The Era Pre-Big East

The Big East launched its inaugural season in 1979-1980 with Syracuse, Georgetown, St. John's, Connecticut, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's and Boston College on board. Villanova would join a year later, and Pitt a few years later in 1982.

It may be hard to believe now, but the Orangemen did not have rivalries with all those teams prior to the Big East.  A few, including Georgetown, they had barely played.  I discussed that in detail in an article back in 2018. 

The Orangemen did have some common opponents prior to the Big East.  Penn State was the most common opponent over the previous 11 seasons (1968-69 to 1978-79), with 23 games.  Syracuse won 17 of those, losing just six.  That was by far the most games the Orangemen had against any team over that time span. 

The Orangemen played the following 13 teams ten or more times during that eleven year period:

Team	Wins	Losses	Games
Penn State	17	6	23
Niagara	10	3	13
Colgate	12	0	12
Pittsburgh	7	5	12
West Virginia	7	5	12
Cornell	10	1	11
Canisius	10	1	11
American	9	2	11
St. John's	8	3	11
Temple	7	4	11
Buffalo	10	0	10
LaSalle	8	2	10
Fordham	8	2	10

Only Pittsburgh and St. John's would be in the early years of the Big East; West Virginia would come along in 1995.

Most of these teams the Orangemen have barely played since the Big East began; Cornell and Colgate would be the notable exceptions with frequent play.  

Connecticut, St. Bonaventure and Rutgers just missed that list with nine games each during that time span.  UConn, of course, was in the Big East.  Rutgers was invited to join, but declined.

If the original Big East was built on Syracuse's most common recent opponents, with eight teams, the league would have been:  Syracuse, Penn State, Niagara, Colgate, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, and two of the following:  Cornell, Canisius, American, St. John's, and Temple.