ESPN "NEW BIG EAST" rankings -jokefest

T

tim23red

Member
Written By Jeff Goodman- ESPN
The name just doesn’t seem to fit anymore. The Big East. It doesn’t sound right, not without Syracuse, UConn and Pittsburgh, and even Louisville, Notre Dame and Cincinnati.

It no longer has the look and feel of a powerful conference, the same one that sent a record 11 teams to the NCAA tournament just two seasons ago.

There’s no flagship program. The ACC has Duke and North Carolina and has added Syracuse. The Big Ten has Indiana and Michigan State, with Michigan rising. The Big 12 has Kansas, and the Pac-12 boasts UCLA and Arizona.

The new-look Big East has 10 members, all with similar profiles that are centered around their basketball programs instead football being as a foundation.

But these guys need someone to emerge nationally. Sure, Buzz Williams has done a tremendous job since he took over at Marquette, taking the Golden Eagles to an Elite Eight and a pair of Sweet 16s. John Thompson III has made Georgetown relevant nationally again -- but the program has been lackluster come March since a 2007 Final Four appearance. Jay Wright took Villanova to the Final Four, but 2009 seems like an eternity ago for the handsomest coach in America. Xavier is coming off a sub-par campaign by Xavier standards, St. John’s has been irrelevant for the past two seasons and Providence, Seton Hall and DePaul are, well, Providence, Seton Hall and DePaul.

Brad Stevens was supposed to be the face of the Big East, but now Boy Wonder is gone to the NBA before ever coaching a game in the new-look league. Stevens was slated to enter the Big East and give it a much-needed jolt, along with Creighton’s National Player of the Year contender Doug McDermott (at least for the first season).

Stevens is history, and McDermott will be gone a year from now. That’s worrisome for a league that needs to establish an identity.

This league possesses a similarity to that of the Mountain West, a solid yet unspectacular league with a handful of quality, fringe top-25 teams -- but none that you can envision as making a run to the sport’s final weekend.

One head coach who wished to remain anonymous said that he’s worried about the league’s perception now that its conference games won't be on ESPN.

“No one’s going to know our league,” he said. “Everyone’s going to beat up on everyone, two or three teams will separate themselves, and we won’t get as many teams in the tourney. It’s going to hurt with seeding, also.”

In its first season, there is no shortage of questions regarding the Big East, both on and off the court.
Here’s how we handicap the league's inaugural season:

1. Marquette Golden Eagles: Vander Blue left early, and Junior Cadougan and Trent Lockett graduated. Naturally, everyone is questioning whether Buzz Williams can sustain the program’s recent success. Williams still has Davante Gardner and Chris Otule up front, Jamil Wilson back and also adds a terrific incoming group. The key may be at the point guard spot where holdover Derrick Wilson will be challenged by freshman Duane Wilson.

2. Creighton Bluejays: The Bluejays will make the move from the Missouri Valley, but will do so with the best player in the league and one of the best in the entire country in Doug McDermott. Creighton also got good news when veteran guard Grant Gibbs, one of the best passers and leaders in the nation, received a sixth year of eligibility. Greg McDermott’s biggest concern is whether Will Artino can step in and fill the void left by big man Gregory Echenique.

3. Georgetown Hoyas: The Hoyas might have been the favorite this season until Greg Whittington went down with a torn ACL in June. JT3 will have to replace one of the most versatile and productive players in the nation in Otto Porter Jr.. The backcourt of Markel Starks and D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera should be explosive, Nate Lubick has continued to make progress, and it’ll be interesting to see how much UCLA transfer Josh Smith can help once he becomes eligible.

4. Villanova Wildcats: Jay Wright’s team won 20 games and earned a trip back to the NCAA tournament after a one-year hiatus. Point guard Ryan Arcidiacono was a main reason for the team’s success and now he has a season under his belt. The Wildcats also have leading scorer JayVaughn Pinkston back in the fold.

5. Xavier Musketeers: Last season was an off year for the program after Chris Mack lost Tu Holloway, Dez Wells, Mark Lyons and Kenny Frease. However, the Musketeers still found a way to win 17 games. Mack will have the best point guard in the league in Semaj Christon, but the X factor will be the play of Western Michigan transfer Matt Stainbrook, a 6-foot-10 big man who has lost about 30 pounds while sitting out.

6. Butler Bulldogs: No knock on new coach Brandon Miller, but the Bulldogs would have been up a couple of notches if Brad Stevens were still roaming Hinkle. Butler has Khyle Marshall, Roosevelt Jones and shooter Kellen Dunham back, but I’m concerned about the point guard spot.

