Big East basketball, Notre Dame get richer

Sporting News, The, August 8, 1994 by Gene Wojciechowski

Now that the deal is done and Notre Dame basketball is headed to the Big East Conference next season, the question remains:

Why?

Why would the Big East presidents want a program that hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1990, hasn't finished in the Top 25 since 1987, hasn't had a consensus All-American since John Paxson in 1983 and hasn't won 20 games or signed a true can-you-believe-he-did-that recruit since 1989 (LaPhonso Ellis)?

Why would those same presidents offer Notre Dame instant access to the Big East's prized recruiting areas?

Why should any of the league's coaches be pleased with this latest development, which was made without their input?

The short answer is this: Because it's Notre Dame.

If it had been any other independent -- for that matter, almost any other program -- the deal would have died. Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese has few peers as a power broker, but can you imagine the response had he burst into the meeting room and announced, "Fellas, if we play this just right I think we can get Southern Utah."

Tranghese, who earlier added West Virginia and Rutgers to the mix, pushed for the agreement because he understands the value of Notre Dame. Notre Dame adds prestige, academic standing, star appeal and television exposure (not necessarily in that order) to a league in need of some revitalization.

And so what if the Irish are clinging to basketball life support these days? After all, this wasn't a deal made for the next five years, but for the next 50. Sooner or later Notre Dame will pay dividends.

Of course, not everyone is humming the "Notre Dame Victory March" these days. Asked for an initial assessment of the alliance, Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim says, "It's certainly good for Notre Dame."

Which is another way of saying it isn't so good for the Big East. At least not now, it isn't.

"From a basketball perspective, they don't help Syracuse, no," Boeheim says. "But then maybe down the road it helps the league."

Boeheim is no dummy. He understands the politics of the decision to admit Notre Dame basketball and all other Irish non-football sports to the Big East. But as a basketball coach -- and he isn't the only one in the Big East to think so -- the deal has few down sides for Notre Dame and few early upsides for the league.

"Their recruiting changed in five minutes," Boeheim says. "Guys they couldn't talk to, they're now in the ballgame with."

True enough. Notre Dame, which used to be a major recruiting player on the East Coast, can now return to Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Providence, New York (all huge alumni bases) and offer high school stars the chance to play in a premier conference within driving distance of the South Bend campus.

And beginning next season, the Irish won't be victims of the worst scheduling in college basketball. At last they'll play a league schedule and play in a conference tournament.

In years past the Irish had to settle for what they could get, which meant playing at the convenience of others. Example: During one stretch last season, Notre Dame faced Marquette, DePaul, North Carolina and Louisville.

This year isn't a whole lot better (Indiana, Duke, UCLA, Boston College, Kentucky, Marquette, DePaul and Louisville, among others), but at least the non-conference schedule will ease by the fall of 1995. Or as Irish Coach John MacLeod says about the switch to the Big East: "We've gone from the obituary page to the sports page."

Welcome back. To the living.

Rule stays: Players can go

Despite criticism from college and pro coaches alike, the NCAA will keep its controversial rule that allows basketball underclassmen to test the NBA draft but return to school if they're unhappy with the selection outcome.

With the blessings of its Professional Sports Liaison Committee, the NCAA decided the new rule deserved more time before pulling the plug.

Instituted in time for the most recent NBA draft, the rule was generally regarded as a good idea gone foul.

Utah Coach Rick Majerus called the ramifications of the rule "mind boggling," and Big East Commissioner Tranghese called it, "one of the worst rules ever adopted."

Maybe so, but it's here to stay until further notice.

Minnesota's Voshon Lenard (drafted in the second round by the Bucks) and Georgia's Charles Claxton (second round, Suns) have taken advantage of the rule and will return to school. But critics of the rule remind everyone that Lenard's and Claxton's rights are still the property of the Bucks and Suns until the 1996 draft.

Those same critics say the rule will cause more underclassmen to leave school early, as well as cause recruiting headaches for coaches waiting for their star players to sign pro contracts or return to college.