Talent Pool Runs Deep in Big East

The Big East is not only the best conference this year, its tournament has become bigger, badder, better than that of the more historic but stodgy Atlantic Coast Conference.

When you can sell out Madison Square Garden for four days, when the lobbies of dozens of Midtown hotels are shoulder-to-shoulder with fans and rah-rah spirit, when the game between the eighth- and ninth-seeded teams ends in a buzzer-beating, running three-pointer to give Syracuse a one-point win over Cincinnati, something good is going on.

The ACC tournament starts today in Greensboro, N.C. Top-seeded Duke has looked exhausted for a week. Second-seeded North Carolina was beaten badly by USC.

On the other hand, the two top-ranked teams in the nation are here. The last time that happened in the Big East, in 1985, the conference sent three teams to the Final Four and Villanova won. Will history repeat itself? Don’t bet against it.

“I’m hoping it happens again,” Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese said. “But a couple of years ago I couldn’t have hoped for this.”

A couple of years ago, Tranghese was scrambling to save his conference. The Big East’s football heavy hitters Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College were defecting to the ACC.

“There were some dark days,” Tranghese said. “Those seem far away now.”

By recruiting the basketball cream from Conference USA, the Big East has become a national behemoth, encompassing teams from as far west as Marquette in Milwaukee and as far south as South Florida in Tampa. It has teams in most of the major television markets -- New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Chicago. It has two Hall of Fame coaches, Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and Jim Calhoun of Connecticut.

“And when I look at the lineup of games for the first round of our tournament,” Tranghese said, “I can’t see one minute when I would want to leave. Normally I can look at the schedule and say, ‘Yeah, I could duck out for an hour here or there.’ But not this year.”

As if to prove Tranghese right, the tournament opened Wednesday afternoon with Syracuse’s Gerry McNamara, an emotional senior, flinging the ball one-handed into the basket for a game-winning three pointer with less than a second left. And still, with 0.5 to play, Cincinnati’s Jihad Muhammad almost took the game back when he took the inbounds pass and heaved a half-court laser that bounced off the front of the rim.

The second game was just a routine 67-63 Georgetown win over Notre Dame that wasn’t decided until the final five seconds. And the good stuff doesn’t start until today.

Villanova’s Jay Wright, who was chosen Big East coach of the year Tuesday, said life in the best conference is nerve-racking and exhilarating.

“When I looked at our schedule this year I honestly didn’t know where our wins were coming from,” he said. “I looked at us opening league play at Louisville and ending at Syracuse on senior day, which was really Gerry McNamara day. How could we win there? Two games with Connecticut. How were we going to win those?”

Wright figured out how to win three of those four games but said he is in awe of his league.

“I don’t even think we can comprehend how tough and good this league will be in the next few years,” he said. “It’s just amazing.”

Schmoozing Selection Sunday

Craig Littlepage, chairman of the NCAA tournament selection committee and Virginia’s athletic director, spoke what could be interpreted as encouraging words to Gonzaga and Memphis, which have hopes of earning No. 1 seedings.

Even though it’s been last-gasping things lately, Gonzaga staggered through the West Coast Conference regular season and tournament without a loss. Memphis motored through Conference USA play with one loss and is heavily favored to win its conference tournament, which is held in Memphis.

So how do you seed the Bulldogs and the Tigers? Some might consider their 27-3 records too easily inflated by wins over inferior conference opponents and will argue that a Big Ten or Atlantic Coast Conference championship team with more losses should be rewarded with No. 1 seedings.

“What they have done in terms of nonconference scheduling, how they have stepped up and played good people out of conference, played teams considered to be in the top 10, top 15 in the country, at home and on the road will be considered,” Littlepage said. “Those two teams have stepped up as much as any schools in the country as far as scheduling.”

Littlepage also said the selection committee will consider the effects that late-season suspensions have or could have on teams. Littlepage mentioned “two teams in particular” -- referring to Arizona, which suspended Hassan Adams, its senior leader and top scorer, for the Pacific 10 tournament after Adams was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving last weekend, and George Mason, whose starting guard and second-leading scorer, Tony Skinner, will be suspended for its next game after he sucker-punched Hofstra’s Loren Stokes between the legs in a Colonial Athletic Conference tournament game.

While unwilling to speak specifically, Littlepage said the committee would factor in that Adams would be available if the Wildcats got an NCAA bid. That’s good news for Arizona, which could struggle to beat Stanford in its first Pac-10 tournament game without Adams.

Conversely, the committee will also figure that George Mason, hoping for an at-large bid, would be weakened without Skinner for its first-round game. That’s bad news for the Patriots.

Littlepage also said the committee will consider how injuries affected teams. California might benefit because star forward Leon Powe missed the Bears’ loss to Eastern Michigan early in the season.

Indiana Dreaming

Buzz around the Big East tournament was that beleaguered New York Knick general manager and former Indiana star Isiah Thomas was seen on the Indiana campus this week while the Knicks were playing the Pacers at Indianapolis. The Hoosiers are looking for a successor to Mike Davis, who recently resigned under pressure. Another former Indiana star, Steve Alford, who is Iowa’s coach, was the early favorite for the job. But sources here also say that Louisville Coach Rick Pitino has been approached by representatives from Indiana and that Pitino did not immediately say no.

Bubble Busters

Power conference bubble sitters such as Maryland, Syracuse, Cincinnati and Cal need to hope George Washington wins the Atlantic 10 tournament and Nevada wins the Western Athletic Conference tournament. Those are two one-bid leagues unless someone upsets the regular-season champ. George Washington will be without its best player, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who is recovering from a knee injury.