This is a bittersweet time right now.
March, for many of us, is the onset of spring. And March Madness, that stretch
of weeks where college basketball dominates the American thought process to
such a degree that you can’t go anywhere or do much of anything without being
besieged by the NCAA basketball tourney. Be honest: your office right now may
have about 3 different brackets just about ready to go. You may find yourself in
a bar you don’t even frequent just because they’ve got that hot wing special just
for the tournament. And it IS just that exciting. But that’s not why this March is
bittersweet. After this last tournament in Madison Square Garden in New York City,
the hallowed Big East Conference as we all know it will cease to exist.
The truth is, the Big East conference has been on a steady decline for the past
couple of years due to schools coming and going for monetary reasons. It hasn’t
affected the hoops tourney though. It’ll be crazy not to see Syracuse and Georgetown
battle every season anymore. Or Georgetown and UConn. St.John’s going up
against Providence. Those rivalries extended far beyond the court and made a
few players heroes on the streets. Hip-hop naturally reflected this impact in a
couple ways. Remember when having a Georgetown or St.John’s Starter jacket
was the epitome of casual flyness? Then Nike stepped in and made their mark on
the Big East fashion game. UConn had some slick uniforms and warmups in the
Ray Allen and Richard Hamilton days. And Georgetown blessed Allen Iverson and
the rest of us with those unis with the kente cloth-style trim from about 1994.
Even the players and teams made it into lyrics and connected a whole region,
from Nas’ ‘It Ain’t Hard to Tell’ to The Beatnuts’ ‘Get Funky’. And the players?
Let me name a few others to get your mind in flashback mode: Raymond Berry,
Chris Mullin, Kemba Walker, God Shammgod, Ron Artest, Carmelo Anthony,
Lawrence Moten, and many others. The Big East of old for many of us signified
hardcourt swagger that was an extension of the schools we rooted for. It brought
heads together from Boston to D.C. Some of you still may have pieces of gear
from your favorite college still. So let’s look at these games and remember the
good old days, and hope that the lasting memory of this year’s tournament won’t
be those day-glo Zubaz monstrosities of uniforms Notre Dame, Cincinatti and
Louisville showed up with.