Geno Auriemma, UConn: Yada. Doug Bruno, DePaul: More yada. Terri Williams-Flournoy, Georgetown: Still more yada. Tom Collen, Louisville: "This conference, hands down, is the best conference in the country."
Huh? What?
"That's a big statement, but I feel it's true," Collen said. "I think that our nine through 12 teams could go into 75 percent of the conferences in the country and run the table run the table. That's how good we are."
Marquette's Terri Mitchell echoed Collen's statement. So did Notre Dame's Muffett McGraw. And Syracuse's Quentin Hillsman. Suddenly, the tenor of Big East women's media day wasn't just about being happy to be here, it was like the Sixteen Musketeers. All for one and one for all. "I think our teams at the top are as good as any others in the country, but overall, 1 through 12, I would put our 12 against anybody in the country, no question about it," Auriemma said. "We might not have gotten a team to the Final Four last year, but in terms of depth, how many good teams we have, I think it is (the best)."
Now, Tennessee's Pat Summitt might disagree, and Duke's Gail Goestenkors and Maryland's Brenda Frese would argue otherwise, but there is little doubt that the Big East, at
Seven teams — UConn, Rutgers, DePaul, Louisville, St. John's, South Florida and Notre Dame — made the NCAA tournament. It marked the third time in the last four seasons the Big East had at least seven teams selected. Pittsburgh, Marquette, Villanova and Cincinnati were invited to the Women's NIT. But the most telling sign: Since 2000, the Big East has won five NCAA national championships, UConn in 2000, '02, '03 and'04 and Notre Dame in 2001.
In that same time frame, how many has the ACC won? One. The SEC? None. "We've always been the best at the top. Obviously, all the national championships that we've won in this decade when you look at that, that says a lot about how you rank the conference," McGraw said. "When we joined the league, it was kind of top heavy with Connecticut always being the one that was the measuring stick for the league. Now, Rutgers is having a lot of success, I think Louisville and DePaul have added a lot. We have a lot bigger group at the top."
And because of the depth and the talent, there aren't very many cakewalks anymore. You can't just get off the bus at St. John's or Georgetown or Seton Hall and post the win even before the opening tip. "In a majority of the leagues, there's a very cut and dried order. Here's the top, here's the bottom. There are very few upsets, very few," Auriemma said. "You see upsets more and more in our league. But even without the upsets, the games themselves are a lot more difficult to win now than they were. You play St. John's, that's not a 'W' anymore before the game starts, you know? It's not automatic that you're going to beat these teams. There are just too many good teams now."
Why? Because everyone is working hard to catch up to the league's elite. St. John's has gone 22-8 and 20-11 the last two seasons after going 10-18 and 8-19. Pittsburgh went 22-11 last year after going 13-15 in 2004-05. And Providence, a team that went 1-27 two years ago, went 8-19.
"That's what I always felt that made us the best conference in the country," Villanova's Harry Perretta said. "Our 6 through 12 teams. Our middle teams and bottom teams are a lot stronger than other (conference's) middle and bottom teams. Yes, it helps that we have 16, obviously, but that's what makes it very competitive. The 12 team can beat they may not be able to beat your 1 or 2, but they can beat everyone else.
"Our 6 through 10 teams have always been very competitive. Remember when we got eight teams in (the NCAAs) when we only had 12 (actually 14) in the league (in 2003-04)? That's what makes us a powerful league. It's not just your number 1 and 2 teams, it's the other teams that make your league really good." Winning five national championships in the last seven years? Maybe Tom Collen is right.
Contact Chris Elsberry at celsberry@ctpost.com
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