Is Notre Dame A Minor Loss For Big East Basketball?

Came across an interesting article in the aftermath of Notre Dame joining the ACC last week. ZagsBlog is a pretty good source of info (particularly on recruiting) and Adam Zagoria apparently doesn't think all that much of the Irish when it comes to hoops.

I've got to disagree a bit.

No, this isn't about being a 'Death to the Big East' type of guy. First, that's just not me and I've stated plenty of times that I think the Big East can still survive. But the fact is that Notre Dame has been a very good basketball program over the past decade.

As referenced in the article, the Irish have been to the NCAAs in six of the past ten years. Much of the lack of respect, shall we say, comes from Notre Dame having made only one Sweet 16 in that time. But I'd look at it from the other angle - six NCAA appearances is pretty solid. And most of those appearances have been recent - the team has made the Big Dance in five of the past six seasons, missing only in 2009, when they reached the semifinals of the NIT.

What's more, the Irish have been very competitive in the Big East. Last year, they finished third in the regular season standings, for example. They haven't won many conference titles, but have finished fairly high in the conference in many years and has been extremely competitive. The program has also produced some great individual players and has four Big East Player of the Year awards to their credit since 2000, including two of the past four seasons.

Lastly, the article is about men's basketball, but losing the women's hoops program is also a big blow. The program won a national championship back in 2001 and was the runner up in 2011.

Losing Notre Dame isn't the same as losing Pitt or Syracuse in basketball, but it is a blow. It also further strengthens the notion that the ACC is soon to be the new premier conference in college hoops.

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