The Big East flamed out early in the men’s 2025 NCAA Tournament, with all five of the conference’s invitees failing to reach the tournament’s second weekend.
But after posting a 3-5 record overall in the first two rounds, the historically excellent basketball conference might make a quick turnaround.
On Wednesday, Yahoo Sports college sports reporter Ross Dellenger wrote about how the NCAA’s pending revenue-sharing system could shape college basketball in future seasons.
Following the proposed settlement of the landmark House v. NCAA court case, NCAA power conferences, defined as those with major football programs (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC), adopted a revenue-sharing model with a cap of $20.5 million per institution that is expected to go into effect this summer.
An estimated 77.3 percent of those funds will be allocated to their football programs, leaving basketball teams with significantly fewer resources.
As Dellenger noted, that could be a boon for the Big East, which primarily consists of universities without football teams. Most of those who do (Butler, Villanova, Georgetown) participate at the FCS level. UConn, a football independent, is the only Big East basketball team playing in FBS.
He spoke with Duke athletic director Nina King, who said, “In the Big East, their basketball revenue-share portion will be a lot more than what those of us can do who have Division I power football programs.”
“As many as a dozen non-power Division I schools … are planning to spend at least $5 million on their team’s basketball roster next year,” Dellenger added. “A smaller group [hopes] to reach the $6 million and $7 million marks.”
In the Round of 64, No. 11 seed Xavier, which won in the First Four over No. 11 Texas, lost to No. 6 Illinois, while No. 7 Marquette was upset by No. 10 New Mexico.
During the subsequent round, No. 2 St. John’s, No. 8 UConn and No. 9 Creighton went 0-3 against SEC teams to knock the Big East out of March Madness before the regional semifinals for just the fifth time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
According to Stathead research, the Big East’s 86 Sweet 16 appearances and 10 national titles since 1985 rank second among college basketball power conferences, only trailing the ACC.
The conference is down, but relief is on the way. It might not be long until the Big East returns to its rightful place atop college basketball’s hierarchy.
