The Big Not Quite East

The Big East, a conference that has been plundered so often recently that it may as well be considered for a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel, has finally added several new colleges. These colleges are Boise State, San Diego State, SMU, Houston, and UCF. Boise State and San Diego State will join for football exclusively, while the other three schools are joining for all sports.

Obviously, Big East schools are paying most of their attention to sports, and not as much to education. If they had even the slightest knowledge of basic geography, they would be aware that Idaho and California are not exactly close to the east coast. In fact, neither are Houston or SMU, but they are a lot closer than Boise Sate and San Diego State. Suppose the argument could be made that Idaho and California are east of some things, like Anchorage and Hawaii, but does that truly matter?

College realignment has completely disregarded the notion of proximety. In fact, the Big East has completely disregarded the notion of having all their schools in the same time zone. They now have their new claim to fame – being the first conference in college athletics to have schools in all four continental time zones. This is such an accomplishment, that the conference trophy should be replaced with a time zone map and each school can play for a year’s supply of No Jet Lag – the medication used by such notable teams as the All Blacks (please send us money for the advertising, thanks).

Then there is the question of what this conference should be named. The Big East Of Alaska? The Big Not So East? The Big Time Zone? The Big Screw All Semblance Of Caring About Education For The Athletes? Or what about getting rid of all pretense of being about ‘amateur’ play, and sell the naming rights for the conference? Seriously, why wouldn’t a company like Jet Blue or Southwest Airlines jump all over this? This conference is tailor made for their area of expertise.

So, at least one conference has the nerve to admit what they truly are. Let’s hear it for the Big East – the first conference that really only cares about their standing amongst athletic programs.

Why Does Everyone Hate Duke?

Seemingly every day in sports news, there are new allegations of recruiting violations at major colleges. Athletes are continually getting into trouble, be it for sexual assault, drugs, alcohol, or even murder. More and more, we wonder where all the coaches that do things the right way went to. We wonder where the athletes that we feel comfortable for our children to look up to are. We wonder if major college sports schools care about their athlete's education more than to just pay it lip service. Turns out that there is still such a place - Duke University.

Since arriving at Duke in 1980, coach Mike Krzyzewski has built a program based on getting solid athletes that are actually good citizens. Duke will not have the thugs, the trouble makers, or the players that refuse to realize that it is about team. The Army, where he played college basketball, has an award named in his honor - the "Coach K Teaching Character Through Sports" award - given each spring to cadets and coaches who display superior ethics and character through sports. For the most part, his athletes finish their educations. He brings back former players as coaches, helping them out to find jobs.

Yet, Coach K and the Duke basketball program are almost universally despised. Why is this? Is it due to the continual run of NCAA tournament appearances, missing the tournament once since the 1983-84 season? Is it due to the perception that Krzyzewski is a smug, arrogant individual? Is it because they seem to produce the exact same players year in and year out? Shouldn't the fact that they manage to win while upholding ethics and getting actually good citizens matter?

Duke is everything we want a program to be. So why the hatred for this program?

When wins over two top 25 teams don't matter

Last night, the Providence College Friars defeated their second consecutive top 25 team when they defeated Villanova (8 in the AP poll) 83-68. Five days before, they defeated Louisville (23 in the AP poll) 72-67. This marked the first time in twelve years that they managed to defeat ranked opponents in back to back games.

However, these two wins are the only two victories that the Friars have in the Big East. As of this point, they are outside of their own conference tournament, and are in no way assured a berth in the NCAA tournament. While these two victories have been impressive, the Friars have also lost to some terrible programs, notably the University of Southern Florida and LaSalle.

Perhaps these two wins are a springboard for the rest of their season. In these victories, the Friars have played excellent defense, have been contesting every shot, and have taken care of the basketball. With their next two games being against Seton Hall and a rematch with USF, they have the potential to go on a little run.

The two victories over Villanova and Louisville are impressive. They just won't mean anything when March comes around.