Big East OOC thread '25/'26 | Page 8 | The Boneyard

Big East OOC thread '25/'26

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RuffRuff said:
Not to say I told you so, but I've been saying this for weeks. That these OOC for us are critical to any decent seeding in the tourney because all the BE can do is weigh us down. Why I was really concerned with the Mullins injury.

BE has one team in the KP top 20, 2 teams in the KP top 43. Nova is 44 right now. The Mount West has 3 teams in the top 45 as well, as a barometer.
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The KenPom stuff is massively premature. I remind you of what you said about it just 3 days ago, it's not useful until last year's data is weeded out

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The Big East is an absolute disaster. Val's leadership has been terrible and she has squandered any momentum the league was trying to create organically by simply rolling over to the TV networks and putting zero effort into marketing the league -- and that's when the product was pretty good.

Now, the product is bad -- even though with the rev share the schools should be doing well. As of today, we're looking at a TWO-BID LEAGUE. We got 3 teams in '24, and that was being the 2nd best conference in KenPom. That was a marketing problem. We're going to get two now because of failed leadership plus the lack of everyone else pulling their weight. The situation is DIRE if everyone doesn't take care of business in non-con.
  • UConn (KP #6)
  • St. Johns (#22) -- lack of a PG on full display in a marquee home LOSS vs a top SEC team. Still has 4 top 27 matchups in non-con to make up for it, but projected to go 1-3 as of now. Not good -- that sets them up for a 7/8 seed at best?
  • Villanova (#44) -- lost to BYU already, has top 16 Michigan and Wisco coming up. Given Willard's shoddy track record and it being year 1, not really going to hold my breath. Probably need to win both to get an at-large as the rest of their non-con is a bad Pitt and mid-majors.
  • Creighton (#53) -- lost to Gonzaga by 27 last night. 27! A team UConn has dominated the last few years. . Seemingly play half the Big 12 in non-con rest of the way, with #19 Baylor and #8 ISU back-to-back in Vegas in 2 weeks. Need a split and then take care of business vs mediocre Nebraska and KSt. If they go 2-2 or god forbid 1-3 or worse, they're going to be squarely on the bubble and likely on the outside. Again, not good.
  • Marquette (#63) -- Shaka refusing to take transfers for a 3rd straight year is finally going to do him in. Got blown out by Indiana with a first year head coach. Seriously? Have #16 Wisco and #7 Purdue along with mediocre Maryland/Dayton/Oklahoma. Need 4 wins out of that to be safe...but at KenPom #63 they have A LOT of work to do...
  • Butler (#70) -- Play no one sub-42 in NonCon right now. Outside chance if they sweep the 4 decent games they have, good luck with that.
  • PC (#73) -- Another team that plays #16 Wisco, and that's their best opponent. Already lost to a mediocre Va Tech in OT.
  • Gtown (#74) -- Beat #57 Maryland! Oh wow! Has opportunities vs #21 Clemson and #26 UNC. Win 1 of those and they might be able to sneak into the bubble assuming they don't pick up bad Ls.
  • Hall (#90) -- #28 NC State only top 53 non-con opponent. Abysmal schedule.
  • Xavier (#103) -- Just got their teeth kicked in at home vs Santa Clara. Have some opportunities (and Santa Clara isn't the worst loss technically) but also struggled vs Marist and Le Moyne. Dick Pitinio in one in year 1.
  • DePaul (#117) -- Buffalo just handled them in Chicago. Other than Northwester, pretty bad non-con (6 300+ cupcakes). Forever Basement.
So to sum it up, it will be an uphill fight for 3 bids, let alone 4+. That has dangerous ramifications, both financially and for future recruiting. The good news is that the teams in-line for a bid can control their own destiny (granted, that would mean beating Wisconsin 3 times and thus devaluing their own resume).

We need to get out.

