Big East December '25 Thread

[Lafayette]

Butler and Providence can't guard each other until the final shot of the game when Butler misses a good look

2OT tied 110-110. I would say Providence and Butler are similar teams which play lousy defense.

 

[superjohn]

Providence has a lot of talent, a good coach would easily put this team in the tournament. Unfortunately for them and for the Big East Kim English is a terrible coach.

 

[Class of 09]

Sellers is a dude

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Georgetown collapsing in epic fashion against St. Peter's.

 

[superjohn]

That was a crazy sequence

 

[aceboon]

Why would Edwards settle for a pull up contested 3 over Bizjack when he could have just blown by him off the dribble with ease

 

[boog204]

Providence has a lot of talent, a good coach would easily put this team in the tournament. Unfortunately for them and for the Big East Kim English is a terrible coach.

Sellers and Edwards are really good. Jones a freak athlete, Vaaks and Mela can play too. Oswin is a better Samson. But they make so many mistakes and errors. It’s all coaching.

 

[TheShot1990]

These are definitely NOT cupcakes

 

[BFieldHusky]

Butler survives. Good for the league.

 

[REB1094]

ELECTRIC ENDING AT HINKLE!!

Not great that it was so close, but good for Butler that they managed to pull it out. It feels like their best case scenario is the bubble, and a home loss to PC could have kept them on the wrong side of it in March

PC actually looks like they have some hoopers. Sellers and Edwards are straight up buckets, and Jamier Jones had a monster dunk in 2OT. Vaaks feels like he should be good but the decision making is very questionable. Regardless, I don't trust the coaching enough to think they'll be in the top half of BE teams or even be a top NIT team

Ajayi has the build that should do well against us - big, strong, and a bully. That'll be a tough matchup for AK and/or Stewart. I'm not a huge Finley Bizjack fan but he made some nice plays in both OTs after starting ice cold

 

[aceboon]

If Butler can beat Northwestern they can give themselves a good shot to make the tourney. Better for the league that they win this one at home, Prov already blew their chances OOC.

 

[FlockOfLambs]

Alternate reality Butler Boneyard threads:
"We should not be giving up 100+ pts to Providence"
"Is anyone else concerned about our ability to create separation in games we should be winning?"
"Missing FTs will be the root of our downfall...we dodged a bullet"

 

[BFieldHusky]

Creighton within 4 at the last media timeout.

 

[Gurleyman]

Felt like Butler couldn’t guard anything. They just got roasted off the dribble and even one screen would get PC an open shot. But PC was just mostly playing one on one ball - so will be interesting to see if our offense gets us open looks or if maybe Butler defends off the ball action better than they do isolation plays.

 

[aceboon]

Kalkbrenner was holding alot of things together because even when they lost Nembhard, Alexander, Scheierman over the years they were still able to plug those holes and still be pretty good

 

[aceboon]

Felt like Butler couldn’t guard anything. They just got roasted off the dribble and even one screen would get PC an open shot. But PC was just mostly playing one on one ball - so will be interesting to see if our offense gets us open looks or if maybe Butler defends off the ball action better than they do isolation plays.

Boise St was able to get a ton of good looks off of off-ball action in the 2nd half of their game last week, Butler's defense lost that game for them, they couldn't get stops in that one either

 

[FfldCntyFan]

A team getting blown out twice in a row in games with small spreads, and not seeming to care, is a huge red flag for point shaving.

They aren't shaving points. They just aren't very good.

Why do you view anyone's observation on a less than stellar Big East team as a direct attack on your character?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

They aren't shaving points. They just aren't very good.

Why do you view anyone's observation on a less than stellar Big East team as a direct attack on your character?

Creighton's entire team has visibly not given a spit in two straight games. Multiple players on the team aren't even trying. Maybe it is bad chemistry, but there have been a lot of gambling issues in college basketball, and it is a fair question to ask of a team giving such lackadaisical effort.

I don't take criticisms of the Big East as an attack on my character, but I am definitely attacking the character of those posters that pollute this board every night with the same tired attacks I have been reading on the Boneyard since the first rumors of BC and Miami leaving emerged in 2002. Is 20+ years of the same chicken little nonsense enough? Or do you think another 10 years of beating the same dead horse will lead to a solution? We get that the conference situation is not ideal. This issue has been bludgeoned to death for literally decades. When is enough, enough?

