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The Big East has had all eight members play in bowl games since the 2005 realignment and has had seven of eight teams ranked in the Top 25 since 2003. In that time, the Big East has seen the emergence of new national players West Virginia rising to as high as No. 1 and was ranked in the Top 10 for three-straight years (2005, 2006, 2007) (South Florida rising as high as #2, Louisville as high as #3, Rutgers as high as #7, Pittsburgh as high as #9, Connecticut as high as #13 and University of Cincinnati as high as #3 in BCS standings). Also, Big East football has seen an increase in attendance and is enjoying a new, $250 million plus television package that lasts through 2013. In basketball, Big East teams have made 16 Final Four appearances and won 5 NCAA Championships. Of the Big East's 16 full members, all but South Florida have been to the Final Four, the most of any conference, though Louisville, Marquette, DePaul, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh made all their trips before joining the Big East. In 2011, the Big East set the record for the most teams sent to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship by a single conference with eleven out of their sixteen teams qualifying. |