NET: 11

[BFieldHusky]

UConn: 11 (NET). 12 in KenPom. 9 in ESPN BPI. 11 in Massey.

 

[BFieldHusky]

Other Big East Teams as we enter conference play:

NET:

9. Marquette
11. UConn
37. St. John's
67. Creighton
69. DePaul
70. Villanova
74. Providence
76. Butler
77. Xavier
91. Georgetown
182. Seton Hall

KenPom:

9. Marquette
12. UConn
15. St. John's
41. Creighton
51. Villanova
60. Xavier
74. Butler
78. Providence
84. Georgetown
89. DePaul
130. Seton Hall

ESPN BPi:

9. UConn
14. Marquette
27. Creighton
28. St. John's
44. Villanova
57. Xavier
67. Butler
74. Providence
77. DePaul
95. Georgetown
113. Seton Hall

UConn and Marquette are clearly tournament teams. St. John's NET is a little high, and you hope they win enough games in the conference to offset that Baylor collapse. I think Creighton can work their way in if they can win enough conference games. After that, I think it is a stretch to see any at large bids. Maybe someone steals a bid by winning the conference tournament.

 

[businesslawyer]

Looks like a down year for the conference. Is that because the Big East is declining compared to power football conferencesor just a relatively down year? Only time will tell.

 

[pj]

I think St John's makes it and Creighton would have made it if not for the Pop Isaacs injury, but they won't now.

BL, I do think the NIL era is not going to be kind to the Catholic schools. The power conferences will invest in basketball as their next big revenue growth opportunity, and many Big East schools will not be able to keep up. We've seen Seton Hall losing players already, too bad because I like Shaheen Holloway and their history. We will have to find a new landing place before long. Fortunately there should be enough instability as the ACC contract comes toward its end to give us a spot.

 

[UCLJ0211]

Surprised Creighton’s NET is that low. Granted they lost 4 games but they have the Kansas win and they’ve played a tough schedule.

 

[aburks41]

Solid 3 seed metrics. With the Big East being real bad this year we should go 15-5 at WORST. Ideally we end up 17-3, win the BET, and get a 2 seed in the East

 

[uconndogs]

Looks like a down year for the conference. Is that because the Big East is declining compared to power football conferencesor just a relatively down year? Only time will tell.

My guess is it’s a trend. Power Conferences and in particular the BiG and SEC will have more money to acquire talent. I think very big dollars are going to come to college basketball talent.

 

[UConNick]

Solid 3 seed metrics. With the Big East being real bad this year we should go 15-5 at WORST. Ideally we end up 17-3, win the BET, and get a 2 seed in the East

I was trying to game this out for seeding.

It’ll depend on who we lose the BE games to, but I’ll assume we at least beat Marquette at home and win all our other home games, then take our losses on the road to non-bottom tier teams.

I’d usually make a consideration also of how we do in the BET, but I think it’s safe to say the committee doesn’t put much weight there. So, maybe each of these will move up a seed line by winning it and down a seed line by losing the first game:

15-5 (23-8): 4/5 seed
16-4 (24-7): 3/4 seed
17-3 (25-6): 2/3 seed
18-2 (26-5): 2 seed

Not sure we’re gonna have the SOS clout to get wins to justify a 1 seed barring something insane like 19-1/20-0 in league, which I’ll avoid considering for the sake of rationality (18-2, our BE record last year, is after all the best the conference has ever seen).

But otherwise, it’ll all in front of us to at least get Providence, if not Newark. Getting Newark will come down to where we are on the seed line (i.e., would 9, the first 3 seed, be better than 8, the last 2 seed, because we’d be more likely to be placed into our most geographically advantageous region? Maybe).

 

[bendm]

Duke is gong to steamroll the ACC and be the 1 seed in the East so our goal should be 2 seed in the East.

Having said that, the sec is going to beat each other up so some of those teams could drop off the 1 line especially if there’s upsets in their conference tourney.

If we can steamroll the BE (eg 17-3) and win the conference tourney maybe we snag the last 1 seed out west.

The only Ls I foresee in conference play are @marquette and @creighton. Throw 1 more L in there for a surprise slip up.

