Post by elp525 on Oct 20, 2011 8:25:16 GMT -5
October 19, 2011
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
NEW YORK - You won't find a place in the world more, well, dumbfounded over the imminent breakup of perhaps the best college basketball conference in history than at a gathering of those schools' coaches.
Most aren't sure what to think, so it runs the gamut.
Georgetown coach John Thompson III talked about rivalries, some of which may not survive. Georgetown-Syracuse is, after all, what Big East basketball is about. Period.
Connecticut's Jim Calhoun wondered aloud when the next round of departures and additions would bring the league to 24 schools. "Why not 30?'' he cracked. "Thirty-six.''
West Virginia's Bob Huggins, as only Huggins can, pretty much takes it all in stride. After all, he's been there, done that.
At least one of the principals directly involved and/or affected by the latest mess, Pitt's Jamie Dixon, says there's no sense finger-pointing because everyone, in one way or another, and at some point, has been guilty of moving, poaching, abandoning or otherwise wreaking havoc on another school or group of schools.
"Every team's been involved in it one way or another,'' Dixon said, quietly pointing a finger even at the Big East, which has been plucking schools from other conferences since it grabbed Pitt from the Eastern 8 almost 30 years ago. "There's no use looking for a bad guy.''
But all of those coaches, and most of the others too, have their limits. After a while during Wednesday's Big East basketball media day at the staid, old New York Athletic Club, they slowed down and prayed that the next question might actually relate to basketball.
Louisville coach Rick Pitino was not among them. He will dissect the subject of Syracuse and Pitt leaving the Big East for the ACC until it is raw, from the angles of student-athletes to geography to billion-dollar university endowments to research universities and beyond. He'll do it sharply, too.
(Caution to West Virginians who have been raised to despise all things Pitt: You'll love this opening line).
"I can't picture the Big East without Syracuse,'' Pitino said. "I can picture the Big East without Pitt.''
Ouch. Rim shot, please.
OK, in fairness, Pitino paused after the Pitt line, perhaps for damning effect, and then went on to say that he could also picture the Big East without a lot of schools - DePaul, even his own Louisville.
His point is that none of those are founding members, including Pitt.
"But I can't picture the Big East without Syracuse, without Villanova, without Providence,'' said Pitino, who was actually Jim Boeheim's first assistant coach at Syracuse in 1976. "It is difficult to swallow for a fan. That's why it's difficult to think, 'OK, tonight we have Syracuse-Clemson on TV. It's not Syracuse-Georgetown. Syracuse is going to play Clemson or Florida State or N.C. State or Wake Forest. It just doesn't hit the chord the same way.
"But that's the nature of the beast that we have created now.''
Pitino makes a great deal of good points when he talks of all the conference shuffling. Some of them are not new, but he tends to make them in a pretty clear and compelling way, like the plight of the student-athlete in all of this.
"For football and basketball it's easy. It doesn't matter. We fly charters. You go, you come back, no matter where it is,'' Pitino said. "But what about track and field or swimming or so many others? You're in airports, you have delays, you miss class time, you fly West to East or Midwest to East. What is good about any of that? To me, geography is the most important factor in conference alignment. They've thrown the most important factor out.''
Pitino also wondered what similar academic interests have to do with any of this, which is what conferences often cite as making one school or another compatible.
"What does a research university have to do with athletics?'' Pitino asked, meaning not how are the two joined in house, but how they relate to others of their ilk in a conference formed entirely for athletic purposes. " 'We wanted to align ourselves with other great research universities,' [presidents will say]. Is that going to help your research? It's not. It makes no sense.''
That the presidents who control such matters now force students to fly across the country to compete does not seem to surprise Pitino all that much. "It surprises me that they are so open about it. They're a target. 'Shoot at me. I'm hypocritical.' ''
Of course, lost in all of this is rather significant point where Pitino and Louisville are concerned. When he mentioned the oddity of perhaps watching Syracuse and Clemson in a regular series, I couldn't help immediately wonder what he would think of Louisville-Oklahoma or Louisville-Kansas.
After all, Pitino's own school could find itself smack in the middle of the next upheaval if the Big 12 needs schools and comes after U of L or WVU or wherever that league will look. Would he find that odd, too?
"Not really. I don't find it odd for Louisville,'' Pitino said, again making another almost irrefutable point. "Believe me, I grew up on 26th Street [in New York]. My roots are here in the Big East. But it's not that odd for Louisville. We've been in the Metro, we've been in Conference USA, we've been in the Big East. Louisville is a Midwestern school. We don't want to leave. We want to stay. But it's not that odd to see Louisville play [any of those Big 12 schools].
"In fact, if you'd asked me seven years ago if I thought it would be odd to see Louisville play Villanova, I'd have probably said yes.''
The bottom line, of course, is that Pitino can't do anything about any of this, and neither can almost anyone. It is a monster that's out of control, and that's much to the sorrow of almost everyone involved in the basketball side of things here.
