CincyCatz1224 Wrote:congratulations cuseroc, some absolute fluke one handed 3 after the guy travelled got you into the tournament where you lost to Texas A&M, who hadn't been to the tourney since the late 80's. you should be very proud.

Excuses excuses. The question was could Cincy have done better? They will never have the chance to prove it right?

omnicarrier Wrote:Most of the times I would agree with you, but the 2006 BET was something magical. If beforehand the basketball gods said its either those 4 days and a 1st round loss to a no-name program or a loss in the BE semis to G'Town and then a loss to either LSU or Duke - I'd definitely take those 4 days.

Yes, it *was* magical, because the Big East is, along with the ACC, one of the two conferences in which the conference tournament title is more prestigious than the regular season title. In the spotlight at Madison Square Garden, with rivals like SY/GT/St John's/UConn/Villanova going at it? Can't beat it.

Heck, i'm a Georgetown fan, and even though we haven't won the BE tourney in 17 years, i damn well know we've won 6 of them, while i don't have a clue as to how many regular season titles we've won. The loss to your Orangemen hurt last week precisely because of that. Likewise, McNamera's heroics were magnified.

And historically, winning the BE tourney was a stepping-stone to bigger things. All 3 times Georgetown made the final 4, they did so after winning the BE tourney. UConn's two national titles came on the heels of winning it as well.

Problem is, IIRC, this is the 2nd straight year Syracuse won the BE tourney then flopped in the first round of the NCAAs. That harms the conference, because it harms the prestige of the BE tourney, makes it look not so important from a national perspective. Sad ...

stevej5 Wrote:

omnicarrier Wrote:Most of the times I would agree with you, but the 2006 BET was something magical. If beforehand the basketball gods said its either those 4 days and a 1st round loss to a no-name program or a loss in the BE semis to G'Town and then a loss to either LSU or Duke - I'd definitely take those 4 days.

Yes, it *was* magical, because the Big East is, along with the ACC, one of the two conferences in which the conference tournament title is more prestigious than the regular season title. In the spotlight at Madison Square Garden, with rivals like SY/GT/St John's/UConn/Villanova going at it? Can't beat it.

Heck, i'm a Georgetown fan, and even though we haven't won the BE tourney in 17 years, i damn well know we've won 6 of them, while i don't have a clue as to how many regular season titles we've won. The loss to your Orangemen hurt last week precisely because of that. Likewise, McNamera's heroics were magnified.

And historically, winning the BE tourney was a stepping-stone to bigger things. All 3 times Georgetown made the final 4, they did so after winning the BE tourney. UConn's two national titles came on the heels of winning it as well.

Problem is, IIRC, this is the 2nd straight year Syracuse won the BE tourney then flopped in the first round of the NCAAs. That harms the conference, because it harms the prestige of the BE tourney, makes it look not so important from a national perspective. Sad ...

very interesting perspective, and unfortunately, I have to agree with your entire post, even the last paragragh.

cuseroc Wrote:very interesting perspective, and unfortunately, I have to agree with your entire post, even the last paragragh.

beyond that, i think omnicarrier sells syracuse's accomplishment a little short: i would take a BE tourney title over any NCAA tourney result up to (but not including) a regional title.

the way i see it:

national title > regional title (final 4) > BE tourney title >Elite 8 > NIT title > Sweet 16 > all else (for a BE team. since we have an unbalanced schedule a "regular season" title really has no meaning).