is that Jim Larranaga is still coaching and is, even at his age, much better than the vast majority of box-checking, grossly over-hyped bozos hired at Major conference programs over the past decade or more. So the ACC had 1 team in the Sweet 16, which now is in the Elite 8.
One bad thing is the the Big East has returned with a vengeance. The young here may have never learned how many weekly viewers BE basketball once had, much less that it became open talk, even as Michael Jordan was still brand new in the NBA, that some day the BE could put ACC basketball totally out of existence in terms of taking top northeastern players and coaches.
Danny Hurley is the most likely next huge coach in the BE. UConn looks not just like a winner this year but like a program built for a king and very bright future. The BE needed UCOn to return as much as UCOnn basketball needed to be in the BE.
Also very promising for the BE is that Shaka Smart seems much more comfortable and competent at Marquette than he did at Texas. Perhaps being back home makes all the difference for him. George McDermott clearly can keep Creighton a winner, year after year. Sean Miller has Xavier back close to its best.
The big question for this surprisingly deep BE after Jay Wright's retirement is: could the remaining part of the old core get back to their heights? Georgetown hopes that Ed Cooley can win bigger there than he did at Providence, which was good for Providence. St Johns is betting that Rick Pitino has one more big run in him. If both those happen, and Providence does not fall off the map, then BC basketball will be totally irrelevant in its own region, rather like Holy Cross, and even Syracuse could be pushed down a number of notches. If Adrian Autry turn out to be even a bit closer to Kenny Payne for Louisville than to Hubert Davis for UNC as the BE is rising, then Syracuse basketball could become a regional after thought.
One bad thing is the the Big East has returned with a vengeance. The young here may have never learned how many weekly viewers BE basketball once had, much less that it became open talk, even as Michael Jordan was still brand new in the NBA, that some day the BE could put ACC basketball totally out of existence in terms of taking top northeastern players and coaches.
Danny Hurley is the most likely next huge coach in the BE. UConn looks not just like a winner this year but like a program built for a king and very bright future. The BE needed UCOn to return as much as UCOnn basketball needed to be in the BE.
Also very promising for the BE is that Shaka Smart seems much more comfortable and competent at Marquette than he did at Texas. Perhaps being back home makes all the difference for him. George McDermott clearly can keep Creighton a winner, year after year. Sean Miller has Xavier back close to its best.
The big question for this surprisingly deep BE after Jay Wright's retirement is: could the remaining part of the old core get back to their heights? Georgetown hopes that Ed Cooley can win bigger there than he did at Providence, which was good for Providence. St Johns is betting that Rick Pitino has one more big run in him. If both those happen, and Providence does not fall off the map, then BC basketball will be totally irrelevant in its own region, rather like Holy Cross, and even Syracuse could be pushed down a number of notches. If Adrian Autry turn out to be even a bit closer to Kenny Payne for Louisville than to Hubert Davis for UNC as the BE is rising, then Syracuse basketball could become a regional after thought.
