By: Dave Andrews
When the 2011 NCAA tournament began seven days ago, there was just under a 1 in 5 chance that the national champion team would come out of the Big East. With eleven teams, the Big East had as many as the Big Ten and ACC Combined (7 and 4). All eleven teams that entered the tournament bypassed the first round play-in games and were slated to automatically play in the second round, with high expectations of advancing to the final four and beyond for some. The conference is now calling final four officials who are waiting in Houston, declaring that they “have a problem.”
Seven days and a weekend of two rounds later, only two of those eleven teams are still vying to play another day. UConn and Marquette, a three and eleven seed respectively, find themselves in the Sweet Sixteen with unfamiliar company from around the nation.
The Big East encountered trouble early on the first day of the round of 64 when #13 Morehead State shocked the world and beat out #4 Louisville, 62-61. In that same first round of play, two #6 seeds, Georgetown and St. John’s, got pounded by two #11 seeds: Georgetown lost to VCU (a bubble team that had to fight for a berth in a play-in game) 74-56, while St. John’s managed to lose by 15, 86-71. Keeping in theme, #9 lost Villanova lost to #8 George Mason, 61-57.
A year removed from a final four appearance, West Virginia met Kentucky in a round-of-32 matchup. Although #4 Kentucky was one seed higher than the Mountaineers at #5, West Virginia checked out of the tournament after only playing two games; 71-63 the final.
The conference with the most teams is going to be a target to outsiders because they’re expected to win, much like teams with the highest payrolls in professional sports, but when over 16% of the teams in the tournament are from the same conference, there’s a high probability that inter-conference teams will mingle and do damage within the conference. Such was the case in the second round. #6 Cincinnati survived their first game against #11 Missouri to earn a spot to play against Kemba Walker’s #3 UConn Huskies. As predicted, UConn picked off their Big East foe to advance to the sweet sixteen.
Pitt received the third-highest #1 seed in the tournament despite losing in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. They easily advanced over #16 UNC Ashville and were 2.2 seconds away from advancing further over #8 Butler when all hell broke lose. Butler hit a layup to take the lead 70-69 with 2.2 seconds remaining. Pitt desperately tried to mend its way down the court when Butler’s Shelvin Mack fouled Pitt’s Gilbert Brown with 1.4 left, sending Brown to the line for two. Butler was stunned, knowing two shots would probably end their season. Brown made the first to tie and missed the second. On the rebound, Pitt rebutted by doing the unthinkable themselves, fouling Butler’s Matt Howard with just under a second to play. Howard had Butler’s redemption waiting at the line. He made the first and missed the second, ensuring that the clock would run out before Pitt could get off a buzzer beater to win. It was a mental meltdown of detrimental proportions by a top seed, a meltdown that sent the Panthers back to Pittsburgh.
Days before the tournament, the selection committee had Notre Dame teetering between a #1 and #2 seed but decided to slot the Fighting Irish at #2 in #1Kansas’ region. Many picked them as the most legitimate #2 seed to make it to the final four and even to the championship game. First in the second round, they took care of business against #15 Akron and had a favorable matchup against #10 Florida State after the Seminoles upset #7 Texas A&M. Unfortunately, there was little hope for this Big East contender, as the Seminoles jumped out to a lead in the first six minutes and steadily pulled away. There was no drama, no buzzer beater, no absurd fouls; FSU played solid defense and the Luck of the Irish ran out quickly. The 10th-seeded Seminoles blanked arguably the best Notre Dame team in decades, 71-57. Like the Irish, Syracuse was another high seed that had the potential to contend in Houston. At #3, the Orange were anticipated to play #2 UNC and #1 Ohio State if they had made it that far. Unfortunately, they would never have their shot at the Tar Heels. #11 Marquette had beaten the Orange earlier in the year in the only match up they played and looked to keep their Cinderella-like season alive. They too etched their names on the list of upsets over a highly ranked Big East teams with a 66-62 win.
To recap, three top-six or higher seeds in the lost do double digit-ranked teams by double digits. Nine of the eleven Big East teams in the tournament have lost and they only have taken part in two rounds. The Big Ten, which is the second most represented conference with seven teams has lost five of its seven, but still have high seeds #1 Ohio State and #4 Wisconsin alive, while #3 Purdue, #8 Michigan, #9 Illinois, #10 Penn State and #10 Michigan State have all bitten the dust as was expected.
So as the Big East crumbles its hopes of producing a national champion, teams like Colorado, Virginia Tech and Boston College look on and wonder why they were snuffed and why one conference was given considerably more bids than any other conference when 9 of the 11 teams aren't even playing anymore.
