The answer, alas, has little to do with basketball.
The Big East was founded in 1979, when St. John's, Providence, Georgetown, Syracuse, Connecticut, Seton Hall and Boston College banded together to form a basketball-focused conference. Villanova was added a year later, and Pittsburgh joined in 1982. Penn State's application was rejected that same year because the conference wanted to maintain a focus on hoops -- a move that would seem short-sighted later.
It didn't take long for the fledgling conference to take off, as the Big East became one of the glamor divisions of the NCAA in the 80s. The biggest moment might have been in 1985, when John Thompson's Georgetown Hoyas, Louie Carnesecca's St. John's Redmen, and Rollie Massimino's Villanova Wildcats made up three-quarters of the final four, and 'Nova was the unlikely champion. Providence, led by Rick Pitino, Seton Hall, under P.J. Carlesimo, and Jim Boeheim's Syracuse teams also had great runs in the 80s.
In 1991, the Big East launched a football conference for the first time, with four-time national champion Miami headlining a group that also included Rutgers, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Temple along basketball members Syracuse and Pittsburgh. Initially, only Miami joined the basketball conference. Rutgers, West Virginia and Notre Dame joined for basketball in 1995 and Virginia Tech joined in 2001. The football/basketball split effectively created two conferences sharing the same name -- the alignment was awkward at best. The Big East continued to enjoy on-court success, as Jim Calhoun's Connecticut Huskies captured the national title in 1999, but changes were needed, badly.
Things came to a head in 2003, when the Atlantic Coast Conference, also looking to expand its football division, invited several Big East schools to jump ship. After months of wrangling, Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College moved to the ACC. Needing to maintain a minimum of eight football schools to keep an automatic Bowl Championship Series bid, the Big East raided Conference USA and brought in five new members -- football schools Louisville, Cincinnati, and South Florida, and basketball-only schools Marquette and DePaul -- to replace the three departures. With Connecticut making the jump to Division I in football, that gave the Big East eight schools for football and 16 for hoops.
Many observers think this alignment will be short-lived; that a schism between football schools and non-football schools is inevitable. Ironically, if the football schools chose to go their own way, the Big East would be back to what it was in 1979 -- a league comprised primarily of Eastern private and Catholic schools, mostly in urban areas, and with strong basketball traditions.
The Big East Tournament
The top 12 teams, based on regular season performance, will qualify for the 2008 Big East Tournament, to be held March 12-15 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Starting in 2009, the tournament field will be expanded to include all 16 teams.
Teams of the Big East
- Cincinnati Bearcats
- Connecticut Huskies
- DePaul Blue Demons
- Georgetown Hoyas
- Louisville Cardinals
- Marquette Golden Eagles
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Pittsburgh Panthers
- Providence Friars
- Rutgers Scarlet Knights
- Seton Hall Pirates
- South Florida Bulls
- St. John's Red Storm
- Syracuse Orange
- Villanova Wildcats
- West Virginia Mountaineers
