The Big East was formed in 1979 with a focus on basketball and has a long history of success on the court. The conference also has a long history of in-fighting between the “football” schools and the “basketball” schools. The past few years have brought on the defection of several of the top basketball programs (Boston College, Syracuse, Pittsburg, and Notre Dame) and several of the top football programs (Miami, Rutgers, West Virginia, and Virginia Tech). While the core of the original basketball schools remain (Georgetown, UConn, Providence, St. John’s, and Seton Hall), it seems the conference is searching for a new identity. Since the “football” schools never got along with the “basketball” schools, maybe that new identity is the original one, a top-tier basketball conference as well as a top-tier baseball conference.
When I look at baseball programs, the main criterion for being “successful” is regional appearances. The secondary area I look at is winning percentage, and anything over 55% is successful in my opinion. So I looked up the numbers for the past four seasons and this is what I found.
TEAMS STAYING IN THE BIG EAST
- Louisville; 170-83 (67.19%); 3 Reg App
- UConn; 160-87 (64.78%); 2 Reg App
- St. John’s; 149-87 (63.14%); 3 Reg App
- South Florida; 123-108 (53.25%)
- Seton Hall; 112-103 (52.09%); 1 Reg App
- Villanova; 99-110 (47.37%)
- Cincinnati; 106-123 (46.29%)
- Georgetown; 88-127 (40.93%)
- Central Florida; 139-97 (58.90%); 2 Reg App
- Tulane; 135-95 (58.70%)
- Memphis; 110-117 (48.46%)
- Houston; 97-120 (44.70%)
- Pittsburg; 127-90 (58.53%)
- Notre Dame; 118-111 (51.53%)
- Rutgers 103-112 (47.91%)
So what are they losing? Pittsburg has a new stadium that opened in 2011, but only has a seating capacity of only 900. Notre Dame has some good history in baseball, but their stadium was built in 1994. Rutgers has invested in a turf playing surface in 2007, but still only seats 1,500. While these schools have made investments in their baseball programs in the recent past, it’s nowhere near the investment of the schools being added. These three schools have invested in their football programs and are being rewarded with addition to big-boy football conferences.
Looks like the Big East may just be doing what I have suggested, building a top-tier baseball conference. Based on my numbers, they are adding two schools that have been recently successful and two other that have invested in order to be successful in the near future. All the while, losing three schools that are focusing on football, and being able to keep most of the basketball core in the conference. Next question, will the Big East have four or more regional teams in 2013?
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