It’s no secret the Big East Conference has taken its fair share of shots in the first two years since the enormous transition. The Fox Sports 1 TV rankings have been unremarkable. Many experts claim the conference has become more of a mid-major, despite boasting one of the top RPI’s.
When the Gavitt Tipoff Series was announced, it seemed to be a great opportunity to put the conference back at the forefront. The series, styled after the Big Ten/ACC and Big 12/SEC Challenge, will feature eight annual head-to-head matchups between the two conferences for the next eight years.
The series will earn the Big East spotlight on ESPN, who will air the games hosted by Big Ten teams. The sports mothership has been rather critical of the Big East since losing its television rights.
The two conferences had many great storylines viewers could follow. The series could feature geographical rivals, games like Illinois and DePaul, or Ohio State and Xavier. They could have top tier matchups, with blue chip programs like Michigan State, Villanova, Ohio State and Wisconsin.
Just from a Marquette perspective, a return for Tom Crean would be the most newsworthy draw. A game against Northwestern would have a geographic factor, and opens the door for Fox Sports 1 to explore the Coach Krzyzewski tree, with former Duke assistants Steve Wojciechowski and Chris Collins commanding the two programs.
Instead, fans will be treated to the monumental battle between hardwood titans DePaul and Penn State. Someone, stop the presses.
To be fair, the series does feature one game that will certainly garner national headlines: Georgetown at Maryland. Marquette received one of the better draws in Iowa, who made it to the Round of 32 in this year’s tournament. Xavier at Michigan could be decent, as the Wolverines are primed for a bounce-back season. St. John’s and Rutgers could also provide some intrigue due to only 37 miles separating the two schools.
Fans are left with many games that simply seem irrelevant, like Illinois at Providence and Creighton at Indiana. Arguably the Big East’s biggest draw, Villanova, is stuck in what will likely be a lopsided matchup with Nebraska.
When it comes to the blandness of the scheduling, it begins and ends with the Big Ten’s top tier programs sitting out from the event in its first year. Likely the hottest three programs in the conference, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan State, are all absent from the schedule. The three teams at the bottom of the Big Ten standings, Nebraska, Penn State and Rutgers, are all included in this “feature” series.
It seems like the two conferences missed out on a great opportunity to create noise, which is ultimately the exact point of series like this. Few of these games grab attention of casual viewers, something that Fox Sports 1 desperately needs for the games they air. As for the games hosted by the Big Ten, which will be on ESPN, the games might simply be lost in the blur of the “beginning of the season basketball” madness.
