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There's a lot to cover, and I'm not going to do it all in one day. There are coaching changes, transfers, early-entrants and recruiting headlines to deal with over the coming weeks. We also have to do a little post-mortem for what happened at the end of March and begin to look ahead to next season.

That's a lot to do, but I think we're up for the challenge. Come here for the detailed analysis and opinion, and go to NBE Basketball Report for day-to-day news and notes. He's on top of the daily doings in the Big East -- and especially the recruiting scene. Between this space and his, you shouldn't need to go to anyone else -- including Andy Katz (and, of course, you should never read Seth Davis) -- for some Big East love.

Today, we're going to discuss the two coaching changes in the Big East. I'm not going to take the hackneyed stance that sees each team's coaching search as evidence that the Big East is too brutal to attract top candidates. That's been done, and it's only partly true. We'll get to that aspect of the situation, but there's more than just that one storyline.

Marquette: During the week between the Sweet 16 and the Final Four, Tom Crean -- reportedly one of the highest-paid coaches in the Big East -- jumped back into the Big Ten at Indiana. The former Michigan State assistant took the job and all the pressure that goes with that maelstrom instead of remaining to coach Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews in their senior seasons.

I don't blame Crean for making this move. As tradition-rich as Marquette is -- and as well-funded as the program remains -- Indiana gives Crean the best chance to build a perennial Final Four contender, something that would probably never have happened at Marquette. Is that worth all the headaches that go with coaching your home games at Assembly Hall? That's a matter of opinion, but only Crean's mattered in this case.

The rumors about who would replace Crean came fast and furious with Tony Bennett (Washington State), Sean Miller (Xavier) and Bob McKillop (Davidson) heading the list. None of those coaches showed serious interest, which brought Marquette to its second list, one that reportedly included Brad Brownell (Wright State), Chris Lowery (Southern Illinois) and Crean's one-year assistant Buzz Williams.

It quickly became clear that Williams would be the choice, perhaps as a attempt to ensure that James and McNeal stick around for one more year -- although the NBA won't be fawning over them this summer or next -- but also after apparently coming up dry on a broader search. Williams is known for his recruiting chops, especially in his native Texas, where he's already inked two players for the fall within the month. But Williams' overall résumé is underwhelming. He was a head coach for one year -- in 2006-07 at New Orleans. His team went 14-17 in the Sun Belt before Williams moved on to an assistantship at Marquette. Prior to being at UNO, Williams was an assistant at Texas A&M and Colorado State, among other places.

It's not essential that a coach have extensive head-coaching experience before being handed the reigns of a major program like Marquette, a school that has had teams in the top 10 in each of the last two seasons and a team in the Final Four within the decade. It's also not essential that you hire a guy with local ties at a private university like Marquette, one that has traditionally pulled from throughout the Midwest and the Northeast. It's also not essential that you hire a guy with extensive experience as a top assistant at a major program -- Williams spent just two years as an assistant at Texas A&M (besides that and his one year at Marquette, he has not spent time on the bench at a BCS conference program). It's not essential that the new coach at Marquette fulfill all of those qualities listed above, but it would have been nice if he had at least gotten a passing grade on one of them.

In response to the underwhelming hire -- or perhaps it would have happened anyway -- St. Anthony high school stud point guard Tyshawn Taylor asked for his release from Marquette, was eventually granted it and has now signed on at Kansas. Perhaps, when Crean jetted, Taylor received word through backdoor channels that Kansas was interested. And with that knowledge, even Sean Miller or Tony Bennett might not have kept Taylor at MU. But hiring Williams certainly didn't help. Shooting guard recruit Nick Williams followed Crean to Indiana, and freshman Scott Christopherson has decided to transfer. On the bright side, Trevor Mbakwe, who was rumored to be a transfer candidate even before Crean left, has decided to stick around.

Cracked Sidewalk's Tim Blair is closer to the situation than I am, and he gives a detailed perspective on why he thinks Buzz Williams was the wrong choice here and here. At one point, Blair calls Crean's departure "Irsay-like." Blair's gist is that, while perhaps Buzz Williams will be a stud coach, there is no track record there, and the Marquette program should be at the point where it shouldn't need to take this kind of chance.

Providence: The addendum to that last sentence is that Providence is exactly the type of school that should have to take a chance on a guy like Williams, and while the coach the Friars ended up with has the exact same term of head-coaching experience as Marquette's man, the tone in Friartown is far more positive than in Milwaukee -- though it took a long time getting to that point.

While Blair, a friend of Court Visions and Big Eastcast (new episode tomorrow morning!) has the inside heat on Marquette, I followed Providence's search with vested interest. After 10 years with the Friars, Tim Welsh was fired before the Big East Tournament even ended, a move that had to be made. That gave Providence ample time to vet prospective candidates and interview coaches as they were eliminated from the NCAA or NIT tournaments.

