Do you like fun? The Big East is the conference for you

What strategies make basketball horrible to watch? Examples jump to mind: Mike Brey’s “burn offense”, which really just consists of dudes standing there watching paint dry for the first 15 seconds of the shot clock. Mick Cronin’s... whatever he coaches. Throw the ball at the rim and hope it bounces to one of your teammates in a position to lay it up.

Mostly, teams that play offense slowly or badly or both make basketball a chore to watch; that’s why President Obama signed an executive order making it a federal crime for Georgetown to schedule Tennessee again after this insult to the memory James Naismith.

What is fun to watch is guys or gals running up and down the court getting buckets. High-tempo, high-efficiency basketball is entertaining, and the Big East is the best conference in the nation for it. To objectively rank the conferences in entertainment value, I’ve added their ranks in offensive efficiency and tempo together for something I’m calling their fun number.

The Big East ranks first in the nation with a fun number of four. They’re the most fun, and it’s not even close. Next is the Big Sky with a fun number of 10, and the next closest major conferences are the Big 12 (4th, with a 14) and then the Pac 12 (11th, with a 24). There’s just no competition; if you want to see good, fun basketball, your only choice is the Big East.

Because I know you’re curious, the American is 31st (of 32) with a fun number of 56. Gross.