference did not have a maximum number of teams that the NCAA selection committee would allow in. He, along with most of the other coaches, felt the league's size warrants extra spots.
"It definitely is a concern. It is my belief and my hope that as the league grows - ages opposed to grows - that the committee will understand that we are different, that the committee will understand that you cannot look at a finite number for this league," Thompson said. "Because I think this year will show that this league will have some of the better teams in the country."
While focusing on the upcoming season, most coaches were using Syracuse's story as a cautionary tale and were taking lessons from it to ensure their teams do not fall victim to a similar fate.
"To see what happened to Syracuse last year was just a travesty, and it's really a huge warning sign about how we have to approach the future," Providence coach Tim Welsh said. "I don't know what we can do about it except to talk about it and try to get the people to understand that just because you're in ninth place doesn't mean you're not a good team. You can be in ninth place and be a very, very good team."
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