Look closely and you'll see that this week's bracket is more than a little historic. For the first time ever, we've got 11 teams from a single conference in the projected NCAA field. That's E-L-E-V-E-N, as in I can barely count that high, from the B-I-G East.
The single-season record for bids from a conference is eight, which the post-expansion Big East has produced in two of the past three seasons. A new slogan -- "11 for '11!" -- may be in order if the current landscape holds.
More impressive than the actual number is the proportional dominance the Big East could establish with 11 of its 16 teams (68.8 percent) in the NCAA field. This would trump the 7-for-11 showings (63.6 percent) from the Big Ten in 1994, 1999, 2001 and 2009.
All of which leaves two questions: (1) How likely is this to happen? (2) How would it impact the bracket?
For a look at the odds that the Big East can place 11 teams in the final bracket, plus access to all of Insider's college basketball coverage, sign up today.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
College Basketball Experts
Fran Fraschilla is an analyst for ESPN and was previously the head coach at New Mexico, St. John's and Manhattan.
Joe Lunardi is the resident bracketologist for ESPN.
Seth Greenberg is an analyst for ESPN and was previously the head coach at Virginia Tech, South Florida and Long Beach State.
