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The Daily OrangeMBB | Is the Big East too big?
Nation's largest conference facing NCAA Tourney numbers crunch
By Kyle Austin
Posted: 2/4/08, 10:25 PM EST Section: Sports
If he would have been on the sideline, the decision made by the officials on March 11 last year would have sent Jim Boeheim into a frenzy - hands waving in the air, that "you've got to be kidding me" look on his face.
But Boeheim wasn't on the court. He was at home, watching television with his players and his family. And the officials didn't wear stripes or don whistles. They had pens and paper.
The call they made that day set the stage for the preeminent issue in Big East men's basketball.
The NCAA Tournament selection committee excluded Syracuse from the NCAA Tournament. The decision - a controversial one, to say the least - caused Boeheim to immediately question if being in the 16-team behemoth that is the Big East was harming his program's chances at making March Madness.
"If 10-6 in the Big East isn't good enough to get us in, then I don't think we should be in the Big East," Boeheim said in a press conference later that day.
As Selection Sunday 2008 draws closer, the issue Boeheim brought up nearly 11 months ago is on the mind of coaches around the league. Is the size of the Big East keeping tournament-worthy teams out of the dance?
When all was said and done, the 2007 field included six teams from the Big East, Pac-10 and Big Ten and seven from the Atlantic Coast Conference. On the surface, that seems even, but Big East coaches are quick to point out their league has four more teams than any other major conference, ever since the conferences realigned in 2005.
There has always been speculation among coaches that the committee keeps a finite number of teams that can get in, based on each conference.
But its members claims that's not true.
"It's not a team in X conference versus another team in X conference," said Tom O'Connor, George Mason athletic director and chair of the selection committee. "It's really a global look at the composite profile of that team and how they've done over the course of the season.
But Boeheim wasn't on the court. He was at home, watching television with his players and his family. And the officials didn't wear stripes or don whistles. They had pens and paper.
The call they made that day set the stage for the preeminent issue in Big East men's basketball.
The NCAA Tournament selection committee excluded Syracuse from the NCAA Tournament. The decision - a controversial one, to say the least - caused Boeheim to immediately question if being in the 16-team behemoth that is the Big East was harming his program's chances at making March Madness.
"If 10-6 in the Big East isn't good enough to get us in, then I don't think we should be in the Big East," Boeheim said in a press conference later that day.
As Selection Sunday 2008 draws closer, the issue Boeheim brought up nearly 11 months ago is on the mind of coaches around the league. Is the size of the Big East keeping tournament-worthy teams out of the dance?
When all was said and done, the 2007 field included six teams from the Big East, Pac-10 and Big Ten and seven from the Atlantic Coast Conference. On the surface, that seems even, but Big East coaches are quick to point out their league has four more teams than any other major conference, ever since the conferences realigned in 2005.
There has always been speculation among coaches that the committee keeps a finite number of teams that can get in, based on each conference.
But its members claims that's not true.
"It's not a team in X conference versus another team in X conference," said Tom O'Connor, George Mason athletic director and chair of the selection committee. "It's really a global look at the composite profile of that team and how they've done over the course of the season.
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