The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Sports

January 7, 2009

Big East is new king

And West Virginia is part of the court

By Carl “Butch” Antolini

MORGANTOWN — When I was a kid, the powerhouse conference in college basketball was the ACC, better teams top to bottom than anywhere else. Yes, there was John Wooden at UCLA, Kentucky and Adolph Rupp, Bobby Knight at Indiana and others — but no conference could match squads like those recruited and coached by the likes of Dean Smith at North Carolina, Maryland led by Lefty Driesell, Norm Sloan at North Carolina State, Virginia guided by Terry Holland and Carl Tacy at Wake Forest.

The ACC was king.

Then in the early 1980s a power shift started.

Guys like John Thompson at Georgetown, Jim Boeheim at Syracuse, Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun, Lou Carnesecca at St. John’s, Rollie Massimino at Villanova were coaching teams in a fledgling conference known as the Big East.

Soon enough, the Big East became a conference known for tough, hard-nosed competition on the hardwood with real promise for challenging the hierarchy of the college hoops scene.

On Monday, and then again Tuesday night at the packed WVU Coliseum, verification came.

The Big East is officially occupying the throne.

A record nine, yes nine, conference teams are ranked in the nation’s Top 25. That’s never been done by the ACC or any other league.

That’s recognition, but to witness the brand and caliber of basketball played in Morgantown between the No. 5 Huskies of Connecticut and the Big East’s lowest ranked team, No. 25 West Virginia, served as the kicker.

Was it the intensity displayed on the court for 40 grueling minutes? Or the frenzied crowd, which reached a deafening crescendo when the Mountaineers’ designated “heavy” Cam Thoroughman made a eyepopping left-handed layup with 2:59 remaining to pull WVU to within three? How about the cat-and-mouse game between the Huskies’ Hall of Fame coach Calhoun and future inductee Bob Huggins of WVU?

It was all of those things and much more.

Sure, the Mountaineer faithful were primed for an upset. However, a missed front end of a one-and-one by Thoroughman and two late field goal misfires by WVU’s best shooter, Alex Ruoff, led to an “L” (61-55) being recorded for the gold and blue.

But true basketball fans shouldn’t be disenchanted because it was a prime example of the college game being played at the highest level.

When you play with the big boys, and Connecticut is, folks (see 16 Big East conference or tournament titles), you’re going to take your lumps, especially when you have only one senior.

There will be other nights and knights because West Virginia is a member of the elite conference, part of the roundtable. The Mountaineers are competing with the best and the successes will come.

For the Big East is king and don’t expect a guy named Huggins to rest until the crown becomes his own.

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