By Eddie Pells
Associated Press
DETROIT ó OK, so maybe it wasn’t the end of college sports as we know it.
Six years after commissioner Mike Tranghese predicted doom if his conference lost schools to the ACC, the Big East is doing just fine, thank you.
Exhibit A: Take a look at the Final Four, where Big East teams UConn and Villanova make up half the bracket.
“I sat there and basically took a look at what we’d been and what we were about to become, and it wasn’t very encouraging,” Tranghese said. “A lot of little things happened along the way to hold things together.”
That the Big East exists, let alone thrives, seems like something of a sports miracle given where this league was back in 2003.
Facing the destruction of his conference at league meetings, Tranghese famously said the defections of Miami and Virginia Tech, and later Boston College, would trigger “the most disastrous blow to intercollegiate athletics in my lifetime.”
He will not touch the subject of who ended up better in that deal. Suffice it to say that when Tranghese sits down Saturday night to watch his last Final Four as commissioner, he’ll be the only one with a team in both games.
Connecticut plays Michigan State, and Villanova faces North Carolina.
“They’ve been tremendous basketball leagues since the Big East was started,” ACC commissioner John Swofford said. “These were two of the best basketball leagues then, and they are now. That hasn’t changed.”
The ACC is closing out what many experts said was a weak NCAA tournament, even with the Tar Heels in the Final Four. They sent seven teams to the tourney and have seven wins ó three by the six teams not called UNC.
“I don’t necessarily think the postseason was reflective of overall play in the league throughout the year, and that’s unfortunate,” Swofford said.
But football is where the money’s at in college sports, and the ACC has yet to produce show-stopping results.
Last year’s ACC title game drew 27,360 to Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium. There are spring games in the SEC with bigger draws.
Tranghese insists he doesn’t spend a moment tallying the ACC’s wins and losses.
“(Swofford’s) never come to me and said, ‘How are you guys doing?’ I’ve never gone to him and said, ‘How’s it working out for you?’ ” Tranghese said. “I honestly don’t know.”