There is a certain amount of whistling past the graveyard in this thread. If the AAC could do in basketball what it has done on the football side, it could very well be a major power. Let’s be honest, when UConn was their we did little for the league. And within their markets, a number of AAC teams are significant players. And Big East teams are marginal ones. Seton Hall would very quickly be overshadowed in New Jersey by a successful Big 10 related Rutgers. There were times when Temple was the team people followed in Philly and Villanova was relegated to a supporting role. Xavier and Cincinnati split the market depending on which one is dominant at a given time. And while it is hard to really evaluate theBig East this year, if you are honest, you have to say after the top 3 it is not very good...maybe a bunch of equals, but hardly scary equals. DePaul stinks for the 30th consecutive year, Seton Hall is the definition of mediocre, Providence is what they have been since last we were here, St Johns hasn’t been relevant since the 1990s and likely won’t be again, Georgetown kinda sorta wishes they’d let Catholics into the Ivy League so they could associate with their equals instead of a bunch of commuter colleges, Creighton is our Wichita State. Most people couldn’t tell you what league they are in, but they kinda know they are in the Midwest and occasionally make the news for abusing basketball players.
Bottom line is the Big East is considered a power conference based on 2 things
1 Villanova
2. The legacy of what Syracuse, Pitt, UConn, West Virginia, Louisville and Cincinnati built