EDIT: Yes, it's way too premature to use KenPom numbers accurately. So much can change. But given where things currently stand, everyone still has A LOT of work to do. The conference is in a bad state and is not grading out well in the metrics. Bad.
 
ThabeetDown said:
The Big East is an absolute disaster. Val's leadership has been terrible and she has squandered any momentum the league was trying to create organically by simply rolling over to the TV networks and putting zero effort into marketing the league -- and that's when the product was pretty good.

Now, the product is bad -- even though with the rev share the schools should be doing well. As of today, we're looking at a TWO-BID LEAGUE. We got 3 teams in '24, and that was being the 2nd best conference in KenPom. That was a marketing problem. We're going to get two now because of failed leadership plus the lack of everyone else pulling their weight. The situation is DIRE if everyone doesn't take care of business in non-con.
  • UConn (KP #6)
  • St. Johns (#22) -- lack of a PG on full display in a marquee home LOSS vs a top SEC team. Still has 4 top 27 matchups in non-con to make up for it, but projected to go 1-3 as of now. Not good -- that sets them up for a 7/8 seed at best?
  • Villanova (#44) -- lost to BYU already, has top 16 Michigan and Wisco coming up. Given Willard's shoddy track record and it being year 1, not really going to hold my breath. Probably need to win both to get an at-large as the rest of their non-con is a bad Pitt and mid-majors.
  • Creighton (#53) -- lost to Gonzaga by 27 last night. 27! A team UConn has dominated the last few years. . Seemingly play half the Big 12 in non-con rest of the way, with #19 Baylor and #8 ISU back-to-back in Vegas in 2 weeks. Need a split and then take care of business vs mediocre Nebraska and KSt. If they go 2-2 or god forbid 1-3 or worse, they're going to be squarely on the bubble and likely on the outside. Again, not good.
  • Marquette (#63) -- Shaka refusing to take transfers for a 3rd straight year is finally going to do him in. Got blown out by Indiana with a first year head coach. Seriously? Have #16 Wisco and #7 Purdue along with mediocre Maryland/Dayton/Oklahoma. Need 4 wins out of that to be safe...but at KenPom #63 they have A LOT of work to do...
  • Butler (#70) -- Play no one sub-42 in NonCon right now. Outside chance if they sweep the 4 decent games they have, good luck with that.
  • PC (#73) -- Another team that plays #16 Wisco, and that's their best opponent. Already lost to a mediocre Va Tech in OT.
  • Gtown (#74) -- Beat #57 Maryland! Oh wow! Has opportunities vs #21 Clemson and #26 UNC. Win 1 of those and they might be able to sneak into the bubble assuming they don't pick up bad Ls.
  • Hall (#90) -- #28 NC State only top 53 non-con opponent. Abysmal schedule.
  • Xavier (#103) -- Just got their teeth kicked in at home vs Santa Clara. Have some opportunities (and Santa Clara isn't the worst loss technically) but also struggled vs Marist and Le Moyne. Dick Pitinio in one in year 1.
  • DePaul (#117) -- Buffalo just handled them in Chicago. Other than Northwester, pretty bad non-con (6 300+ cupcakes). Forever Basement.
So to sum it up, it will be an uphill fight for 3 bids, let alone 4+. That has dangerous ramifications, both financially and for future recruiting. The good news is that the teams in-line for a bid can control their own destiny (granted, that would mean beating Wisconsin 3 times and thus devaluing their own resume).

We need to get out.
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St. John's didn't lose because of a lack of a point guard.
 
Devland said:
Always happy to see Creighton lose. I've never understood rooting for conference mates. No other sports do. Do Giants fans root for Eagles or Cowboys?
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Non-divisional wins of division foes negatively impact teams in the pros. Non-conference wins of conference foes positively impact college teams. It’s that simple.
 
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Wether we leave or there is some merger with ACC is the stuff of speculation.

Women Huskies do fine in the BE with even less competition than the men’s.

