Sixteen Deep: The Big Dissapointment - Is it football season yet?

See what a did with the title there? I figure this weekend was so rampant with cliche, hyperbole and awful puns (like how "Summers" was already here. Stupid Spartans and their lucky threes) I might as well just succumb to the pressure.

The Big East got the most teams in the tournament with eight and is now down to their final (and probably best) two. Truly a disappointing showing for the conference widely thought to be the best in the country.

So what went wrong? I, like so many others, thought the Big East was even a bit underrated in the middle. They beat up on each other all year making it hard to tell who's good and who's not. Even the Big East teams in the NIT are pretty solid. So why are there only one more team from the Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley and West Coast Conferences in the Sweet Sixteen?

The answer: probably overconfidence.

Of the six teams to lose (Notre Dame, Marquette, Georgetown, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Villanova) only the Cardinals lost to a higher seed and they were in the 8-9 game against a pretty mediocre California team.

Georgetown lost the worst first round game of the tournament in losing to number 14 seeded Ohio and Villanova lost to a number 10 seeded St. Mary's team after needing overtime to get past number 15 seeded Robert Morris in the first round. Ohio and St. Mary's didn't play flawless games or hit miracle buzzer beaters. They thoroughly beat these Big East powerhouses. And for that there is really no excuse.

Notre Dame only got 4 points from Luke Harangody in his last collegiate game. And Scottie Reynolds chucked up 26 shots making only 4 in those two games. Those are some big time players really choking.

Marquette met a streaking Washington team and Louisville fell to a 22-4 deficit in the first few minutes. The Pac-10 was in danger of only getting one team in and had been disparaged all year and they go 2-0 against Big East teams? That's embarrassing.

At least Pittsburgh put up a fight against Xavier, but they still couldn't best the Musketeers despite a notable talent differential in their favor. No one predicted that the Panthers team to be headed to the second weekend would be from Iowa.

Syracuse and West Virginia are really the cream of the crop and have yet to play a close game so they could still save the conference by both making the Final Four or just one winning it all. But if the last few days have been any indication, picking a Big East team is definitely not in your best interest.