So much was made of when Miami, BC and V Tech left and the Big East added Cincinnati, Louisville, etc about how they were now the true basketball powerhouse - and they still very well might be. But a quick look at the early Big East standings is interesting:
Big East Conference Standings
TEAM CONF W-L TOTAL W-L
#21 West Virginia 3-0 13-1
#7 Pittsburgh 2-0 14-2
Providence 2-0 12-3
Notre Dame 1-1 13-2
#22 Connecticut 1-1 12-2
Syracuse 1-1 12-4
Georgetown 1-1 11-4
St. John's 1-1 10-5
Seton Hall 1-1 9-5
DePaul 1-1 10-6
Rutgers 1-1 8-7
Villanova 1-2 12-4
Louisville 0-1 10-5
Cincinnati 0-1 9-6
Marquette 0-2 13-4
South Florida 0-2 9-7
Notice the boys at the top are the old guard and the boys at the bottom are the newcomers - just goes to show that even without those newcomers (and having DePaul, Cincinnati and louisville is never a bad thing) but even without them the Big East is/was/will be a power basketball conference.