If a poster has a plan to get us in a superconference with whatever schools someone thinks that conference would include, then please call the UConn President tonight and help bring us to this conference promised land. Otherwise, SHUT THE FUDGE UP ABOUT IT.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Kalkbrenner was holding alot of things together because even when they lost Nembhard, Alexander, Scheierman over the years they were still able to plug those holes and still be pretty good

It is concerning to watch Creighton. They don't seem to care, at all. They aren't even trying. The best move for McDermott is to cut some players loose. They aren't making the tournament, and whatever is causing that problem is best removed from the roster.

 

[HooperScooper]

Creighton's entire team has visibly not given a spit in two straight games. Multiple players on the team aren't even trying. Maybe it is bad chemistry, but there have been a lot of gambling issues in college basketball, and it is a fair question to ask of a team giving such lackadaisical effort.

I don't take criticisms of the Big East as an attack on my character, but I am definitely attacking the character of those posters that pollute this board every night with the same tired attacks I have been reading on the Boneyard since the first rumors of BC and Miami leaving emerged in 2002. Is 20+ years of the same chicken little nonsense enough? Or do you think another 10 years of beating the same dead horse will lead to a solution? We get that the conference situation is not ideal. This issue has been bludgeoned to death for literally decades. When is enough, enough?

If a poster has a plan to get us in a superconference with whatever schools someone thinks that conference would include, then please call the UConn President tonight and help bring us to this conference promised land. Otherwise, SHUT THE FUDGE UP ABOUT IT.

You should see a professional for your anger issues. Geeze.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

You should see a professional for your anger issues. Geeze.

You and the dozen or so others that have this compulsion to wallow in self pity about something you have no control over should see a professional about your need to make those around you miserable.

 

[HooperScooper]

You and the dozen or so others that have this compulsion to wallow in self pity about something you have no control over should see a professional about your need to make those around you miserable.

You got the wrong person. I have not said much about the Big East conference being down this year except 1 post where I quoted an article about ranking the conferences (probably from CBS Sports or ESPN).

 

[BFieldHusky]

Big East NCAA Net Rankings (12/14)

1. UConn (8)
2. St. John's (22)
3. Villanova (33)
4. Seton Hall (38)
5. Butler (46)
6. Providence (93)
7. Xavier (103)
8. Creighton (110)
9. Georgetown (127)
10. DePaul (147)
11. Marquette (166)

Conference Average: 81.18

For reference, the ACC is 66.17.

Good news: Villanova still has a neutral court game against Wisconsin next week (69). Butler has Northwestern also on a neutral court (73) before Christmas.

Seton Hall has 2 Q1 wins, both away from home. If they beat who they should in conference, they should be a tournament team.

This reminds me of the some of the early years in the American where the top 5 teams have to take care of business against the bottom 6. Hence why Butler winning yesterday was important. If they do, I think we get 5 teams in. In a year where two of our big boys (Creighton and Marquette) are terrible, that really wouldn't be bad.

 

[BFieldHusky]

KenPom just for reference (difference in NET)

1. UConn (7) (+1)
2. St. John's (16) (+6)
3. Villanova (33) (E)
4. Seton Hall (50) (-12)
5. Butler (51) (-5)
6. Providence (68) (+25)
7. Creighton (72) (+38)
8. Xavier (85) (+18)
9. Marquette (99) (+67)
10. Georgetown (103) (+24)
11. DePaul (122) (+25)

Average: 64.18

ACC: 65.05 for KenPom

 

[nelsonmuntz]

KenPom just for reference (difference in NET)

1. UConn (7) (+1)
2. St. John's (16) (+6)
3. Villanova (33) (E)
4. Seton Hall (50) (-12)
5. Butler (51) (-5)
6. Providence (68) (+25)
7. Creighton (72) (+38)
8. Xavier (85) (+18)
9. Marquette (99) (+67)
10. Georgetown (103) (+24)
11. DePaul (122) (+25)

Average: 64.18

ACC: 65.05 for KenPom

KenPom has to eliminate the preseason rankings from his model by the end of November. He does it to smooth the rankings, but it will actually result in massive jumps this season when the preseason rankings drop out. In a world with little roster continuity, there is going to be significant volatility from year to year. That is just the way it is.