The Big East is a beast

Step with us now into a black cave, inhabited by prowling Panthers and wicked Wildcats and obstreperous Orange (OK, you come up with a fierce adjective for Orange starting with "O"), and we'll tell you about the Beast That Ate Notre Dame.

Not only is the Big East big again this year — a 16-team, non-divisional monstrosity — it's voracious, unforgiving and beyond nasty.

Funny thing is, it's not the highest-rated conference. The ACC is, owing to some of the detritus at the bottom of the Big East.

Anyway, you wonder if this is what the Big East fathers had in mind a few years ago, when, in response to the raid by the ACC of Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College, they conceived a 16-team conglomeration, sort of the Super Big Gulp of college basketball conferences.

It's hard enough being Louisville or Connecticut or Pitt. Imagine life if you're South Florida, Rutgers or DePaul, the last three teams in the league.

"It's a war," said South Florida coach Stan Heath the other day. "What we've told our guys is, it's a part of history. Just embrace it."

You have to think they're not embracing it in South Bend, Ind. In one easy season, Notre Dame has gone from seventh-ranked the first week of December to 12th place in the Big East.

The expectations were extremely high. The Irish were a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament a year ago, they had a player-of-the-year candidate in Luke Harangody, and almost everybody else was back, too.

Then Notre Dame's 19 days from hell happened — Louisville, Syracuse, Connecticut, Marquette and Pitt — which are currently ranked 5, 23, 1, 4 and 10. Then Notre Dame had a "breather" at Cincinnati, lost that, and capped its dance with the elite by traveling to UCLA and losing by 26, after which coach Mike Brey announced that all starting spots were open.

Or maybe they didn't cap it. The Irish host Louisville tonight.

"I personally believe there are four, five, six teams in our league that could make the Final Four," says UConn coach Jim Calhoun.

What about for teams 14, 15 and 16?

"The biggest challenge when you're not winning is to come out and compete hard," says Rutgers coach Fred Hill. "It can be very difficult for guys to see that ray of hope."

Not only for them, but for Georgetown. Once 10-1 with victories over Memphis and Connecticut, the Hoyas have skidded to 11th in the league at 4-7 (13-9 overall). A couple of these teams could be a real conundrum for the NCAA basketball committee in March.

As for Notre Dame (12-10), what might appear to be the worst thing ahead might be what's best. More than wins, what it needs are quality wins. And with Louisville, West Virginia, Connecticut and Villanova still on the schedule, the Big East is always able to oblige.

And what's more ...

• Washington State's marketing people concocted a catchy promotion by offering a free semester's tuition, worth $3,400, if a full-time student's name is called on the PA at its women's basketball games and the student gets to the floor within 60 seconds. WSU bought insurance against it, but so far, the idea hasn't done a lot to bump game attendance.

• Wonder what Bob Knight thinks of his old team, Texas Tech, coached by his son Pat Knight, ranking last in the Big 12 in scoring defense at 77.6 points a game?

• Weber State, which hosts Ken Bone's Portland State team Saturday night, has stolen some of the Vikings' thunder in the Big Sky Conference. Weber is 9-1, Montana and PSU 8-3, and the regular season is worth something because that winner gets to the NIT if it doesn't make the NCAA tournament.

• Safe to say it's not a big deal for North Carolina to be ranked. The Tar Heels have been rated 756 different weeks, more than any other program.

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com