Off Campus: Amid changes, Big East basketball goes on

NEW YORK - I had to look it up. Would Larry Brown be at Wednesday's Big East media day? That would be a layup, writing about the Brooklyn native and former 76ers coach, now 72 years old, returning to his hometown representing the Mustangs of Southern Methodist. Larry, you commuting down there from the Main Line?

LB wasn't here. SMU doesn't join the Big East until next year.

Villanova coach Jay Wright said he was interviewed at the Pavilion in the offseason - "I looked up, we have a big banner with all the [Big East] teams on the banner. They yellowed out West Virginia. I couldn't tell. Did they yellow it out or could I just not read West Virginia in yellow? Do we have everybody else in there? Is that sign in our arena right?"

This year, Wright pointed out, is actually pretty simple. West Virginia has gone to the Big 12. Nobody new is in until next year, when SMU and Houston and Central Florida come in. The biggest basketball additions, the ones all the coaches were mentioning Wednesday at Big East media day, are Memphis and Temple.

This will be a weird year, though. No Jim Calhoun at Connecticut. No matter how long he decides to keep coaching at Syracuse, Jim Boeheim will be done with the Big East after this season when the Orange move to the ACC.

It was Boeheim who was famously grumpy about that move, saying last year that he doesn't know where to eat in Clemson, S.C.

Will Boeheim try to ignore that this is his last go-round?

"What are you talking about?" Boeheim said.

He gave a half wink.

"Does that answer your question?"

Perfectly.

The league will go on without his school, Boeheim pointed out.

"I was at Syracuse before the Big East," Boeheim said. "I was at Syracuse with seven teams in the Big East, nine teams, 14 teams, 16 teams, 18 teams. Whatever it is. Things change constantly. It's just college athletics. It's going to continue to change, I'm sure."

Boeheim said the demise of the league had been predicted "many, many, many, many times over many, many, many, many years" and it's still strong.

The thing about college coaches, they're used to saying good-bye. They hold a Senior Day virtually every year. Boeheim isn't the publicly sentimental sort, to put it mildly, but he wasn't going to wax poetic about no longer seeing Jim Calhoun standing (and wildly gesticulating) from the front of Connecticut's bench.

"I don't usually look down there too much," Boeheim said. "I look out on the court and see who's out there. They'll have good players, and Kevin [Ollie] will do a good job with them."

As always, being Big East favorite puts a team in the national title conversation. Louisville is that squad this season. The Cardinals were the runaway pick to win the Big East. Asked his thoughts about national contenders, coach Rick Pitino said he thought Indiana might have the best five in the country.

"We could have the best 10 players in America," Pitino said. "We've got 10 really good guys."

Nobody had Louisville winning the Big East tournament last season and going to the Final Four after a 10-8 regular Big East season, good for seventh in the league.

"We've got a chance like I would say 40 other schools do," Pitino said of the national picture, pointing out that Connecticut, Duke and Pittsburgh were all in last season's top 10, and none of them were around by the second round of the NCAA tournament. Pitt didn't make it. Duke lost to Lehigh. Everybody seems to agree the field keeps leveling out.

The coaches staying in the Big East will cheerlead the newcomers. They do it most easily for Memphis and Temple - "top 25 programs," Pitino said.

Wright made the point that the Big East elevates teams, and it will happen with the new arrivals that haven't been as strong in basketball lately.

This year, Syracuse is picked second and Notre Dame third, with Pittsburgh sixth (behind Cincinnati fourth and Georgetown fifth), so three of the top six will depart either next season or soon after. (The Irish departure date for the ACC is subject to negotiation.)

They should have put up a banner: Those leaving, thanks for the memories, and good riddance. This will still be the league in the Northeast is the general sentiment. New commissioner Mike Aresco announced an extension of the postseason tournament deal with Madison Square Garden, reportedly for 10 years.

"It's hard to argue that top to bottom we're not the top basketball league in America," Aresco said, mentioning that the league has averaged more than eight NCAA bids for the last seven years, best in the country.

So it won't just be the names on the back of jerseys changing. Boeheim doesn't think anybody should get misty eyed.

"The old guys, eventually we all go," Boeheim said.

Except for Larry Brown. He's due to show up next year.