7. St. John’s Red Storm: Steve Lavin brings back a bunch (more than 90 percent of his scoring) from a team that won 17 games last season. Leading scorer D’Angelo Harrison, athletic forward Jakarr Sampson, elite shot-blocker Chris Obekpa and guard Phil Greene IV.

8. Providence Friars: Ed Cooley has certainly made strides with the talent level, and the Friars could well finish higher than this. Ricky Ledo decided to leave for the NBA despite never playing a game, and that may have been a blessing in disguise. Cooley lost Vincent Council, but has guards Bryce Cotton and Kris Dunn, forwards LaDontae Henton and Kadeem Batts and adds transfers Tyler Harris and Carson Desrosiers.

9. Seton Hall Pirates: Kevin Willard’s three-year tenure has been mediocre at best. The Pirates were 15-18 last season and lost starting point guard Aaron Cosby, who transferred to Illinois. Willard will rely heavily on Fuquan Edwin, but he’ll need more help, and the hope is that Texas transfer Sterling Gibbs will provide support.

10. DePaul Blue Demons: Oliver Purnell has won 30 games in three seasons since coming over from Clemson, but this season the Blue Demons will have two seniors who combined to average nearly 35 points per game a season ago in Brandon Young and Cleveland Melvin. Purnell also adds talented guard Billy Garrett Jr., the son of assistant coach Billy Garrett.


Notes

Forbes gets second chance

Steve Forbes didn’t throw his head coach under the bus -- and for that he found himself back in the junior college ranks for the past two seasons.
 
Goodman cried for hours when Norm was fired. He was so far up his you know what it wasn't funny.
 
One head coach who wished to remain anonymous said that he’s worried about the league’s perception now that its conference games won't be on ESPN.

“No one’s going to know our league,” he said. “Everyone’s going to beat up on everyone, two or three teams will separate themselves, and we won’t get as many teams in the tourney. It’s going to hurt with seeding, also.”
.
Click to expand...

By process of elimination, the only coach that would say something so assanine as that is Buzz Williams.

And Goodman being anti-Big East? The sky is also blue.
 
One head coach who wished to remain anonymous said that he’s worried about the league’s perception now that its conference games won't be on ESPN.

“No one’s going to know our league,” he said. “Everyone’s going to beat up on everyone, two or three teams will separate themselves, and we won’t get as many teams in the tourney. It’s going to hurt with seeding, also.”
.
Click to expand...

By process of elimination, the only coach that would say something so assanine as that is Buzz Williams.

And Goodman being anti-Big East? The sky is also blue.
Click to expand...

How does process of elimination bring you to Buzz?
 
Obviously the league will not be on ESPN, how about CBS on the weekends? Anyone have any idea...
 
One head coach who wished to remain anonymous said that he’s worried about the league’s perception now that its conference games won't be on ESPN.

“No one’s going to know our league,” he said. “Everyone’s going to beat up on everyone, two or three teams will separate themselves, and we won’t get as many teams in the tourney. It’s going to hurt with seeding, also.”
.
Click to expand...

By process of elimination, the only coach that would say something so assanine as that is Buzz Williams.

And Goodman being anti-Big East? The sky is also blue.
Click to expand...

How does process of elimination bring you to Buzz?
Click to expand...

1. The new schools wouldn't say that.
2. Georgetown was pro-new conference.
3. Lavin would NEVER say that.
4. The remaining schools, except Villanova, were bottom feeders and therefore wouldn't even be concerned with tourney seeding.

Jay Wright has a chance to be one of those top teams and Villanova benefits by Cuse, Louisville and UConn leaving.

It just screams Buzz to me as Marquette was a tourney team.
 
One head coach who wished to remain anonymous said that he’s worried about the league’s perception now that its conference games won't be on ESPN.

“No one’s going to know our league,” he said. “Everyone’s going to beat up on everyone, two or three teams will separate themselves, and we won’t get as many teams in the tourney. It’s going to hurt with seeding, also.”
.
Click to expand...

By process of elimination, the only coach that would say something so assanine as that is Buzz Williams.

And Goodman being anti-Big East? The sky is also blue.
Click to expand...

How does process of elimination bring you to Buzz?
Click to expand...

1. The new schools wouldn't say that.
2. Georgetown was pro-new conference.
3. Lavin would NEVER say that.
4. The remaining schools, except Villanova, were bottom feeders and therefore wouldn't even be concerned with tourney seeding.

Jay Wright has a chance to be one of those top teams and Villanova benefits by Cuse, Louisville and UConn leaving.

It just screams Buzz to me as Marquette was a tourney team.
Click to expand...

Marquette and their admin were very much for the new League as well. Your just using that blogger and his Gtown hard on as your benchmark. STJ, Marquette and Gtown were all very instrumental.