 

[Tiamat7]

I expected better from X, Villanova (Kenpom did too, but yes Neptune problem), PC. Tough luck for Creighton with the Pop Isaacs injury.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

Unfortunately looking like 4 tournament teams at most. We gave our 5th bid to the A10 between us Marquette and Providence

 

[shizzle787]

Looks like a down year for the conference. Is that because the Big East is declining compared to power football conferencesor just a relatively down year? Only time will tell.

I actually don't think it's a trend. Georgetown and DePaul are much better than previous years so the floor has risen considerably. Neither has a bad loss. The issue is that Villanova, Seton Hall, and Providence need better coaches. The other issue is that the league lost a ton of one and two possession games. Most of the league wins against P4 opposition were blowouts. Most of the losses were close- see UConn vs. Colorado, Xavier vs. Cincinnati, Seton Hall vs. Rutgers, Villanova vs. Maryland, both of St. John's losses, etc. The league was very unlucky in my opinion. We won 45% of our games against the P4. That's not great, but it's not that bad, and it is much better than the ACC.

 

[shizzle787]

My guess is it’s a trend. Power Conferences and in particular the BiG and SEC will have more money to acquire talent. I think very big dollars are going to come to college basketball talent.

Actually, they are going to have less money because they will have to spend a higher percentage on football. Ultimately, I believe the Big East is going to settle into the number 3 hole slightly behind the SEC and Big 10 in basketball and ahead of the Big 12 and ACC.

 

[shizzle787]

The other big issue in my opinion is that league only has 11 members when the other four major conferences have either 16 or 18. That is a big disadvantage in perception as people would think the ACC is better if gets five bids and the Big East only gets four but in reality, the Big East would have gotten a far higher percentage of the league in.

I know everyone loves the precious double round robin, but it might be time to add a 12th team. I said before the season the best program to add is Dayton. They have a top-tier basketball budget (competitive with the P4 and Big East). They average 12-13k per game, and they regularly make the NCAA tournament. If you can get Xavier to stand down and tell Dayton they will not be getting TV money until the next contract, I think it's an add you have to make. Keep the 20 game schedule, add Dayton, and you add at least half a bid on average.

With the Pac-12 forming, those schools are all off limits. The Big East is not adding a football school or western school and not dipping into the MVC, so the WCC, MVC, MW, AAC, and Pac-12 schools are off limits. I don't see Villanova letting Temple in even if the latter drops football, and Wichita State has lost its luster. The only place to add from is the A-10 (which will likely be the #7 league going forward).

 

[auror]

EvanMiya has us 12th, but added a special icon to our team.

 

[Hi-Low]

Complete Net Rankings....

DI Men's Basketball Rankings - NCAA Men's Basketball NET Rankings | NCAA.com

Get NCAA college basketball rankings from the Associated Press, USA Today Coaches poll and the NCAA NET Rankings.

www.ncaa.com

 

[jibsey]

We will need a Zags effort to beat Pitino, just a guess.

 

[Kolumbo]

if anyone is curious, canada university south-eastern comes in at 144 with bcu at 190. good times

it seems like over a decade ago when those fans thought the ACC money would create the exact opposite results

 

[businesslawyer]

if anyone is curious, canada university south-eastern comes in at 144 with bcu at 190. good times

it seems like over a decade ago when those fans thought the ACC money would create the exact opposite results

The Big East had a really, really disappointing out of conference season. But the 5th place ACC is much, much closer to the 6th place A Ten than the 4th place Big East.

 

[RuffRuff]

I actually don't think it's a trend. Georgetown and DePaul are much better than previous years so the floor has risen considerably. Neither has a bad loss. The issue is that Villanova, Seton Hall, and Providence need better coaches. The other issue is that the league lost a ton of one and two possession games. Most of the league wins against P4 opposition were blowouts. Most of the losses were close- see UConn vs. Colorado, Xavier vs. Cincinnati, Seton Hall vs. Rutgers, Villanova vs. Maryland, both of St. John's losses, etc. The league was very unlucky in my opinion. We won 45% of our games against the P4. That's not great, but it's not that bad, and it is much better than the ACC.

It’s 100% a trend. This is a massively micro level view. Look at the first and second team preseason all BE, it’s a bunch of graduates and seniors. What’s coming in behind that to get excited about outside of UConn players?

