If the overtone of the last week in men’s college basketball was that the Big East is “still very much relevant,” then the undertone was “just how badly the sport needs the Big East to be relevant,” according to Ethan Sears of the N.Y. POST. When the Big East is the “biggest draw in the sport, college basketball wins.” That is “true even now,” with former members Pitt, Syracuse and Louisville playing in the ACC. There is "something about UConn being back in the Sweet Sixteen, with a very real chance of playing two weeks from Monday, that feels right." That also is how a "revitalized St. John’s, under Rick Pitino, and a revitalized Georgetown, under Ed Cooley, would feel.” It has been a “long time since the Hoyas were a force to be reckoned with” as their last NCAA Tournament win was in 2015. It has been “even longer since the Johnnies mattered -- you need to go all the way back to 2000 to find their last win in the Big Dance.” But when the Big East makes its annual pilgrimage to Madison Square Garden, it should “not grab the attention of the city, but of the college basketball-watching country.” Sears: “We got step one toward that end this week” (N.Y. POST, 3/22).
RETURN OF THE REDS: In N.Y., Zach Braziller wrote there is “legitimate hope that St. John’s may finally be on its way back to national relevance” and it “comes in the form of” new coach Pitino. He met with St. John’s higher-ups and “went over everything he felt was needed to create a winning team," from improving facilities to NIL plans and the composition of the roster. A significant increase in St. John’s games at MSG is “expected with Pitino in the fold,” and at some point in the not-so-distant future, he would “like to play every league game there.” Pitino said, “We will double the season-ticket holders, we will double the gates at the Garden. This is going to be a special ticket again” (N.Y. POST, 3/20).
A NEW ERA: In D.C., John Feinstein wrote the John Thompson era “ended” at Georgetown when the school named Cooley to replace coach Patrick Ewing as its men’s basketball coach. Cooley comes to Georgetown from Providence, and the hiring of an “outsider" was "both inevitable and necessary.” Georgetown will “start over,” and it will “start from rock bottom.” But Cooley is a “proven program builder.” During Georgetown's glory years, it “didn’t seem to matter much to recruits that the Hoyas were playing their games away from campus.” With losing have come “massive attendance drop-offs and marginal student support.” But Cooley’s hiring is a “major step,” and an “admission that the time has finally come for change.” It could be “argued that no major program has fallen further than Georgetown in recent years” (WASHINGTON POST, 3/20).
HEEL TURN: In Providence, Bill Koch wrote it is “going to be a long time -- if ever" -- before some Providence fans are "ready to forgive” Cooley. He is the “first coach since the league’s 1979 founding to depart directly for a conference rival.” This “alters every fiber” of the Providence athletic department, “from the men’s basketball program to its school-wide marketing campaigns.” Koch: “How might this alter the collective spirit of the conference? College sports is bigger business than ever before -- let's not be sanctimonious.” But there was “something to be said for the Catholic Seven and their breakaway from football-driven peers" to form what has been a "successful basketball-centric league over the last decade.” That group dynamic will "now be sorely tested due to hurt feelings that may never heal” (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 3/21).
