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Message: [QUOTE="nelsonmuntz, post: 5163257, member: 833"] Approaching the first turn, the Big East race is starting to shape up: 1) Marquette (16-4 projected BE) - It is fun to watch a team that is 100% on the same page. But they aren't blowing teams out like a Top 10 team should, and they do not look dominant in any particular part of the game. Kam Jones is the only player that has a high probability shot at the NBA, and he is not a lock. I think Marquette is clearly the best team in the Big East, but I also think that UConn and Creighton are both more talented and have more potential for deep March runs. 2) UConn (15-5) - Same as before...the offense is really good, and if they cut out the 5 stupid shots a game, would be incredible, but the defense still has problems. When the Hurley/Murray UConn offense is clicking, it is unstoppable. Hurley has to get the defense to mediocre or UConn could have a short March. I can’t think of a UConn team, post Calhoun’s arrival, that was this bad defensively, and I definitely can’t remember a team with this big a disparity between its play at either end of the floor. 3) Creighton (14-6) - This team is good and is big. I think there is a lot of upside in Creighton's 3 point shooting numbers, and if Creighton gets to where it should be from deep, this team could be really good. On the downside, Creighton has no margin of error left after an underwhelming non-conference performance, even if it was against a really tough schedule. 4) St. Johns (14-6) - the team is deep, fast, athletic, and I am a huge Ejiofor fan. The three point shooting is a problem, and there are several players (Ejiofor, Luis, Richmond, Scott) taking a fair number of 3's that do not have any business taking that many 3's. I also do not feel like Pitino is close to as good a game coach as he was in the past. It seems like adjustments are late or non-existent. This team has first round exit in a 7/10 game written all over it. 5) Villanova (11-9) - Dixon is really good and the rest of the starting lineup is decent. I don't want to get too bullish since two of the wins are Depaul and Seton Hall, but Villanova is starting to pound teams. Neptune will blow enough games to keep Villanova out of the dance, but this team won't suck. 6) Xavier (11-9) - Freemantle looks like he will make it through the season, and this is a really good 3 point shooting team, which means Xavier is going to be a tough out. They have stubbed their toes a few times, and I don’t think they will do enough the rest of the year to give the selection committee an excuse to put them in the field. 7) Georgetown (9-11) - I am surprised Georgetown is this good, but it has home wins over decent Creighton and Xavier teams, so they don't suck. I do feel like there will be a reversion to the mean as the season goes on. 8) Butler (8-12) - The 0-4 conference record is bad, but they opened with 3 of their 4 first Big East games against the top 3 teams in the league. Butler has not looked terrible, and will pick up some wins along the way. A problem they have is that they are already running out of opportunities for "surprise" wins. 9) Providence (7-13) - They can shoot on occasion, so they will pick up a few wins, but Hopkins appears to have hung it up and I am only giving them this many wins because there are a lot of potential wins on the schedule. 10) Depaul (3-17) - I predicted Depaul to win 6 Big East games a month ago after watching them not get embarrassed by a decent Texas Tech team. Then they played Providence tough, and have sucked since. They have trouble staying on the floor with anyone that is not terrible. 11) Seton Hall (2-18) - I do not have the minerals to predict a team to go winless with 17 games left, but this team looks worse every time I see it. [/QUOTE]

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