Is The Big East As Good As Advertised?

Conventional wisdom has it that the Big East Basketball Conference is the most formidable in the country and has been at least for several years. But the Big East has also underachieved in the Big Dance and the conventional explanation for this is that the conference members beat each other up during the regular season and end up running on empty as they enter March Madness.

On opening day, 2011 Madness continued this trend. Louisville, an elite team in the conference, was knocked out by a low seed. And St. John's, coming off a cinderella renaissance season, was thrashed by Gonzaga. West Virginia and Pittsburgh beat teams they were supposed to beat.

But it's time to reconsider the theory that the Big East devours itself during the regular season. It may have more quality teams than any other conference, but there are at least a dozen teams around the country that are at least as good as the best the Big East has to offer.