Friar Basketball

“20 in 60”: #12 Four Questions Facing PC in Evolving Big East

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The face of the Big East continues to change.  With the conference about the enter multi-billion dollar television contract negotiations that could make or break the Big East, we take a look at four questions about Providence and the next phase of Big East basketball.

Did the new Big East get too big for Providence to compete?  Since the Big East expanded in the wake of losing Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami to the ACC, Providence has had one winning record in conference play in seven seasons.  Overall, their conference record in those seven years is a paltry 41-81.  Gone are several of the glamour names that made the Big East what it is today, but from a sheer competitive standpoint, it’s fair to ask if the Big East had gotten too deep for the Friars.

 

How good can the newcomers be?  In losing Notre Dame, West Virginia, Syracuse and Pittsburgh the conference lost a hall of fame coach (Jim Boeheim), one of only four active Division I coaches with 700 career wins (Bob Huggins), a man who holds the record for most D1 wins in the first seven years of a coaching career (Jamie Dixon), and a three time Big East coach of the year who has won a least 20 games in every year since 2006 (Mike Brey).

This is a conference that has been defined by larger than life coaches, and the loss of those coaches, and the retirement of Jim Calhoun at Connecticut, certainly takes away from the sideline star power the Big East featured for decades.

Those five will be impossible to replace, but the conference is gaining perhaps the nation’s most underrated coach in Temple’s Fran Dunphy (5 straight NCAA appearances and 9 in his career) and the up and coming Josh Pastner, who has won at least 24 games in each of his first three seasons at Memphis.  The conference will count on these two to continue to churn out NCAA Tournament appearances, deepening a conference that still features (for now – more later) Georgetown, St. John’s, Connecticut, Marquette, Louisville, Villanova and Cincinnati as its basketball core.   And that’s still a formidable core.

At SMU, Larry Brown brings credentials and promise, albeit short-term promise, as the Hall of Fame coach kicks off his tenure with the Mustangs at the age Jim Calhoun retired at.  The only coach to ever win both an NCAA and NBA title, Brown is already making waves on the recruiting trail (notably 2012 seven footers Blaise Mbargorba and Jordan Dickerson, while staying in the fight for 2013 studs Jordan Mickey, Tyler Roberson, and Ishmail Wainright).  Ever impatient, it’s fair to ask how long Brown will last at SMU and what type of basketball program they’ll feature after his departure.

James Dickey at Houston will field a team with four former top 100 players this season, including 2012 superstar Danuel House (ranked #19 per ESPN) and former PC commit Joe Young.  6’9 Danrad Knowles is another top 50 2012 prospect, so the potential is certainly there for Houston to find their way back into the NCAA Tournament – a place they’ve only been once since 1992.

Central Florida has won more than 20 games the past two seasons, but brings with them baggage.  Their violation of recruiting rules has led to them vacating all wins from 2008-11, the dismissal of their former athletic director, a postseason ban in 2012-13 and probation for five years.

 

Can the Big East rest easy after ACC officials and multiple media sources have reported they are done pillaging the Big East?  Don’t count on it.  They didn’t send smoke signals when they poached from the Big East in the past, and continue to take proactive steps to ensure the strength of their conference, including a reported $50 million exit fee.  The addition of a non-football school in Notre Dame has some at Georgetown and St. John’s hoping they could be next to make the move, but the ND deal did come with assurances of five ACC games a year – a virtual conference schedule without the Irish in the ACC standings or conference championship hunt.

 

Can the new television deal bring stability?  The Big East brought in former ESPN and CBS executive Mike Aresco to navigate them through negotiations in the upcoming months that could very well make or break the conference.  The league reportedly turned down a $1.4 billion contract with ESPN over nine years in 2011.

How would that have stacked up?

The ACC originally signed a deal with ESPN in 2010 that was reportedly 12 years, $1.86 billion (per ESPN).  This deal was renegotiated this spring, and now ESPN will pay $3.6 billion over the next 15 years.  The ACC had a clause in their contract with ESPN that it could renegotiate if they grew by two, or more, teams.  The poaching of Syracuse and Pittsburgh not only weakened their biggest competition on the East Coast, a conference that was potentially looking at a bigger TV deal, but allowed them to get a dramatically better television deal for themselves in the process.

The Big East is now three weeks into a 60 day exclusive negotiating window with ESPN, and then it can open things up to other networks.  It will be fascinating to see if the deal they finally get is significantly higher than the one they turned down a year ago.

 

Email Kevin at kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

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