HOUSTON — The Big East put half of its teams into the NCAA Tournament — and now Jay Wright says half the league was good enough to make the Final Four, too.
“I think we have other teams in our conference this year that were good enough,” Wright said here Thursday, two days before Villanova will face Oklahoma in the national semifinals. “I think Providence was good enough. Xavier was good enough. I think Seton Hall was good enough to get here. Butler was good enough to get here. But you got to do it.”
Yes, you do.
Villanova, back in the Final Four for the first time since 2009, is now carrying the flag here for the conference after falling in the second round of the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons.
Teams from the Big East have captured the NCAA National Championship seven times and own a 7-5 record in the title games, including when Villanova beat Georgetown 66-64 in 1985. The Big East’s NCAA champions are: Georgetown (’84), Villanova (’85), Connecticut (’99, ’04, ’11), Syracuse (’03) and Louisville (’13).
With the departures of Louisville, UConn and Syracuse, the last team currently in the Big East to win the title was Villanova in ’85.
A Villanova-Syracuse final on Monday night would match two original Big East schools, but both have huge obstacles in their way. Villanova faces Buddy Hield and Oklahoma, while Syracuse faces the favorite in North Carolina.
“We have to prove ourselves, not because we’re not a good league, but just because we’re new,” Wright said. “We’re the new league. It’s important that we do this, our league does this, and we continue to do this, for our league as much as for our school.”
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