NEW YORK — The Big East Tournament will have some major competition in the Big Apple over the next two years, and Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard thinks that’s “cute.”
After playing its postseason tournament in Washington, D.C., this year, the ACC will host its conference tournament at Barclays Center in 2017 and ’18. The Atlantic 10, meantime, will move from Barclays to Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center in 2017 and Washington D.C.’s Verizon Center in 2018.
The Big Ten, meantime, will hold its conference tournament at Madison Square Garden in 2018 — a week earlier than the Big East’s event.
The Big East’s deal with the Garden goes through 2025-26.
“It think it’s very cute that other conferences want to come in and be tourists,” said Willard, whose team is the No. 3 seed in this year’s Big East Tournament and opens against Creighton on Thursday night. “I think it’s great for New York fans and everybody else, they get to see two great tournaments. But they’re visitors. They come in, they pay their tolls and then they leave. And we’ll be here, we’ll always be here.”
The ACC could pose a threat to the Big East the next two years.
It could produce a conference Final Four of heavyweights Duke, North Carolina, Louisville and Syracuse, with Hall of Fame coaches like Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Rick Pitino and Jim Boeheim.
Those schools have massive fan bases in the New York area and beyond. Syracuse and Duke regularly take over the Garden when their teams play there.
On top of that, the ACC has several exciting players coming in next season, including Duke’s Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles, the projected 1-2 picks in the 2017 NBA Draft by DraftExpress.com.
“We’ve been working with Brooklyn during the year,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said recently. “Obviously after this tournament, that will pick up substantially. But a lot of groundwork has already been laid in Brooklyn for the experience the next two years. There’s a lot left to do, but a lot has been done.”
Still, the Garden is the Garden and is in Manhattan, easily accessible to restaurants, hotels and parking.
Barclays Center is in Brooklyn and won’t be as easily accesible to those things. Fans are encouraged to take the subway to Brooklyn, which may complicate things (especially older fans) from ACC territory.
“There’s definitley going to be some competition,” said Villanova’s Jay Wright, whose team is the No. 1 seed this week and opens on Thursday at noon. “But we have to look at every situation as an opportunity, I think it’s just going to bring more attention to New York City. Each of those two years, more of the college basketball world will be focused on New York City.
“I think it’s going to be two completely different experiences, where the Big Ten and the ACC will be doing kind of a visit and I think they’ll love it. It’s the best place in the world to play basketball. I think they’ll love it. But for the Big East people, it’s part of our culture, it’s part of our DNA. All of our alums are up there, all the different schools.
“It’s like having a house at the Jersey Shore. If you rent a week for a house it’s really nice and you enjoy it, but if you own it all summer that’s awesome.”
FREE THROWS
Willard said senior guard Derrick Gordon (head) is questionable for Thursday’s game. “Derrick looks better,” Willard said. “He won’t practice today. He’ll workout [Tuesday] and have a full practice on Wednesday. Right now he’s questionable [for the game].” Without Gordon, defending Creighton guard Maurice Watson could be a real problem for the Pirates. The 5-10 junior was a second-team All-Big East pick and led the Bluejays with a 14.5 scoring average and led the league in assists with a 6.6 mark. In league play, he also finished first in assists at 6.7. Meantime, Creighton coach Greg McDermott said: “Seton Hall is playing as well as anyone in our league right now and Isaiah Whitehead might be playing as well as anybody in the country.”…..Providence coach Ed Cooley said he thought Kris Dunn had mono at one point but it was “just a bad virus that went through our whole team.” ….After a disappointing regular season, Georgetown coach John Thompson III said, “We’re excited to get this second part of the season going.”…St. John’s coach Chris Mullin said he’s pleased that Kassoum Yakwe was named to the All-Freshmen Team: “All our freshmen had pretty productive seasons, but Kassoum really came on [strong]. He started the season on the bench and as soon as he got eligible, he improved each and every game. He’s a really hard worker, really nice kid, very grateful and we’re happy for him.”
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