I also think our seeding this year and this is a generalized thought to any team is that if we crush our OOC competition and wind up with < 5 losses the conference won’t dictate our seeding. That is due to a very crazy OOC sched.

But also this is very early - many teams are playing local scrubs still with the occasional big game like Illinois by 4 at home vs Texas Tech (which shows parity given HC is ~3 pts worth) and some others we post in the non BE OOC.

Not sure who was saying Creighton would be really good but they got flattened by Gonzaga who I think is about the same as last year.
 
The Big East sucks but anyone having Creighton out of the tournament because of 1 loss to a top 25 team is beyond reactionary. Creighton is a very good team and a tournament lock
 
ThabeetDown said:
The Big East is an absolute disaster. Val's leadership has been terrible and she has squandered any momentum the league was trying to create organically by simply rolling over to the TV networks and putting zero effort into marketing the league -- and that's when the product was pretty good.

Now, the product is bad -- even though with the rev share the schools should be doing well. As of today, we're looking at a TWO-BID LEAGUE. We got 3 teams in '24, and that was being the 2nd best conference in KenPom. That was a marketing problem. We're going to get two now because of failed leadership plus the lack of everyone else pulling their weight. The situation is DIRE if everyone doesn't take care of business in non-con.
  • UConn (KP #6)
  • St. Johns (#22) -- lack of a PG on full display in a marquee home LOSS vs a top SEC team. Still has 4 top 27 matchups in non-con to make up for it, but projected to go 1-3 as of now. Not good -- that sets them up for a 7/8 seed at best?
  • Villanova (#44) -- lost to BYU already, has top 16 Michigan and Wisco coming up. Given Willard's shoddy track record and it being year 1, not really going to hold my breath. Probably need to win both to get an at-large as the rest of their non-con is a bad Pitt and mid-majors.
  • Creighton (#53) -- lost to Gonzaga by 27 last night. 27! A team UConn has dominated the last few years. . Seemingly play half the Big 12 in non-con rest of the way, with #19 Baylor and #8 ISU back-to-back in Vegas in 2 weeks. Need a split and then take care of business vs mediocre Nebraska and KSt. If they go 2-2 or god forbid 1-3 or worse, they're going to be squarely on the bubble and likely on the outside. Again, not good.
  • Marquette (#63) -- Shaka refusing to take transfers for a 3rd straight year is finally going to do him in. Got blown out by Indiana with a first year head coach. Seriously? Have #16 Wisco and #7 Purdue along with mediocre Maryland/Dayton/Oklahoma. Need 4 wins out of that to be safe...but at KenPom #63 they have A LOT of work to do...
  • Butler (#70) -- Play no one sub-42 in NonCon right now. Outside chance if they sweep the 4 decent games they have, good luck with that.
  • PC (#73) -- Another team that plays #16 Wisco, and that's their best opponent. Already lost to a mediocre Va Tech in OT.
  • Gtown (#74) -- Beat #57 Maryland! Oh wow! Has opportunities vs #21 Clemson and #26 UNC. Win 1 of those and they might be able to sneak into the bubble assuming they don't pick up bad Ls.
  • Hall (#90) -- #28 NC State only top 53 non-con opponent. Abysmal schedule.
  • Xavier (#103) -- Just got their teeth kicked in at home vs Santa Clara. Have some opportunities (and Santa Clara isn't the worst loss technically) but also struggled vs Marist and Le Moyne. Dick Pitinio in one in year 1.
  • DePaul (#117) -- Buffalo just handled them in Chicago. Other than Northwester, pretty bad non-con (6 300+ cupcakes). Forever Basement.
So to sum it up, it will be an uphill fight for 3 bids, let alone 4+. That has dangerous ramifications, both financially and for future recruiting. The good news is that the teams in-line for a bid can control their own destiny (granted, that would mean beating Wisconsin 3 times and thus devaluing their own resume).

We need to get out.

