Sizing up UConn, Big East ahead of season: 'This league will be loaded' | The Boneyard

Sizing up UConn, Big East ahead of season: 'This league will be loaded'

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Part of Borges's quota of articles for the month.

"This league," Creighton coach Greg McDermott promised, "will be loaded."

Just don't tell freescooter. Where has he been lately?

www.nhregister.com

Sizing up UConn, Big East men's basketball conference ahead of season: 'This league will be loaded'

The Big East could be as strong as its been in decades, with three teams likely to be...
www.nhregister.com www.nhregister.com

Alternate access:

Sizing up UConn, Big East men's basketball conference ahead of season: 'This league will be loaded'​

 
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I think I posted this in an another thread, but Bart Torvik’s model has eight Big East teams among the top 60. I do think we’re five tourney teams as the minimum, six as the most likely, and seven as plausible. Just as importantly, three or four teams should be capable of making deep runs if everything clicks.


IMG_2695.jpeg
 
superjohn said:
Could get 7- UConn, Creighton, Marquette, Nova, Xavier, Johnnies, Providence
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5 is the minimum, 8 is the ceiling (Georgetown). How many we actually get though will depend on the type of respect the conference gets from the committee. Will we finally get the B12 treatment where every loss is a "good loss"?
 
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MU in MKE said:
I would never count out Cooley to have his team in the hunt at the end of the season.
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That's what I was saying, too, but many here dismissed the idea of Georgetown being good. I don't think they will be great, but I think Patrick Ewing made those teams play worse than they really were. The sum of the parts was greater than what they produced the last 2 years.
 
The BE is going to be crazy. UConn, Creighton, Marquette should spend most (if not all) of the season in the upper half of the top 15. SJU and Xavier should be tournament teams. Providence, and Villanova should be competitive for spots. Maybe Cooley even turns Georgetown into something respectable in year 1?

I'd say minimum 6 BE teams will be in the tournament. How many Q1 games does UConn get in conference play this year? 7-8?
 
ToolzieFan said:
I think I posted this in an another thread, but Bart Torvik’s model has eight Big East teams among the top 60. I do think we’re five tourney teams as the minimum, six as the most likely, and seven as plausible. Just as importantly, three or four teams should be capable of making deep runs if everything clicks.


View attachment 90793
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This is useful info, but the bubble teams are in the high 30s/low 40s, not the 50s and 60s. Have to account for all the low major AQs
 
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gsmooth said:
That's what I was saying, too, but many here dismissed the idea of Georgetown being good. I don't think they will be great, but I think Patrick Ewing made those teams play worse than they really were. The sum of the parts was greater than what they produced the last 2 years.
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Agreed, but ewing had more talent than this roster. They will play harder for sure and actually run an offense.
 
MU in MKE said:
I would never count out Cooley to have his team in the hunt at the end of the season.
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True, I'd just be a little concerned about what it is they are hunting.
 
pj said:
I predict Hurley is going to struggle to prove he can win close games this year.
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He might.

It's still part of his growing edge, along with true road win against a Top 25 team, true road win against Top 25 P5 team, winning Big East regular season, winning BET, and having a win against every Big East coach (most notably Sean Miller, but including Kim English and, technically, Rick Pitino).

None of these are part of any package of doubts. I'm sure they are all within his field of awareness, along with many other challenges.

One game at a time.
 
pj said:
Ha. Is there one coach on that list you would take over Hurley? I didn't see one.
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Coaches I would take versus coaches that are better are probably vastly different questions. For example, Pitino is probably a better coach than Hurley but I would never consider taking him over Hurley. There are some that are as good, if not better that I wouldn't take for a variety of reasons.

I personally would only possibly want one other coach on that list over Hurley. That being Bill Self. At 60 he is still pretty young and he has proven to be probably the best coach in the game year in, year out and he can win in March. His hospitalization this past year was a bit concerning but otherwise he has the resume.

The rest are either too old to be considered as replacements, unproven, or not better (maybe similar), or I hate their coaching styles.
 
Waquoit said:
Here's a list of 26 from "a panel of experts."
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Minicoop69 said:
To be fair, that was before last years season started. While I don't agree with a lot of those on the list or where they are placed, he hadn't won a Ship yet.
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True, but last season included victories over Altman, Cooley, McDermott, Pitino, Bennett, Few, and Musselman.

And you could add Oats, Smart, Laranaga, and Dutcher last season from not on the list, OR keep in mind that this coming season has at least Few, Self, Davis, Pitino, Cooley, and McDermott from that list.

Consider as well that Boeheim and Howard both wanted Clingan.

Finally, I really wanted Hurley's first P5 true road win to be in Morgantown against Huggins, which was, alas, a close loss.
 
I think it’s going to take Nova, PC, GTown, and St John’s a couple years to hit the ground running with their new HC’s.

UConn, Creighton, Marquette, and Xavier are the top dogs in any order.
 
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I'm not expecting to win at Kansas because that's the hardest place to play in sports but I don't get why Kansas is preseason #1 in every poll. I get that we lost Sanogo, Hawk, and Jackson but they lost Wilson and Gradey. Do people really think Hunter is that much better than Clingan? I usually think the champions from the season before are ranked too high but wtf? We have 2 projected lottery picks, our starting point guard, Karaban and Spencer who pretty much tore it up in the Big 10. The schedule is a gauntlet and we'll have some losses but I want UConn and the Big East to lay waste next season and I thing they will.
 
"Cam Spencer could be next-level Joey California"

I actually felt a sensation when I read this.
 
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