2009-10 Big East basketball - Most overrated conference ever?

I remember thinking after the Big Ten/ACC challenge in December that perhaps this was the year that the Big Ten would finally get some respect nationally in basketball. I was ultimately disappointed as the "experts" soon decided that the Big Ten's victory was due to the ACC being down and the power in college basketball had moved to the Big East and Big 12. Listening to ESPN it felt similar to the love they normally reserve for SEC football. Unlike football, NCAA basketball has a playoff so the good thing was I knew we'd ultimately get the answer on a neutral court in March. All we had to do was wait and see.



As we all know, the Big Ten has had a very good tournament so far. Through the first weekend the Big Ten has placed 3 of its 5 teams into the Sweet 16. Conversely, the Big East has struggled mightily getting only 2 of their 8 through the weekend while going 6-6 in the process. Their results are actually a lot worse than .500 as their seeding allowed them to face seeming inferior competition.  At the start of the tournament the 8 Big East teams were given the following seeds - 1,2,2,3,3,6,6,9. Based on their seeding the Big East should have had a record of 12-3 through the first two rounds and had 5 teams advance to the Sweet 16 but only 2 advanced. In the last 25 years no team has had lost 6 expected victories through 2 rounds. The closest are:

1999 Pac 10 (4 Teams - 2,4,5,7) ; Projected 6-2 ; Actual 1-4 ; 5 less
2001 ACC (7 Teams - 1,2,3,3,5,7,8) ; Projected 11-3 ; Actual 6-5 ; 5 less
2006 Big Ten (6 Teams - 2,3,4,6,6,9) ; Projected 8-3 ; Actual 3-6 ; 5 less

2010 Big East (8 Teams - 1,2,2,3,3,6,6,9) ; Projected 12-3 ; Actual 6-6 ; 6 less

Now it would be a bit disingenuous of me if I didn't mention that the Big East wouldn't have had so many upsets if they didn't have a record 8 teams make the tournament. But that just supports the fact that the polls and the media vastly overrated the Big East and put them in a position to fail.

I should also point out that the highest rated Big East teams are still alive and certainly could make the final 4. That is what happened to the ACC in 2001 as the only two teams to make it out of the first weekend (Duke and Maryland) eventually met in the Final Four. The remaining teams certainly have the talent to match this but regardless of the outcome the media should admit that they overrated the Big East and finally give the Big Ten some long overdue respect.

But I'm not holding my breath.