Also not saying Lavin said it but last I checked he had a lot of pull at ESPN.

I have no idea who said it. It could be Goodman blowing smoke with un-named source garbage. I just wouldnt be so quick to say Buzz.
 
Goodman cried for hours when Norm was fired. He was so far up his you know what it wasn't funny.
Click to expand...

Also anyone who thinks ESPN is going to do any favors to promote the new Big East is kidding themselves. See the Pac 10 the past decade. It is a petty and vindictive organization but it's going to be a long time before Fox Sports 1 can even come close to their influence.
 
let's just kill the messenger as usual.

instead of pretending we're still with the big boys, admit there's plenty of work to do.

goodman nailed it.

btw, i don't see too many big east matchups on cbs. come on.
 
let's just kill the messenger as usual.

instead of pretending we're still with the big boys, admit there's plenty of work to do.

goodman nailed it.

btw, i don't see too many big east matchups on cbs. come on.
Click to expand...

I've followed Jeff Goodman for years. He's a hack. It has nothing to do with the messenger.

We know you hate the conference. There is really no point in playing basketball anymore I guess, since teams from non traditional conferences really can't be successful, right?

I mean all these Top 150 kids STILL naming SJU in addition to Gtown, Nova, Marquette, etc must be pulling us along for the ride, right?
 
I've said it before, I'll say it again.

This league needs 5 years before we can adiquatley determine what it is, and where it will be going. That would encompass one turn through for the current freshman class. Over those 5 years, the league needs some 1 and dones, some 2 and dones, and some nice 4 year players.

It also needs to get around half of the teams in the NCAA tournament on average over those 5 years (since the numbers naturally fluctuate year to year, to look at just how many they will send this year is no true indication).
 
I'd also caution that in five years there still won't be a Duke, Kansas or Kentucky in the conference even if by all other metrics this ends up being successful. Georgetown has been the strongest non football school hoops program, even better than Gonzaga in the bigger scheme of things, the past 20 years and honestly that's as good as it's going to get. Newsie's problem that the conference probably won't produce a national title any time soon is probably correct. If it does it will be the first one for a non football school since Nova in '85. But at least every non football school that's played in the title game since 1971 is in this conference. That's about the best you can do. All of the teams have about as good a shot at a national title in the new BE as they did in their old conferences and that is a long shot at best.

Newsie's fantasy world where this had any chance of ending up any differently is the only argument I have with him. For all the reasons' stated above and millions more the football schools were NEVER going to continue to let the hoops schools stay on an equal footing in the long run. Same goes for those who think STJ and GTown are eventually going to get their ACC invites, that's positively delusional as well.
 
Forming new BE was only viable choice. Accepting it is not on par with prime conferences, it is potentially a solid alternative. Fox must think so. To achieve further respect will take outstanding recruiting, coaching and establishing an entertaining style of play. I am confident this can be achieved, but obviously will be a challenge. If I missed a better option please inform me.
 
I'd also caution that in five years there still won't be a Duke, Kansas or Kentucky in the conference even if by all other metrics this ends up being successful. Georgetown has been the strongest non football school hoops program, even better than Gonzaga in the bigger scheme of things, the past 20 years and honestly that's as good as it's going to get. Newsie's problem that the conference probably won't produce a national title any time soon is probably correct. If it does it will be the first one for a non football school since Nova in '85. But at least every non football school that's played in the title game since 1971 is in this conference. That's about the best you can do. All of the teams have about as good a shot at a national title in the new BE as they did in their old conferences and that is a long shot at best.

Newsie's fantasy world where this had any chance of ending up any differently is the only argument I have with him. For all the reasons' stated above and millions more the football schools were NEVER going to continue to let the hoops schools stay on an equal footing in the long run. Same goes for those who think STJ and GTown are eventually going to get their ACC invites, that's positively delusional as well.
Click to expand...

But like you pointed out. Living in the big old traditional conference with football teams getting crapped on wasn't changing the fact that Nova was the last team in the mid 80's. Plenty of others have made it to the FF and some we just invited. So thats where I'm not following. I can't think of the right analogy but its like he wants to be the little fish in the big pond as opposed to the big fish in the small pond.
 
This is hysterical. I don't know what's funnier, saying we have no flagship program (Marquette, Nova, G'Town are an easy 3), saying we are like the Mountain West where there are only 2 real teams who can make a run and scare people: New Mexico and UNLV, or the fact that we are ranked #7 out of 10 when we return everyone including: the Big East ROY (when all those ACC teams were here), the nation's leading blocker as a freshman, a top 3 scorer in the Big East (out of the old much stronger Big East), a national team player who is 25, and a 5 star top 20 recruit in Jordan.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top