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Big East men’s basketball has twice as many teams as it football counterpart: 8 teams football to 16 teams basketball. And it’s been apparent since 1979 that having such a large conference, 3 more teams in basketball than any other NCAA Division I conference, hasn’t watered-down the talent level or competitiveness of the league. The conference’s proudest moment might’ve happened either in 1985, when 3 of the 4 Final Four team’s comprised itself of Big East teams (Villanova, Georgetown and St. John’s; the tournament winner going on to be Villanova) or last year, when 11 of the conference’s 16 teams went on to enter the NCAA Tournament comprising 16 percent of the tournament’s total field (Connecticut, Big East’s conference winner, also going on to win the 2011 championship game). Although not all of the Big East’s teams have done it while members of the conference, all of the Big East team’s, besides USF, have made an appearance in the Final Four at some point in their history’s.

For the last 30 years the spotlight of this mega-conference’s season-ending tournament has been played at basketball’s virtual mecca, Madison Square Garden, where 12 of the conference’s top 16 teams annually make the pilgrimage. This year the most highlighted team heading into the Garden will be #2 AP-ranked Syracuse. The Orangemen are one Notre Dame loss removed from a perfect season, and have been winning in the face of on-going former assistant coach Bernie Fine’s child abuse scandal, and a subsequent slander case against head coach Jim Boeheim, surrounding comments about the abused ball-boy children made soon after child abuse allegations first surfaced.

Perhaps the story of year in the Big East thus far though has been the mediocrity of the UConn Huskies, last year’s NCAA Champions, and Pittsburgh, last year’s Big East regular season champions. Both Pittsburgh and UConn as of this moment have sub .500 records in conference play (Pitt., 4-11; UConn, 7-8), with Pitt in the most trouble, showing signs of missing the Big East tournament. Even the seeming comfort of having an above .500 overall record (15-13) isn’t enough to have Panther fan’s fearing a snap of its streak of 10 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. UConn’s situation hasn’t reached crisis mode yet, they’ve been missing head coach Jim Calhoun since Feb. 3rd, leeriness shrowds its fanbase as the team has grossly underplayed its preseason top-5 ranking by most well-known polls.

Despite what will probably be another 8-10 team NCAA Tournament bid year, this could be the last year of the Big East’s continued dominance in men’s basketball. Recent conference realignment, that’s been spurred by growing TV contracts (mostly for college football), hasn’t spared its potential suitors in the Big East. West Virginia, lured by the Big 12, has effectively bought out the remaining year’s of its athletic contract with the league, with $20 million of its own money, to join its services with the Big 12 beginning the 2012-2013 seasons. And after Pittsburgh and Syracuse’s league contracts expire at the end of next season, two of the Big East’s most prestigious members will be joining the growing ACC conference.

Like it’s done in the past, the Big East has been raiding some of Conference USA’s best teams for full-sport members in Houston, SMU, UCF and Memphis to harbor competitive harmony between it’s colleges. But contrary to what the league has proved wrong in the past, being bigger might not be better for this league going forward. The loss of West Virginia next year, and Syracuse and Pittsburgh in 2012-2013 going forward might have irrevocably hurt the image and prestige of the Big East. Lacking some of its original shine and luster in the future, the ACC and Big 10 will look to strip to the Big East of being the premier conference to play basketball.