New 30 for 30: When Big East was a beast

The latest 30 for 30, Requiem for the Big East, is one big trip down memory lane. Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.

Ewing, Mullin, Thompson, Pearl Washington, Rollie, Louie….Great stuff.

Ben Koo at Awful Announcing did a review. He writes:

Requiem For The Big East was interesting, well made, insightful, well paced, funny, and sad. It’s significant enough of a story that if you’re not a college basketball fan, it’s still compelling enough of a story to warrant the investment in watching. The film leaves you with a strong taste of “those were the days” and that says a lot considering for many including myself, we didn’t live through those days. Despite that, the storytelling is so dynamic that the tinge of nostalgia resonates regardless. With that in mind, Requiem For The Big East clocks in as one of the better 30 for 30’s and one you’d be wise to set your DVRs to record.

 

The official rundown from ESPN:

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“Requiem For The Big East,” directed by Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ezra Edelman, explores the meteoric ascension of the Big East Conference, and how in less than a decade under the innovative leadership of founder and Commissioner Dave Gavitt, it became the most successful college basketball sports league in America.

The film is told primarily through the lens of famed Big East coaches such as Jim Boeheim, Lou Carnesecca, Rick Pitino and John Thompson, former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, and some of its most iconic players like Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin and Ed Pinckney. It chronicles the rivalries and successes that led many of them to become household names.

The Big East was a groundbreaking athletic and business creation that encapsulated the era and region in which it was born – from the toughness of the players and coaches hailing from some of the Northeast’s most storied cities, to the executives and Wall Street brokers who thrived because of it. Launched in 1979—the same year that ESPN was born—the Big East used the burgeoning cable TV network and the media as a whole to help spread its gospel to fans and future players across the nation. But “Requiem For The Big East” is also a tale of change as the super conference eventually found itself in a new era fighting for survival.