Category Archives: Big East News

Big East News, Schedule

Big East/Big Ten Challenge: What This Means for the Big East

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With Kevin McNamara’s announcement on Twitter that the Big East and Big Ten conferences have agreed to begin a challenge series in the 2015-16 season, it’s fantastic news for this new version of the Big East. Scheduling strong opponents outside the conference has become critically important for all member schools because of the defections of perennially highly ranked programs like Syracuse and Louisville among others from the in conference schedule. The Big Ten is arguably the 2nd best basketball conference in the country behind only the ACC.

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Providence has been working on scheduling a Big Ten opponent for this upcoming season with Michigan being the one where negotiations seem closest to completion. Marquette plays in-state rival Wisconsin every season. Creighton and Nebraska do that same. Seton Hall and new Big Ten member, Rutgers, will be in year 2 of an 8 year series they agreed to in March 2013. Now all 10 members of the Big East will get to play a Big Ten opponent to start their season. It has been reported that each Big Ten team will play in the Dave Gavitt Tip Off at least 4 times with each Big East member playing in it at least 6 times over the course of the 8 year deal. The fact that this series will be named after the Hall of Famer, Dave Gavitt adds some special connection for Friar fans. It’s great to see that his greatness and legacy continue to carry further than just Friartown.

The games will be played in a 4 day period from Tuesday-Friday during the first week of each season in November. The Big Ten/ACC Challenge, an ESPN creation, will continue. In terms of television for these games, the coverage will be split among ESPN, Fox Sports 1 and the Big Ten Network with the home team determining which network the game will be aired on.

That takes care of the housekeeping. Now you know the details. But what does this new series mean for the Big East?

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Big East News

ESPN’s Jeff Goodman: The Fab 50 for 2014-15

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ESPN’s Jeff Goodman came out with “a detailed look ahead at the nation’s top programs and how they’re positioning themselves for the 2014-15 campaign … and beyond.” Providence didn’t make Goodman’s cut of top 50 teams (cue the conspiracy theorists) while teams like UTEP, Stephen F. Austin, Toledo and Louisiana Tech do make the cut ahead of the Friars. There are 3 Big East teams mentioned and it could be argued that PC will be better than #40 Xavier next season. Click here to see the full top 50 (ESPN Insider). Below are the 3 Big East teams:

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Big East News

Big East News: Creighton’s Doug McDermott Wins Wooden Award

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Congratulations to Doug McDermott for being named the winner of the Wooden Award. This marks the 11th National Player of the Year Award for McDermott but the Wooden Award is THE player of the year award. McDermott becomes the first Big East player to win this prestigious award since St. John’s Walter Berry did it in 1986 and is only the 3rd Big East player to ever win the award with Chris Mullin of St. John’s winning in 1985.

The announcement was made on ESPN’s SportsCenter by John Wooden’s grandson. The official awards gala will take place in Los Angeles on April 11th.

About the John R. Wooden Award

Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball.  It is bestowed upon the nation’s best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA.  Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Candace Parker (’07 and ’08), Kevin Durant (’09) and Maya Moore of Connecticut (’09 and ‘11). Michigan’s Trey Burke won the 2013 Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s.

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed close to a million dollars to universities’ general scholarship fund in the names of the All American recipients. The Award has also sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps in the Award’s name.   Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament.  The day-long tournament, which brings together Special Olympic athletes and the All Americans, takes place at The Los Angeles Athletic Club the weekend of the John R. Wooden Award Ceremony.

Follow the candidates and get the latest news throughout the season by logging on to www.WoodenAward.com, following us on Twitter (@WoodenAward), or going to the Wooden Award facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/WoodenAward.  For more information on the John R. Wooden Award, please contact the Wooden Award staff at 213-630-5231 or via email at woodenaward@laac.net.

Big East News

First Season In the Books: How Did The Big East Do?

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Rewind to Big East media day, October 16, 2013. Val Ackerman, the Big East’s new commissioner said the following to the media: “There’s no doubt the eyes of the basketball world and the eyes of others in college sports are definitely on the Big East.”

How true those words would be. And not surprisingly, the “eyes of the basketball world” were quick to be negative. Without the backing of ESPN, the Big East was constantly knocked and, even when good things happened, not given its full due. It was not an ideal first season for this new basketball-centric league. Marquette and Georgetown were picked 1 and 2 in the Big East Preseason Coaches’ Poll. Many thought that it was crucial for Marquette, a team that has had a good run of success since joining the conference in 2005, and especially Georgetown, a school that was a big part of the original Big East’s foundation, to be successful both in the conference and nationally. Injuries and lack of on court chemistry seemed to do in both the Golden Eagles and Hoyas as the teams would finish 6th and 7th after 18 regular season games. Only two teams were ranked heading into the Big East Tournament and there was a concern that those two teams might even be the only schools to make the NCAA Tournament.

You Only Get One First Impression

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BREAKING: Marquette Hires Duke Assoc HC Steve Wojciechowski, per Jeff Goodman

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Now it makes sense why other guys started to “withdraw” their names from consideration last night. They were trying to save face because they were likely informed Marquette had made a decision and it wasn’t them. I’m initially happy with this hire because he’s a “name” coach even as an assistant at Duke. But thinking about this long term, I’m a bit concerned he isn’t long for this job. He has widely been known to be the “coach in waiting” at Duke once Coack K decides to call it a career but that might not be for another 5 years according to Coach K himself. Marquette fans have been talking about how they don’t want their coaching position to be a stepping stone. Well they might have just hired a coach who sees this job as jus that.

For Wojciechowski this makes a lot of sense. He will go to a school with huge backing for the basketball program. He’ll get a nice pay increase and he will get some head coaching experience. Obviously there is a risk involved that he  could fall flat on his face and then maybe his chances of heading back to Duke in a few years takes a hit but I have a feeling he will be successful. The issue for Marquette will be that they might have to go through another coaching search in 3-5 years if and when the Duke job opens up. But for now, I like this hire and think he will be successful. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the recruits stick around now. To me, this is a better move than a Ben Howland and I’m sure we will see some floor slapping going on at Marquette now.

Big East News

A-10 to Look at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center for Conference Tourney in ’17 and ’18

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The Providence Journal’s Kevin McNamara is reporting that the Dunkin’ Donuts Center has reached out to URI to let them know that they are interested in bidding for the A10 Conference Tournament that has now been displaced from the Barclays Center in 2017 and 2018 due to a deal with the ACC. The Dunk was a host of first and second round NCAA Tournament games in 2010 and they are reportedly trying to get first and second round NCAA Tournament games back. I think if they end up getting a crack at the A10 tournament, it will go a long way in getting the NCAA to consider them again to host first and second round games.

Providence has increased their hotel situations over the last few years and there is no shortage of great dining to be had (just ask Jon Rothstein). From my view, there is no reason the A10 or NCAA should overlook the Dunk. I know PC fans would love to have the NCAA tournament back at the Dunk and they might even stop in to watch some A10 tourney action for the right matchup.