I stuck up for the Big East a few weeks ago. I was dead wrong.
Aside from whether or not Big East teams are good, I don't know why they get so much airtime. Big East basketball is NOT FUN TO WATCH. Period. It's low-scoring, foul-heavy, slow-paced; half the guys on the court look like they've never bothered learning how to take a jump shot, etc. It's the perfect antithesis of BYU basketball. (I guess some people prefer slow, slash-and-burn basketball to uptempo teams - I'll never understand why.)
Makes sense that UConn is one of the two teams still in it - Kemba Walker is seriously the only entertaining thing about the conference at the moment.