Does the idea of college conferences matter in basketball anymore?
Up through the 1990s, naturally it was a source of pride for a fan when his favorite college team was stacked. A North Carolina Tarheel was happiest with a win over Duke. Any combination of games involving Connecticut, Syracuse, and Georgetown made for revelry.
But conference pride existed, too. UNC beating a ranked Syracuse team from the Big East, for example, was almost as sweet. Especially if it happened in the tourney.
There used to be a running debate about which conference was better and deeper. That argument came to a head from the 1980s through the turn of the century -- the ACC and Big East seemed to almost take turns winning NCAA tournament titles.
Now Syracuse is part of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Texas A & M is in the SEC, and Utah has landed with the Pac-12 (which used to be the Pac-10, I mean the Pac-8).
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The so-called "BCS" conferences... or the
"major six"... or what-have-you... have all shifted in the last fifteen years. A high school sports fan doesn't know about John Thompson's Georgetown teams battling with Dean Smith and UNC; has little clue of the regional angst between observers and local media. The world is more interconnected and smaller, which is why a midwest college joining a conference on either coast isn't as strange as it once may have been.
There is an idea floating around that, within the next decade, the power conferences (read: the money-makers) will break away from all other schools completely.
What does all of this mean? That it is silly to drag out arguments about the "toughest conferences" anymore. Most of the old rivalries are gone, at least for the foreseeable future.
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Media and fans are trying to create new rivalries in an instant. But it seems forced. When top-ranked Syracuse and a talented Duke team faced off in February 2014, their first meeting as conference mates in the ACC, the game went into overtime and excited the fanatics. Within twenty-four hours, people were projecting a legendary contention that would last for the next decade.
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| We are trying too hard. |
Slow down. We have to accept that the old days are gone. Media talking heads from the baby boomer generation can be heard complaining that the Duke-Maryland and 'Cuse-UConn battles have been
interrupted. They need to let it go.
We have to quit this smirking, "Well, Syracuse and Pittsburgh came into the ACC and are two of the top teams, what does that say about their new conference?... that they must not be that good!" It is all speculation.
This is supposedly and historically the BEST conference, and their good team lost to a "lesser" conference foe , therefore it is an upset and worthy of concern... is that "better" conference now falling away?...
What did best conference ever really mean, anyway? When anything depends on the decisions of sixteen- and seventeen-year-old boys as to what university that they will theoretically "attend", what does it mean?
It mean that your schools have the most money, which translates into better facilities, coaches, boosters, perks, exposure, and so on. That's all! There is no magical cloud or spirit that falls on a football SEC, or basketball ACC/Big East from a few years ago, that just makes them superior.
These schools attract better players and personnel because they have more "things" to offer... and from there, the myth builds upon itself, with some help from silly media and fanatics. Conference pride is a dead horse. We can't ride it anymore.