Creighton’s Kalkbrenner Named Preseason Player of the Year

Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner has been named 2024-25 BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year by a vote of the league’s head coaches. Connecticut forward Liam McNeeley has been selected BIG EAST Preseason Freshman of the Year. The coaches, who were not permitted to choose their own players...

www.bigeast.com

Follow the money and the big colorful brands - that’s where top kids, TV alluring talent, are going. If the SEC is spiking and investing in hoops, that’s a good sign of what’s to continue. The BE will be reliant on coaches that can coach up second tier talent, and retain it from leaving for P3.

When you’re counting on Gtown and DePaul to steady the ship, that’s cause for concern. These are programs that haven’t produced a compelling team in decades. Cooley has tried, swung at a number of top kids that he’s struck out on. Can’t blame him for trying because talent wins.

Who is the current buzz of the league? Liam McNeeley, future lottery pick freshman leading the top program in the league. Which of these programs in the BE will attract that type of player going forward outside of UConn?

 

[80shusky]

Kenpom 69 on D compared to over 90 not long ago. Got to keep working that down. Big growth through the last four games.

 

[Waquoit]

Evan has a sense of humor! Whi knew?

 

[navery12]

It’s 100% a trend. This is a massively micro level view. Look at the first and second team preseason all BE, it’s a bunch of graduates and seniors. What’s coming in behind that to get excited about outside of UConn players?

Creighton’s Kalkbrenner Named Preseason Player of the Year

Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner has been named 2024-25 BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year by a vote of the league’s head coaches. Connecticut forward Liam McNeeley has been selected BIG EAST Preseason Freshman of the Year. The coaches, who were not permitted to choose their own players...

www.bigeast.com

Follow the money and the big colorful brands - that’s where top kids, TV alluring talent, are going. If the SEC is spiking and investing in hoops, that’s a good sign of what’s to continue. The BE will be reliant on coaches that can coach up second tier talent, and retain it from leaving for P3.

When you’re counting on Gtown and DePaul to steady the ship, that’s cause for concern. These are programs that haven’t produced a compelling team in decades. Cooley has tried, swung at a number of top kids that he’s struck out on. Can’t blame him for trying because talent wins.

Who is the current buzz of the league? Liam McNeeley, future lottery pick freshman leading the top program in the league. Which of these programs in the BE will attract that type of player going forward outside of UConn?

The Big East has 12 top 100 players committed for the 2025 class already, and that's before the transfer portal happens which is where a lot of these schools have been bringing in their impact guys. Maybe those guys don't get lots of NBA buzz, but they're going to be good college players which is all that matters for how the Big East is perceived

 

[Tenspro2002]

I was trying to game this out for seeding.

It’ll depend on who we lose the BE games to, but I’ll assume we at least beat Marquette at home and win all our other home games, then take our losses on the road to non-bottom tier teams.

I’d usually make a consideration also of how we do in the BET, but I think it’s safe to say the committee doesn’t put much weight there. So, maybe each of these will move up a seed line by winning it and down a seed line by losing the first game:

15-5 (23-8): 4/5 seed
16-4 (24-7): 3/4 seed
17-3 (25-6): 2/3 seed
18-2 (26-5): 2 seed

Not sure we’re gonna have the SOS clout to get wins to justify a 1 seed barring something insane like 19-1/20-0 in league, which I’ll avoid considering for the sake of rationality (18-2, our BE record last year, is after all the best the conference has ever seen).

But otherwise, it’ll all in front of us to at least get Providence, if not Newark. Getting Newark will come down to where we are on the seed line (i.e., would 9, the first 3 seed, be better than 8, the last 2 seed, because we’d be more likely to be placed into our most geographically advantageous region? Maybe).

This seems about right. Getting on the top 3 seed lines is important for geographical consideration. What helps is that there are no other worthy teams in the northeast, so as long as we're a 3 or better, we'll definitely get Providence. Getting in the East region is tougher. A #1 seed would have pretty serious complaint if we're their #3 seed in Newark.

I think 15-5 is an absolute minimum, and while there are no other marquee matchups besides Marquette, maybe St. John's, there aren't a lot of games we can take for granted either. Seton Hall might be it. So it's going to be a challenge to win 75% of those games.

@Marquette, @Creighton, the St. John's games, Providence or even Georgetown might be tough at home, Villanova might find a spark. And, yes, even Xavier.