Big East; It's All About Money
The buzz in The Garden last night as Syracuse-Georgetown was about to go into overtime will never be replicated again. It doesn't matter if the ACC makes The Garden its tourney home. The memories won't fade. The Tournament won't be the same. Can't be. Will we ever see a game like UConn-Pitt in 2002? Doubtful. How about Gerry McNamara's run in 2006? Or the six overtime Syracuse-UConn game in 2009? Maybe teams would have stayed if Pitt's Steve Pederson, head of the Big East TV committee, had pulled the trigger on the 2012 ESPN deal.
A total of 160,456 fans in 2012. Probably more once the 2013 stats are in. The Garden was filled on Wednesday afternoon by halftime of the Providence-Cincinnati game. Would it be for halftime of Wake Forest-Clemson? Nope. There are so many people to blame that it isn't even funny. Let's start with Joe Paterno, who kept the Big East from growing early on with his concept of an all-sports conference. John Marinatto didn't help as an ineffectual Big East Commissioner. He never really understood the significance of football. And how about Syracuse and Pittsburgh impetuously leaving in September, 2011 to join the ACC on about a minute's notice?
Saturday’s Big East final of Syracuse-Louisville will be bittersweet. The crowd will be large. It will be Orange. And the game will mean everything to those on the floor. For Jim Boeheim, things will never be the same. He is a reluctant ACC participant. He wasn't even consulted about the move. It may be the most significant non-NCAA game for the remainder of his career.