During the week of the Final Four, it appeared the Friars had found their man when PC alum and George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga was interviewed for the job and given an offer. Word leaked through the GMU AD, and the story became public as did the subsequent rejection. If an alumnus coaching at a mid-major wasn't willing to make the jump to his alma mater despite a significant pay bump, than how could Providence expect to secure any noteworthy coach?

Two weeks later, as the search dragged on, Providence President Rev. Brian Shanley let slip that the Friars were talking to a "wow" candidate, and that he would be very happy if that candidate accepted the job. The speculation of who that "wow" candidate was ranged from former Providence coach Rick Pitino to his former assistant Jeff Van Gundy. As it turns out, the "wow" candidate was likely Larry Brown, who took the head coaching job with the Charlotte Bobcats this week. Shanley and Providence AD Bob Driscoll probably became disenchanted with an inability to receive a firm commitment from Brown -- if he was ever that interested -- and the two moved on.

The next target that quickly emerged was UMass coach Travis Ford, a favorite of Pitino's, who was one of many ex-Friars that the program contacted for advice during the search. Ford visited the school, ate a formal dinner with the president and seemed ready to accept until he, well, declined. Perhaps word had gotten to him from Boone Pickens and his band of Oklahoma State cronies that there was interest in the Big XII, a conference more suited to Ford's background. Many believed Ford would have only used Providence as the briefest of stepping stones before securing a "big-time" job in the SEC or Big XII, and it turns out he didn't need a stepping stone at all. Ford obviously had no desire to stay at UMass, as he ducked his head in and out of every major coaching search all spring. I have little doubt about Ford's coaching ability, but I'm not sure -- either at the time or in retrospect -- that he would have been a proper fit to lead Providence out of the Big East mire.

After a second public jilting -- word got out from Ford's side that he had been offered by Providence, and he parlayed that into a bonus and extension from UMass, one that soon became superfluous -- Providence acted quickly, bringing in Drake's Keno Davis and hiring him less than a week after Ford's refusal.

While Davis, like Marquette's Williams, has just one year of head coaching experience, what a year it was! He led Drake, picked to finish ninth in the 10-team MVC to a first-place finish, a Valley Tournament title, a 28-5 record and a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. He had previously served as his father Dr. Tom Davis' assistant at Drake, as the two built the program from the MVC cellar. He also was Bruce Pearl's assistant early in Pearl's ascent at Southern Indiana.

Davis' ties to New England and New York are limited. He did grow up in the Boston area as his father coached at BC, but he has been a Midwesterner since high school. Unlike Marquette, Providence doesn't have many recruiting chops outside the Northeast -- with the exception of random ties that Tim Welsh had in Georgia -- and it'll be interesting to see if Davis brings on an assistant with ties to New England and/or New York. For the time being, it appears Davis is hoping to keep most of his staff in tact, as he credits it for much of his success at Drake.

Friars fans are, by and large, thrilled with the hire, especially after it seemed like PC would have to settle for just about anyone. Davis, who took home many of the National Coach of the Year honors, is more than just anyone. Providence fans are also excited about the large salary Davis will receive -- reportedly in the neighborhood of $1 million -- because of two things that indicates: 1) it makes it harder and perhaps less likely for Davis to leave quickly; 2) it shows the commitment of the school to fielding a competitive basketball team, a sentiment augmented by improvements in facilities and a refurbishing of the Dunkin Donuts Center -- although the latter has a lot more to do with the city of Providence and state of Rhode Island than with Providence College.

Another thing that is exciting Providence fans is Davis' emphasis on playing intelligent basketball and recruiting players who are thoughtful and play with smarts. That was something that folks believed was lacking in Welsh's tenure, where coming up small and making the wrong play at the wrong time became two of the central characteristics to Providence basketball.

Of course, this is all rosy now, but there is work to do -- and the same is true at Marquette. Both programs return the bulk of talented teams, one that was a shot from the Sweet 16 and another that underachieved to a 12th-place finish but remains stocked with attractive players. Marquette has four seniors returning and Providence has five -- plus red-shirt junior Sharaud Curry. Both Williams and Davis enter programs with immediate expectations. At Marquette, fans are hoping to cap the James-McNeal-Matthews Era with a memorable run deep into the NCAAs. At Providence, fans are hoping not to waste four years of Geoff McDermott's unique talents as well as those of teammates Randall Hanke and Weyinmi Efejuku, and local boy Jeff Xavier.

The glut of seniors also means that these coaches have plenty of work to do on the recruiting trail to make sure there isn't a dramatic talent fall-off after this season. And both Williams and Davis, because of their situations are already behind in the process. How the two coaches handle this season and the recruiting battles that begin immediately will start to indicate the merit of their selections, but only time will inform us whether these hires were seemingly last-ditch efforts to fill two jobs or long-term solutions to achieve success.