We’ve done the Big East’s Top Five Teams of the 2000s and Five Greatest Games of the 2000s and we’ve gotten little argument yet. Now what about the moments that shaped and defined the league this past decade? Without further ado…

The Big East’s Five Major Off-Field Moments of the 2000s In chronological order…

June 25, 2003 – The ACC invites Virginia Tech and Miami to join its league, Virginia Tech accepts and five days later, Miami does too. ACC commissioner John Swofford initially wanted Miami, Syracuse and Boston College, and Virginia Tech’s administration was ready to stay in the Big East if BC would sign a paper committing to the league. Father William Leahy, BC’s president, refused. Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, meanwhile, put intense pressure on the University of Virginia to include Virginia Tech. Syracuse was dumped, Virginia Tech saw no choice and N.C. State chancellor Marye Ann Fox needed four months to change her initial “no” vote on BC. In October, BC got its official ACC invite and in July 2005, the Eagles officially left the Big East too. 

Nov. 4, 2003 – The Big East announces Conference-USA members Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida have accepted membership in its conference. The three – and basketball schools Marquette and DePaul – were formally admitted to the league on June 30, 2005.

June 22, 2005 – The BCS issues a new eligibility test in a not-so-subtle warning to the Big East. Formerly, the BCS required a conference’s champions to have an average ranking of 12 or higher over a four-year period. After the ACC raid, the new rules – or the “Big East Test,” as the media dubbed it – made retaining a BCS bid contingent on Top 25 finishes, bowl results and average BCS rankings. Later, commissioner Michael Tranghese would admit “the magnitude of my worry (at that test) was off the charts.”

Aug. 29, 2006 – On the heels of West Virginia’s stunning Sugar Bowl win over Georgia, in the Georgia Dome, the Big East signed its biggest, fattest TV contract. Set to run from 2007-2013, and net $250 million, it carved out a Thursday night spotlight for the Big East, which the league paid dividends on immediately. On successive Thursdays that November, first West Virginia-Louisville (4.91 million households) and then Louisville-Rutgers (4.62 million households) drew ESPN its second- and third-highest college football audiences ever, for any night.

June 5, 2008 – Michael Tranghese announces he’ll retire the following June after 19 years as the Big East’s commissioner and 38 in the league office. Tranghese was the Big East’s first paid employee in 1979, he directed the creation of the Big East Football Conference in 1991 and he held the league together after the ACC’s potentially-devastating raid. He is still the only man to have ever served as chairman of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee and lead administrator of the Bowl Championship Series.

Honorable Mention: Dec. 10, 2009 – Four days after undefeated Cincinnati was shut out of the national title game, Brian Kelly – citing the desire to compete for national titles – accepts the Notre Dame job. Kelly continues a trend of Big East coaches leaving the league for ostensibly “bigger” leagues (see: Mark Dantonio, Rich Rodriguez), cementing the Big East as a stepping stone conference.

Excellent question, Jeff. Especially since every time I input that schedule over on the right side, I have to go chasing this info down myself! Well, yesterday, my fabulous editor Ted built us a link to the whole season schedule. If you click right here, you’ll be taken right to it. I suggest bookmarking it. And as for that 4:30 p.m. Saturday game, it looks to be a tape delay replay of the previous night’s Centenary-Marquette tip.

As promised this morning, some hoops stories. I couldn’t possibly get them all (or even half), but here’s a decent sampling.

Morgantown, New York City, both home. Who would’ve thunk? Nova’s the preseason no. 1, there aren’t 38 star seniors, but give the Big East time. Cream always rises. (SNY.tv)

John Marinatto has a sense of humor. Or maybe Mike Tranghese does. (NJ Newsroom)

Rick Pitino was obviously the draw of the day. Sex scandals tend to do that. (NY Daily News)

Pitino talked about thoroughbreds’ blinders and he promised no more distractions. Fat chance. (Providence Journal, USA Today, AOL Fanhouse)

Maybe to deflect some of that, maybe just to be honest, Pitino figured it was as good a time as any to knock Rutgers’ facilities. (Star-Ledger)

It wasn’t so much quality of the truly good teams yesterday as it was quantity of the truly good. (Journal Inquirer)

Jay Wright thinks his team is prettier than last year’s. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Jim Calhoun’s lost 500 pounds. In two players. (Hartford Courant)

There’s a shift in Big East power. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

The decision to put Marinatto in charge is no real surprise. He has worked as Tranghese’s second-in-command for seven years. Marinatto said during a press conference on Wednesday that his highest priority as commish will be to arrange the next series of bowl opportunities for the conference’s football teams since current bowl contracts expire after the 2009 season. Read More

 “I truly believe that the next decade will prove to be the best decade in the history of the Big East conference and for its members.” – John Marinatto