EDIT: Yes, it's way too premature to use KenPom numbers accurately. So much can change. But given where things currently stand, everyone still has A LOT of work to do. The conference is in a bad state and is not grading out well in the metrics. Bad.
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Grow up. It’s November 12, were you saying the Big East sucked after we went 0-3 in Maui? You’re over here citing KenPom ratings that are 95% tied to last seasons performance. And while I do agree with you on the Big East leadership, you got to get a grip. We’ll be at 3-5 teams this March, like we usually do. It’s early, too early to have these conversations so stop overreacting.

And lol at the “we gotta get out comment.” And go where? The NBA? The A10? Maybe the SEC! No one wants our program yet given the circumstances. This is the reality of it - all we can do is win and not have our administration/AD act like idiots.
 
navery12 said:
The KenPom stuff is massively premature. I remind you of what you said about it just 3 days ago, it's not useful until last year's data is weeded out

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You're right, but by the looks of what we have so far, I'm not expecting it to improve much. I expect Pitino to right StJ, we'll be fine. It's the other 9 programs that will be the issue.

Creighton looked awful, qualitatively. Marquette, same. They were our fighting chance at a third bid. The DePaul & Xavier losses are holes we won't dig out of.

Been saying it for awhile now, but we have to grab at least 4 wins out of these 6 to grab a top seed. These games are a big deal.
 
upstater said:
Anyone a little worried about this conference? There are some Catholic private schools suffering nationwide right now. Been hearing about dire things at Niagara, Canisius, St. Bonavenure. I'm sure things aren't so rosy at Seton Hall, DePaul, Xavier and maybe even Providence.
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Niagara Canisius and St Bonny are a tough sell always, surprised their struggles haven't been showing up earlier.
 
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RuffRuff said:
You're right, but by the looks of what we have so far, I'm not expecting it to improve much. I expect Pitino to right StJ, we'll be fine. It's the other 9 programs that will be the issue.

Creighton looked awful, qualitatively. Marquette, same. They were our fighting chance at a third bid. The DePaul & Xavier losses are holes we won't dig out of.

Been saying it for awhile now, but we have to grab at least 4 wins out of these 6 to grab a top seed. These games are a big deal.
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I don't disagree that a lot of teams have looked bad, or even that a lot of teams in the Big East are bad.

But I still expect 4-5 bids, because with all the player and roster turnover in college basketball, everyone looks bad. There's a ton of bad basketball and surprising results all over college basketball as teams learn to play. I don't think Creighton looking bad yesterday necessarily means it's going to look like that all year
 
CTBasketball said:
Grow up. It’s November 12, were you saying the Big East sucked after we went 0-3 in Maui? You’re over here citing KenPom ratings that are 95% tied to last seasons performance. And while I do agree with you on the Big East leadership, you got to get a grip. We’ll be at 3-5 teams this March, like we usually do. It’s early, too early to have these conversations so stop overreacting.

And lol at the “we gotta get out comment.” And go where? The NBA? The A10? Maybe the SEC! No one wants our program yet given the circumstances. This is the reality of it - all we can do is win and not have our administration/AD act like idiots.
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The immaturity to not understand the dire situation the conference is frankly impressive. For reference, here are the preseason rankings from last year vs this year:

UConn: 5/5 (NCAAT)
SJU: 19/16 (NCAAT)
Nova: 20/50
Creighton: 12/41 (NCAAT)
Marquette: 22/47 (NCAAT)
Butler: 83/72
PC: 60/48
Gtown: 88/82
Hall: 91/90
Xavier: 33/62 (NCAAT)
DePaul: 163/78

So our 5 NCAAT bids last year were all top 33 teams preseason. Same thing in '24 when we only had 3 bids -- our 3 bids were all preseason top 12 teams. Nova was preseason 23 and fell off, just like last year.

