Former Seton Hall Player Sandro Mamukelashvili Says the Big East Is Better Than Both the SEC and ACC

On this week's episode of the Barstool Bench Mob, we have interviews with THREE different NBA Draft prospects who all had successful college careers, too. Virginia's Trey Murphy III started his career at Rice, transferred to Charlottesville to join the defending National Champions, and is now looking like he will be a top 15-20 pick. Creighton's Marcus Zegarowski was the face of basketball in Omaha for a few years, and now waits for the most important phone call of his life this evening. And finally, Seton Hall's Sandro Mamukelashvili also joined us on the show to discuss the correct pronunciation of his name, Pirates basketball, and the current state of Big East hoops.

Mamukelashvili, the 2021 Big East co-Player of the Year, had an interesting take when it comes to the success of the conference he played in during his college career. Take a look:

Now, if you're breaking it down by NCAA Tournament teams this year, it's a point for Marty Mush:

ACC - 7

SEC - 6

Big East - 4

And from a historical perspective, the ACC and SEC are much better, too. Here is a list of NCAA Tournament Championships by conference:

ACC - 15

SEC - 11

Big East - 8

However, with recency bias in mind, here is where Mamukelashvili may have a point. In the last 10 years, the Big East Conference has had more teams cutting down the nets than any other conference. UConn in 2011, Louisville in 2013, and Villanova in both 2016 and 2018 have each brought it home for this historical hoops conference. Meanwhile, the ACC has three champions (Duke, North Carolina, Virginia), while the SEC has produced just one team to win it all (Kentucky in 2012). 

So, there are certainly different perspectives you can look it, whether it is historical or recent. I'm going to go ahead and say no, the Big East is not better than either the ACC or SEC. But as a loyalty thing, I can see why Mamukelashvili believes in the league.

What about you?

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Cade Cunningham:

Luka Garza: 

Corey Kispert:

Scottie Barnes: