A little tiff may lead to bigger problems later on, or it may lead to nothing. Here are the details so far.

Maybe I’m not the right guy to be writing this. I’m not hung up on the past greatness of Big East basketball — specifically those mid 80s when the Big East showed all of the other conferences how to get the national exposure and TV money with ESPN and CBS. When the Big East was the basketball conference. Half the time, I read something about it and it seems so overdone.

I also can’t get too worked up over it, because Pitt wasn’t among the best of the Big East for much of those halcyon days. Reflected light is mostly glare to me.

What the Big East had at that time were some good/great coaches at 5 of the 8 schools that now seem to loom even larger over their schools. Making it that much harder to go forward.

Boston College was always middle of the pack. UConn was a bottom feeder, as Calhoun only arrived in 1986 to start building the program. Pitt had a brief surge of talent in the late 80s, but is more remembered for Jerome Lane’s backboard shattering dunk, than for the way that squad underachieved under Paul Evans. These three schools are not included.

Villanova has struggled for years to even approximate the magic of their time under Rollie Massimino (and Rollie struggled to copy that success for a while before he eventually gave up while at Cleveland State a couple years ago). They have shown glimmers but have never gotten close.

Providence briefly had Rick Pitino on his way up the coaching ladder. Until this year, that was usually the only context in which Providence was mentioned — as a footnote in the Pitino resume.

Seton Hall and P.J. Carlesimo had their great run in the 1989 NCAA to lose in OT to Michigan (or did they? How does it work with Michigan and the pay offs and the taken down banners?), but P.J. may be more remembered for being choked by Latrell Sprewell when he was coaching Golden State.

Jim Boeheim and Syracuse were perpetual underachievers, especially considering the talent they had. Boeheim is still there and finally won the big one, but you have to wonder about one day down the road.

St. John’s under Lou Carnesecca still draws wistful words from the media. Everyone likes Lou. He won at St. John’s with style and grace — apparently. He retired in 94 and has haunted the program ever since. Sitting in the stands at the games, being interviewed whenever their game is on national TV. He has been involved in all the coaching hirings — yet he has no accountability for the failures.

Then there is Georgetown with John Thompson, Jr. The big powerful, bully coach. The man who truly established the Big East as the tough league. With a punishing, bruising defense first style that turned out one successful big man after another. Ewing, Mutumbo, Mourning. The man single-handily made Georgetown a national name in college basketball. He did a fair job of taking it back down. Georgetown and Thompson seemed to be coasting on reputation by the mid 90s. There was a brief resurgence when Iverson fell into their lap for a couple years, but the program was sliding and Thompson didn’t seem to care. His abrupt resignation during the season in 1999 drove home his apathy. The program was turned over to his longtime assistant, Craig Esherick, at Thompson’s request. Esherick failed miserably as a head coach and recruiter.

Without question, given the geographic proximity to so much hoops talent, St. John’s and Georgetown have been astounding in their failure. Both schools have completed miserable seasons and fired their coaches. With about a week apart, both schools have hired new coaches.

St. John’s hired Norm Roberts, a NYC native, and top assistant under Kansas coach Bill Self. Roberts has been an assistant to Self for the past 8 years at Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Illinois and Kansas. Roberts is a very good recruiter who has maintained his NYC ties. Carnesecca met with Roberts and other candidates and backed the hiring (just as he did with the previous 3 coaches that came after him). Roberts is 38 years-old, and served as head coach at Queens College, his alma mater, from 1992-1995. His record, 24-84.

Yesterday Georgetown hired John Thompson III. No one even disputes that being the son of Thompson, Jr. played a big role in him landing the job. JT III was head coach at Princeton, his alma mater, and is 38 years-old.

Both were easy hires because they came with the stamp of approval from a coach that the alumni and boosters (read: big money donors) revere for the success and national prominence they brought to the school. It sells well, and gives the administration room to distance itself if things don’t work. You never know if the hire will work out well. I do know that the schools took the easy way. Georgetown by staying within a family tree, and St. John’s by having Carnesecca bless the hiring.

So far, it hasn’t worked for either school.