Great Night of College Basketball
- Thread starter TheSpecialSauce
- Start date
I enjoyed nova Providence. Nova was the better team but I give credit to Cooley and the friars. Good atmosphere too
Fantastic game. I mentioned it a few weeks ago, but the Big East seems to have a great game on almost every night.
My “hot take” is that I believe Nova is going to take Duke’s place as the most consistently great team in college basketball over the next 5-10 years. Gonzaga is in the conversation, but they need to win a title before I’d put them over Nova. Jay Wright is all the good parts of Coach K without the pretentious jerk portion. The challenge for the Big East will be the same as it was in the 80’s as they need to prove they can keep the marquee coaches if big money state schools come calling. The first challenge will be this off-season if Maryland comes calling for Cooley or Willard. That league with Wright, Cooley, Smart, Hurley, Willard, etc. beating each other up every night reminds me a bit of the old Big East and makes me very jealous we’re not a part of it
Someone needs to hire away Cooley and Willard. Providence and SHU being good is messing up college basketball. There is no reason that those schools can afford those coaches but an ACC school cannot.
Gee you would think a school that one of these guys are an alumni from would be interested considering their results lately.
Cooley is going to be tough to pull out of Providence. He’s a local guy, their new facility is beautiful and they have/will find the money to keep him happy.
I can see Willard leaving at some point. Seton Hall is a tough job and he’s probably hit the ceiling of what can be accomplished there.
Maybe but for some of these guys, it comes down to money. Power 5 football schools should be able to pay more than Big East schools, who only get $4 million per year for TV.
Theres enough support at those schools to keep a marquee coach regardless of TV money. The quality of life in the Big East for a coach, especially the east coast schools, is a big factor too as the travel/recruiting is largely localized. There’s something to be said for being in a conference where basketball is king versus the rest of the basketball power conferences where football will always run the show.
NC State and Maryland and many other "football schools" have much more "marquee support" for basketball than tiny Providence and Seton Hall.
What happened to Chris Mack at Louisville could be a warning to BE coaches. They are paid a very good salary. Have built up goodwill that will allow them to have one or two down years without the fear of being fired. They pretty much are the BMOC except for Hurley at UConn and get pretty much what they want. It's a consistent six or seven bid league so .500 league play gets you in the tournament. The schools have as much resources as the other schools - recruiting budget, private planes. There is limited travel for the six east coast schools. Atmosphere at each game except DePaul and Gtown this year is amazing.
So if you are Williard do you take an extra $1 million a year to go the NC State and possibly be gone in four years or know that you are safe at SH for the next six years at $3 million?
So if you are Williard do you take an extra $1 million a year to go the NC State and possibly be gone in four years or know that you are safe at SH for the next six years at $3 million?
That is exactly it. There’s something to be said, whether it’s Big East or elsewhere, for being the king in a small pond versus being second fiddle (or lower) in a big pond.
The travel piece is massively underrated. Villanova could probably play half their conference schedule without getting on a plane. That’s crazy when you think about it compared to what we do in the ACC or, even worse, what WVU does in the B12.
There’s a reason why Providence held off Michigan for Cooley and why Wright, who could have any pro or college job he wanted, is at Nova. That’s just a different league when it comes to hoops compared to what you see in the other power leagues.
