Assessing Big East’s place in history meaningless until after title game

A colleague was bragging the other day about her NCAA Tournament bracket. She was closing in on first place and purposefully inquired where my entry sat among more than 60, knowing full well it had exploded like a cargo ship in Halifax Harbour once Wake Forest decided that rolling over and beginning its offseason early was more enticing than winning a lousy game or two.

She had a good laugh about it. She's a bit evil this way, which explains her devotion to the San Francisco Giants.

But then her predicted national champion (Pittsburgh) lost in the Elite Eight and her bracket began taking on its own torrent of water.

Which is really the point.

Does it matter where you finish if it's not first?

It's a question that applies to the Big East Conference.

Coaches talk up their leagues like a political party does its candidate. One day each October as the first practice looms for teams across the country, those from the Big South and Big West and Big Sky and fill-in-your-one-bid-league-of-choice here brag about the depth and talent of their conference, annually proclaiming things never have been better or more competitive.

Then no one hears from them again for 12 months.

But such boasting isn't left to the little guys. Before this season, Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon proclaimed the Big East could rank as the greatest league in college basketball history.

A few, undoubtedly with Atlantic Coast Conference ties, mocked the statement. Not many, though.

Think of it in terms of a novel. You can't stop on page 120 of "The Maltese Falcon" and confirm it is history's best detective mystery. You also can't agree the current version of the Big East owns no rival for the best conference until late Monday.

When that time arrives at Ford Field in Detroit, a Final Four team will be handed championship hats and T-shirts and a pair of scissors. But if it is not players from Connecticut or Villanova ascending a ladder to snip away a piece of history, any argument for Dixon's preseason assertion proves meaningless.

If you don't win it all, what's the point?

If you go 18-0 and can't win the Super Bowl, who cares?

If you lead the office pool in the round of 16, what does it mean?

Nothing.

UConn or Villanova could win the national title and many still would oppose any claim that this year's version of the conference is better than the Big East of 1985, of three Final Four teams and another losing in a regional semifinal by two points, of Villanova's perfect second half to slay the monster Georgetown in the final.

But at least there would be discussion, unlike if those celebrating Monday wear North Carolina or Michigan State jerseys.

It's one of those subjective but enjoyable debates that define sports: Which conference is better, even if you are talking about the same one?

The Big East today lacks the star power of that '85 edition -- Patrick Ewing or Chris Mullin won't be suiting up in Detroit this week -- but it's a more fluid game to watch now. It's a deeper league. Still rough, but not as brutal as back then.

It's tough to shed a stereotype, but the Big East of late has done a fairly impressive job taking the glare off the league's bruiser image and putting it on one of athleticism.

"Conferences go in cycles," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "That was just such an amazing year in the Big East in '85, and I think this year was the same way.

"It's kind of eerie how this is playing out. I hope to God history repeats itself. That was kind of the greatest year in the Big East history, and we've had discussions whether that year was better than this year. It's a whole other topic.

"But that was similar. Villanova was a great team then, but St. John's and Syracuse and Georgetown were the teams that year. Villanova kind of snuck in. And then it's all happening the same. I'm not a superstitious person or anything. I'm worried about the next game. But if history repeats itself, I'll take it."

Any league would take this: Two teams in the Final Four, five in the Sweet 16, nine of its teams ranked in the Top 25 at one point during the season.

The best conference ever? Probably not. After all, did you get a look at the league's bottom half this season?

But come Monday night, the argument either will continue or perish.

Because if you don't win it all, well, you might as well be one of those people who brag about brackets before all the games are played.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.