Coming into the tournament, it was widely accepted that the Big East was the best conference in college basketball. The conference's unprecendented 11 seeds in the NCAA tournament did nothing to change that perception. However, their performance in the tournament just might. Yesterday, we asked the question "was the Big East overrated?" The response was overly negative against the conference.
Of the four Big East teams in action yesterday, only one (Connecticut) advanced to the Sweet 16. Considering that the UConn was playing another Big East team(Cincinnati) and the conference was guaranteed a spot, it's not terribly impressive. West Virgina was drummed out of the tournament by #4 seed Kentucky, while #1 seed and regular season Big East champion Pittsburgh was upset by #8 Butler. So as a one seed, Pitt doesn't even get to the Sweet 16.
The conference will get at least one more team in the Sweet 16 today when Syracuse faces Marquette. Notre Dame could also help salvage the conference's reputation with a win over #10 Florida St as well. Coming into the tournament, Vegas put the over/under on Big East team wins in the tournament at 15 1/2. As it stands now, the conference has 9, with potentially a 10th win headed into the final sixteen. In other words, hopefully you didn't bet the over.
[Update by JasonB, 03/21/11 12:28 AM EDT ] The disappointment continues