. We played them in their tourney back in 1979 and they were not what they are now. The Big East and ESPN really put those teams on the map. Seton Hall? Are you kidding me? They were nothing before the Big East. I think that game in 1979 was one of the first things ESPN televised. Our basketball budget would have to raised about 1M annually to even think about competing with the big boys. The average Big East budget is close to 5M. This is a great article I found about Gonzaga which is right on this topic:
http://www.matr.net/article-10265.html
Good points on budget and a great article cited.
Surprised about your Dissing of Seton Hall history though. They were nationally prominent for years as they played close to NYC through the 30's through the 50's .SOmewhere in there I believe they won an NIT when it was the real tourney beating St Johns if I remember reading my gramps hoops magazines correctly. Like the same NIT we hang in the rafters from 1941.
Bill Raftery,, one of my favorite anylysts was the coach there when I was in HS and the only bids to the Dance given were conference champs. THe Big East and PJ Carlissimo did put them on the map but they were relevant like St Johns< LIU, Manhattan and several others early on bringing teams like Depaul with George Mikan,. Loyola and others to the Garden for a basketball hungry population.