The preseason rankings are a good indication that the team is capable of getting a bid! Based on the same metrics for this year, we're at 2, exactly what I said in my post. Also, as I mentioned in my post, teams control their own destiny by winning the marquee games on their schedule (for those that scheduled them).

If you want to be stuck on a sinking ship as the world around you changes so you can what go play tummy sticks with your neighbor who went to Providence or Villanova, be my guest.

EDIT: Also, you act like 3 teams is a good thing. That is bad. As a small conference with smaller revenue, you need to maximize tourney credits. 3 teams, one of whom tradionally can't even get out of the first weekend frankly doesn't pay the bills.
 
superjohn said:
St. John's didn't lose because of a lack of a point guard.
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It certainly didn't help! I'm not worried about them getting into the tourney, but hard to win in March w/o one. We need those tournament credits!
 
navery12 said:
The Big East sucks but anyone having Creighton out of the tournament because of 1 loss to a top 25 team is beyond reactionary. Creighton is a very good team and a tournament lock
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They are not a lock. This is the worst Creighton team since 2022. That team started out preseason 53 and best non-con win was 58 BYU (w/ losses to #43 ISU and #46 CSU and #97 ASU). They got in as a 9 seed because they beat #10 Nova, #22 us twice. #32 PC and a trip to the BET Championship. Also worth noting, that BE is likely stronger than this year's though.

McDermott's track record shows they should make the tournament, but it's quite the rebuild year for him and a lot of new pieces. I honestly do think he will figure it out and they should make the tourney, since they most likely will pound every BE team not named us/SJU. But no such things as locks with them/Marquette right now, who is on a similar trajectory/path as them this year.
 
navery12 said:
I don't disagree that a lot of teams have looked bad, or even that a lot of teams in the Big East are bad.

But I still expect 4-5 bids, because with all the player and roster turnover in college basketball, everyone looks bad. There's a ton of bad basketball and surprising results all over college basketball as teams learn to play. I don't think Creighton looking bad yesterday necessarily means it's going to look like that all year
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Possibly, but then you have an Indiana, who is nothing but transfers and they ran a team full of continuity. With Creighton, I'm just not sure how impressed I am with their roster and I do thinking finally losing a guy like Kalk exposes them some. They have zero athletes on that team.

I'd lean towards these BE teams being bad. If we were to get 4-5 teams in (which would be suprising since we only got 3 in last year), it would be out of default. The one thing on our side is that the SEC shouldn't have bids in the teens and mid majors really aren't going to be making much noise to get auto bids in today's environment.

Georgetown could surprise as KJ & Mack are a solid core, they have a couple bigs and some solid role players.
 
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RuffRuff said:
Possibly, but then you have an Indiana, who is nothing but transfers and they ran a team full of continuity. With Creighton, I'm just not sure how impressed I am with their roster and I do thinking finally losing a guy like Kalk exposes them some. They have zero athletes on that team.

I'd lean towards these BE teams being bad. If we were to get 4-5 teams in (which would be suprising since we only got 3 in last year), it would be out of default. The one thing on our side is that the SEC shouldn't have bids in the teens and mid majors really aren't going to be making much noise to get auto bids in today's environment.

Georgetown could surprise as KJ & Mack are a solid core, they have a couple bigs and some solid role players.
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Spot on. Creighton having ZERO blocks last night is the most glaring indication on how much they miss Kalkbrenner. Other than the two Iowa transfers (and it's not like Iowa was that good last year) they're relying on some mid-major transfers from Howard and Charlotte to be major contributors. Lot of work to do in Omaha, but luckily they have a very good coach.
 
Devland said:
Always happy to see Creighton lose. I've never understood rooting for conference mates. No other sports do. Do Giants fans root for Eagles or Cowboys?
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Not even close to being the same situation. The Giants are competing (well maybe not for a few years) with other teams in the division for OVERALL record to win the division, so of course Giants fans are not going to root for the Eagles, Cowboys and Washington.

