I remember the Big East from a decade or so ago. Everyone would get in and all the East Coast media idjits would scream how great they were.Yeah, I can see some similarities there for sure. One thing is certain, the physical play doesn't work in the tournament. Officials just don't allow the same kind of play outside of conference. The leagues that allow that junk do their teams a disservice in the long run, in my opinion, because it just won't fly when they get to the NCAA-T. Virginia met the same fate. Both lost to a lower seed. Virginia's upset was much worse by seeding, though. But generally speaking, teams that must rely on physical, aggressive defense don't do well in the Big Dance.
I have no clue how Virginia landed a 4-seed, on a related note. It just shows that the ACC bias is still real. That conference just wasn't very good.
Then they'd all flop in the tournament because they weren't allowed to play prison ball