Apples to Oranges

Over the past three seasons, we've been bombarded with talk about the Big East's basketball dominance. In January and February, the league flexes it's collective muscle on Big Monday and Super Tuesday, generating a lot of buzz when the weekly AP and Coaches Polls are released. But, with all the talk about Big East dominance, why haven't they been that good in March?

A Big East team hasn't won a National Championship since UConn raised the trophy in 2004. In fact, they haven't had a respresentative even play in the National Championship Game since then. They're a paltry 3-2 against higher-seeded teams in the last two NCAA Tournaments, earning a nation-high total of 15 bids. Ten of those fifteens teams have been eliminated by lower-seeds. As you see, the Conference's perceived dominance hasn't scared off opponents in the last two March and Aprils:

2010
#1 Syracuse loses to #5 Butler, #2 Villanova loses to #10 St. Mary’s, #3 Georgetown loses to #14 Ohio, #3 Pittsburgh loses to #6 Xavier, #6 Notre Dame loses to #11 Old Dominion, #6 Marquette loses to #11 Washington

That's four losses to double-digit seeds, and the average seed disparity in those defeats being six seed-lines. The lone higher-seeded win of 2010 was #2 West Virginia's defeat of #1 Kentucky in the Regional Final.

2009
#1 Pittsburgh lost to #3 Villanova, #1 Louisville loses to #2 Michigan State, #1 UConn loses to #2 Michigan State, #6 West Virgnia loses to #11 Dayton

The results weren't as poor as 2010, but the big boppers (trio of #1 seeds in Lousiville, Pittsburgh, and UConn) were all bounced by lower-seeded teams. At least #3 Syracuse and #6 Marquette were respectable in losses to higher-seeded Oklahoma and Missouri.

The point isn't that the Big East isn't the best basketball conference in America - it is. However, comparing it to the SEC's dominance of football, just doesn't hold water. The last five football National Champions have come from the SEC, and the league is 15-6 all-time in BCS games. Compare that to the Big East, where current members are 0-5 in Final Fours since 2004, and the gap becomes apparent.

Let's see if they're able to truly be dominant in a couple of weeks.