The NCAA is seeded based on numerous factors including opponents. So if Creighton wins all their non conference games it makes wins against them better. So of course Uconn fans should root for all Big East teams to win all their non conference games.
 
ThabeetDown said:
Spot on. Creighton having ZERO blocks last night is the most glaring indication on how much they miss Kalkbrenner. Other than the two Iowa transfers (and it's not like Iowa was that good last year) they're relying on some mid-major transfers from Howard and Charlotte to be major contributors. Lot of work to do in Omaha, but luckily they have a very good coach.
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McDermott is the only reason I think they have potential. They're slow and just not very talented. McAndrew is a nice big stretch 4, but ultimately just a skinny tall guy that can shoot and not do much else. They have very little to compliment him. I'm honestly surprised a guy like Green isn't a more key player on this team. Me personally, I think McDermott is the kinda guy that doesn't jive with the portal and is on the 18th hole.
 
Need to stop the bleeding on Friday and Saturday. But in this league we pretty much have to do things on our own. Without us this league is nothing in terms of national respect. Nova was the last stalwart and those memories are fading fast.
 
Jimdish255 said:
Need to stop the bleeding on Friday and Saturday. But in this league we pretty much have to do things on our own. Without us this league is nothing in terms of national respect. Nova was the last stalwart and those memories are fading fast.
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I'd say those memories are only that, memories. Nova may have the resources to rise again, but the Neptune era at the NIL/Portal turn was really bad timing for their brand. I don't know how I feel about Willard being the guy to resurrect them.

I agree, we are on an island here and have to operate that way. The more kids I hear about kids college selections, the more I see a trend of them all wanting big state schools.
 
RuffRuff said:
I'd say those memories are only that, memories. Nova may have the resources to rise again, but the Neptune era at the NIL/Portal turn was really bad timing for their brand. I don't know how I feel about Willard being the guy to resurrect them.

I agree, we are on an island here and have to operate that way. The more kids I hear about kids college selections, the more I see a trend of them all wanting big state schools.
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You are in mid season form
 
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RuffRuff said:
Not to say I told you so, but I've been saying this for weeks. That these OOC for us are critical to any decent seeding in the tourney because all the BE can do is weigh us down. Why I was really concerned with the Mullins injury.

BE has one team in the KP top 20, 2 teams in the KP top 43. Nova is 44 right now. The Mount West has 3 teams in the top 45 as well, as a barometer.
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Why don't people listen to you? Maybe you should post more.
 
For those that say Big East teams will be better later in the season now is the time to build your metrics. If the conference teams lose now in out of conference games, beating each in conference play will not matter much. A team with a 60 RPI beating a team with a 70 RPI means nothing. The Big East is simply not a very good conference. We will be carrying the torch. We really need to move on. I would love the Big 10 but that may be just a dream. The ACC needs us as much as we need them.
 
I type fast Hans and have a hybrid computer job. There are some good Uconn conversationalists here, you not included. I like to think of you as drunk wannabe Shakespeare. Let me know if you'd like me to find you the Drunk Shakespeare message board.
 
RuffRuff said:
I type fast Hans and have a hybrid computer job. There are some good Uconn conversationalists here, you not included. I like to think of you as drunk wannabe Shakespeare. Let me know if you'd like me to find you the Drunk Shakespeare message board.
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iu
 
RuffRuff said:
Brother, our conference strength has a lot of bearing on how we seed in the tourney, it also brings money to the league. It also brings TV revenue. Division strength doesn't matter in pro sports, it does in college. Let's not forget that top kids want to play against good team.

I used to pull hard for our conference mates on an emotional level when I was prideful for the BE being the best conference in the country. Now that any chance of that is gone, much less so. I'll always pull for our old brothers like GTown & Nova, less so for the midwest adds. Nowadays I simply pull for them as it comes to positioning Uconn best possible from an economics, recruiting and seeding perspective.
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I will continue to root against any school with a religious affiliation. Big East or not.
 
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