The Big East men’s basketball season began with lots of big talk that bordered on hyperbole. Louisville coach Rick Pitino called it “the strongest league in the history of college basketball,” and pundits predicted double-digit teams in the NCAA Tournament.

The supersized conference won’t land 10 teams in the tournament when the brackets are revealed this evening, but the Big East has been every bit the beast that many predicted.

Pitt, UConn and Louisville all have legitimate cases to earn No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, although no conference has had three No. 1 seeds in the same year.

The Big East should send seven and possibly eight teams to the tournament, and the league had as many as nine teams ranked in the Top 25 at the same time this season.