Now we understand what it must have felt like to watch the warm-up band at the Beatles last concert. The opening round of the final Big East Tournament as we know it had a similar feeling last night. It’s hard to get excited when you know greatness is about to end.
The dismantling of one of the most storied college basketball conferences ever won’t truly hit home until Syracuse, Georgetown, Pitt and Louisville take the court and the finality of it all starts to become a reality. That’s why last night’s opening round felt like more of a nuisance than nostalgic.
No disrespect to Seton Hall which needed overtime to defeat South Florida, 46-42, and Rutgers, which defeated DePaul 76-57 in the late game, but last night will not rank among the classic evenings in the tournament’s long history.
The Hall survived and advanced, which is what March is all about. But it needed overtime to tie the conference record for the lowest point total by a winning team set by Georgetown in 2003. The two teams combined to shoot 9-of-44 from three-point range and 31 percent from the field. It took two free throws by junior forward Fuquan Edwin with nine tenths of a second remaining to push past the lowest combined point total of 87 set when Georgetown defeated Villanova 46-41 in that ’03 game.
“I’m proud that we won and we’re getting ready to play Syracuse,” said junior center Gene Teague, discounting the notion of an ugly win.
It will get better. It always does, which is why this week will eventually be filled with plenty of emotion and drama.
Funny thing is, while most everyone hopes this weekend never ends, Rutgers and Seton Hall probably can’t wait to get it over. This year has been a disappointment for both schools that have been crippled by maladies on and off the court. The New Jersey schools played last night hoping to salvage something from their lost seasons.
Seton Hall (15-17, 3-15 in the Big East) barely missed an invite to the NCAA Tournament last year, but was decimated by injuries this season. All in all, the Hall lost 10 of its last 12 regular season games and finished with its worst showing in the Big East since 1985-86.
Still, in many ways, being part of the new Big East, which will include DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s and Villanova, might offer Seton Hall a fresh start in a conference primarily of Catholic schools with similar philosophies. It has to be better than being pounded by Syracuse, Louisville and Connecticut.
Speaking of getting pounded, Rutgers, which plays Notre Dame tonight, will join the Big Ten, which many regard as the best conference in basketball this season. The Scarlet Knights (15-15) lost 11 of their final 13 regular-season games during a year where head coach Mike Rice was suspended for three games and fined $50,000 for what was termed violations of athletic-department policy. He was essentially told to calm down a little, and he managed to do despite his team’s struggles.
Joining the Big Ten is viewed primarily as a move to bolster Rutgers football program and be part of the money-making machine that conference has created with the Big Ten network. But Rutgers basketball program eventually should benefit as well, offering New Jersey recruits a chance to stay home and compete with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan and Indiana.
Who knows exactly how all of this will play out or what the new Big East will look like five years from now. What we do know is the Big East as we’ve known it will no longer be the same after a weekend we hope never ends.