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
NEW YORK - You won't find a place in the world more, well, dumbfounded over the imminent breakup of perhaps the best college basketball conference in history than at a gathering of those schools' coaches.
Most aren't sure what to think, so it runs the gamut.
Georgetown coach John Thompson III talked about rivalries, some of which may not survive. Georgetown-Syracuse is, after all, what Big East basketball is about. Period.
Connecticut's Jim Calhoun wondered aloud when the next round of departures and additions would bring the league to 24 schools. "Why not 30?'' he cracked. "Thirty-six.''
West Virginia's Bob Huggins, as only Huggins can, pretty much takes it all in stride. After all, he's been there, done that.
At least one of the principals directly involved and/or affected by the latest mess, Pitt's Jamie Dixon, says there's no sense finger-pointing because everyone, in one way or another, and at some point, has been guilty of moving, poaching, abandoning or otherwise wreaking havoc on another school or group of schools.
"Every team's been involved in it one way or another,'' Dixon said, quietly pointing a finger even at the Big East, which has been plucking schools from other conferences since it grabbed Pitt from the Eastern 8 almost 30 years ago. "There's no use looking for a bad guy.''
But all of those coaches, and most of the others too, have their limits. After a while during Wednesday's Big East basketball media day at the staid, old New York Athletic Club, they slowed down and prayed that the next question might actually relate to basketball.
Louisville coach Rick Pitino was not among them. He will dissect the subject of Syracuse and Pitt leaving the Big East for the ACC until it is raw, from the angles of student-athletes to geography to billion-dollar university endowments to research universities and beyond. He'll do it sharply, too.
(Caution to West Virginians who have been raised to despise all things Pitt: You'll love this opening line).
"I can't picture the Big East without Syracuse,'' Pitino said. "I can picture the Big East without Pitt.''
Ouch. Rim shot, please.
OK, in fairness, Pitino paused after the Pitt line, perhaps for damning effect, and then went on to say that he could also picture the Big East without a lot of schools - DePaul, even his own Louisville.
His point is that none of those are founding members, including Pitt.
"But I can't picture the Big East without Syracuse, without Villanova, without Providence,'' said Pitino, who was actually Jim Boeheim's first assistant coach at Syracuse in 1976. "It is difficult to swallow for a fan. That's why it's difficult to think, 'OK, tonight we have Syracuse-Clemson on TV. It's not Syracuse-Georgetown. Syracuse is going to play Clemson or Florida State or N.C. State or Wake Forest. It just doesn't hit the chord the same way.
"But that's the nature of the beast that we have created now.''
Pitino makes a great deal of good points when he talks of all the conference shuffling. Some of them are not new, but he tends to make them in a pretty clear and compelling way, like the plight of the student-athlete in all of this.
"For football and basketball it's easy. It doesn't matter. We fly charters. You go, you come back, no matter where it is,'' Pitino said. "But what about track and field or swimming or so many others? You're in airports, you have delays, you miss class time, you fly West to East or Midwest to East. What is good about any of that? To me, geography is the most important factor in conference alignment. They've thrown the most important factor out.''
Pitino also wondered what similar academic interests have to do with any of this, which is what conferences often cite as making one school or another compatible.
"What does a research university have to do with athletics?'' Pitino asked, meaning not how are the two joined in house, but how they relate to others of their ilk in a conference formed entirely for athletic purposes. " 'We wanted to align ourselves with other great research universities,' [presidents will say]. Is that going to help your research? It's not. It makes no sense.''
That the presidents who control such matters now force students to fly across the country to compete does not seem to surprise Pitino all that much. "It surprises me that they are so open about it. They're a target. 'Shoot at me. I'm hypocritical.' ''
Of course, lost in all of this is rather significant point where Pitino and Louisville are concerned. When he mentioned the oddity of perhaps watching Syracuse and Clemson in a regular series, I couldn't help immediately wonder what he would think of Louisville-Oklahoma or Louisville-Kansas.
After all, Pitino's own school could find itself smack in the middle of the next upheaval if the Big 12 needs schools and comes after U of L or WVU or wherever that league will look. Would he find that odd, too?
"Not really. I don't find it odd for Louisville,'' Pitino said, again making another almost irrefutable point. "Believe me, I grew up on 26th Street [in New York]. My roots are here in the Big East. But it's not that odd for Louisville. We've been in the Metro, we've been in Conference USA, we've been in the Big East. Louisville is a Midwestern school. We don't want to leave. We want to stay. But it's not that odd to see Louisville play [any of those Big 12 schools].
"In fact, if you'd asked me seven years ago if I thought it would be odd to see Louisville play Villanova, I'd have probably said yes.''
The bottom line, of course, is that Pitino can't do anything about any of this, and neither can almost anyone. It is a monster that's out of control, and that's much to the sorrow of almost everyone involved in the basketball side of things here.
