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Message: [QUOTE="champs99and04, post: 2669972, member: 488"] As I said, the league was really good. That [I]that [/I]Nova team lost four games in the conference - and has yet to even be tested out of conference - tells you all you need to know. The fact that St. John's was sitting at like 0-10 in conference when they knocked off Duke tells you all you need to know. Nova is just playing at a level right now that transcends the conference. At least for me, as a Big East fan, it's gone from rooting for Nova to bring notoriety to the league to hoping someone else makes that next step. Other programs have gotten close, but it feels like there hasn't been that elite level talent that really makes a team scary. Of course, there's been some bad luck, too - Whitehead and Bentil both left could-have-been loaded teams early to fetch non-guaranteed deals (I think Whitehead has one now), Mo Watson tore his ACL right as Creighton was looking like a national contender, Edmund Sumner tore his ACL/left early, etc. If everyone comes back for St. John's, including Marcus LoVett, who went down when they were 6-1, perhaps they could emerge as a threat. Georgetown could be a factor if Govan returns, Providence brings in a good recruiting class but will miss Cartwright/Bullock, and Xavier will lose a lot but also retain plenty of talent. One team to watch out for is Marquette, their 2016 class - with Markus Howard and Sam Hauser - is coming of age, and the highest ranked recruit of that bunch, Brendan Bailey, should be back from his Mormon mission. Seton Hall brings in Taurean Thompson, a big impact transfer from Syracuse, but they're obviously losing the four seniors and should take a step back. Losing Waters, in hindsight, has to sting for Georgetown, even if they did hire a new coach in the process. And the Jalen Smith's of the world (Baltimore kid who went to Maryland) are the type of players Patrick Ewing will have to woo in time if Georgetown is going to get back to being one of the prominent programs in the northeast. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach