NEW YORK -- In the year 2004-05 B.E. (before expansion), the Big East Conference in basketball is enjoying some of its most prosperous times. The league has produced three of the past six national champions, including Syracuse and Connecticut the past two years.

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The glory years of the Big East are the mid-1980s. In 1984 and '85, the Big East produced national champions in consecutive seasons when Georgetown and Villanova cut down the nets. In '85, the Big East sent three teams to the Final Four, a feat unmatched by any other conference since.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim is the only current Big East coach to have witnessed both eras first-hand, and he believes the conference now is as strong as it has been as this era of Big East basketball comes to an end.

"We're just as good now as we were then," Boeheim said. "The style of play is not the same because of the kids leaving early. But relatively speaking, we had nine teams back then, and we had five or six that were really good. Now we have 12 teams, and we have seven or eight that are really good.

"The reason the media looks back at the other era is the three teams in the Final Four. That resonates with the media. But the last two years we have produced national champions. And we have good teams besides that. This year we look to be as good or tougher than before. The criticism of our conference prior to the last couple of years has been that we didn't produce national champions. Well, that voice has gone away. I have every reason to believe that in basketball we'll be as good as we've ever been or better the next few years."

This final season before the five new teams enter the league could be as entertaining as any in the 26-year history of the conference. In a preseason poll of the coaches, unveiled yesterday at the league's media day at Madison Square Garden, Syracuse was tabbed the preseason favorite followed by Connecticut, Pitt and Notre Dame.

"The talent, particularly at the top, but all the way down is tremendous," said Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, who won his second national title in April. "I legitimately think teams like Syracuse, Notre Dame, Pitt and ourselves, if we get our backcourt straightened out, get can get to St. Louis [site of the Final Four]. We have the contenders to get to St. Louis. When you have that your league is in pretty good shape."

Pitt, viewed as the new kid on the block in recent years, has become part of the Big East establishment. Pitt got one vote to finish the season in first place and two players -- junior point guard Carl Krauser and sophomore center Chris Taft -- were voted to the preseason Big East first team.

Connecticut, the defending national champs, meanwhile, didn't place a player on either the first or second teams.

"Our program is at a different level as far as perception, there's no question," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "But that doesn't change a lot of the things we do. You still have to realize who you are and your strengths and weaknesses. The change in perception is because of our wins, but things remain the same. You have to recognize that."

While there was a good bit of enthusiasm for the upcoming season, there was an undercurrent of what lies ahead. Next season, Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette, DePaul and South Florida join the league.

"Everyone wants to talk about next year," Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said. "I think we're going to be so good this year."

Tranghese might not want to talk about the future of the league, but his coaches already are thinking ahead to what it's going to be like. And they're not shy in telling prospective recruits about the next era of Big East basketball.

"I started using it on the recruiting trail this year," Calhoun said. "I tell them when you come here, you'll be joining the best basketball conference ever put together. Next year, it will get even better."