OrangeInOakland over on the SU Insiders Board started a thread there about keeping track of the Conferences Record overall against other BCS conference teams PLUS Memphis and Gonzaga. I thought Xavier should be in the mix as well since they have been at the same level as the other two using the criteria he was using - NCAA appearances over the past decade, NCAA performance, playing on average at least 5 BCS conference teams each year.

As of games through December 6, here is where the conferences stand:

ACC - 18-13
Big East - 15-11
Big 12 - 12-11
Big Ten - 14-14
SEC - 4-11
Pac 10 - 4-15

M,G,X - 8-0


Cheers,
Neil

WVU should have beaten Kentucky last night, but I guess fatigue caught up with them in the 2nd half. They couldn't hit their @ss with either hand after halftime. I never would have believed the Mountaineers would shoot 30% (15-50) for a game. But they did...

This hasn't been a good weekend. The Mountaineers lose the Backyard Brawl late, and fold against Kentucky in the 2nd half. Not a good weekend at all...

bitcruncher Wrote:WVU should have beaten Kentucky last night, but I guess fatigue caught up with them in the 2nd half. They couldn't hit their @ss with either hand after halftime. I never would have believed the Mountaineers would shoot 30% (15-50) for a game. But they did...

This hasn't been a good weekend. The Mountaineers lose the Backyard Brawl late, and fold against Kentucky in the 2nd half. Not a good weekend at all...

You might want to consider getting used to that. Huggins is not known for great fluid offensive teams.

Cheers,
Neil

Right now, the lack of size inside is the biggest obstacle...

bitcruncher Wrote:Right now, the lack of size inside is the biggest obstacle...

Perhaps, but on the other hand, Huggins knows this was a weakness coming in.

And that known weakness might not have been as big a drawback last night if he had kept Bielein's play book. I think a Bielein coached team would have had several backdoor layups against the overly aggressive defense Kentucky played last night. I also believe an occasional 1-3-1 zone thrown in would have caused more Kentucky TOs and kept Kentucky's inside players confused.

Huggins had no answers because when push comes to shove he prefers the athletic gifted player who can get down and play some D over the system type player. And while he used some of the Bielein schemes last year with Nichols and Alexander, last night he seemed determine to play with his style only.

Nothing wrong with that since he has proven capable of winning with "his" players. But right now he has a mixture of "his" players and Bielein's players and I'm not sure the results will be anything more than average until he gets a roster full of "his" players.

Cheers,
Neil

We'll see. WVU played better and better as the season went on last year. I think this season will be pretty much the same, as he works in the new players...

bitcruncher Wrote:We'll see. WVU played better and better as the season went on last year. I think this season will be pretty much the same, as he works in the new players...

I'm counting on it because I still believe the Eers will be Big East #9. But you have a much tougher OOC schedule this year and a tougher in conference schedule this year as well. Not sure the team can afford two more off nights (against opponents they should have beaten) while he works in his new players.

Cheers,
Neil

That UK loss hurt--could come back and bit WVU in the arse. I see them no better than 8 or 9 Big East wins. I wanna see 10 make it this year but really think 8 or 9.

bitcruncher Wrote:Right now, the lack of size inside is the biggest obstacle...

That is unfortunate considering you play Pitt twice this season and we have lots of size.

Want to loan some out?

omnicarrier Wrote:

bitcruncher Wrote:We'll see. WVU played better and better as the season went on last year. I think this season will be pretty much the same, as he works in the new players...

I'm counting on it because I still believe the Eers will be Big East #9. But you have a much tougher OOC schedule this year and a tougher in conference schedule this year as well. Not sure the team can afford two more off nights (against opponents they should have beaten) while he works in his new players.

Cheers,
Neil

No sh!t, Neil...

With the ACC/Big Ten Challenge done and winning 2 of their 3 contests against BCS+ teams today, the ACC takes over the lead from the Big East in this category by percentage points:

ACC 18-13 which is a .580 winning %
BE 15-11 which is a .576 winning %

Interestingly enough, in studying the schedules of both conferences, it looks like they will both finish with a total of 48 BCS+ OOC contests. This may seem unbalanced due to the fact that the Big East is a 16 team league while the ACC is a 12 team league. But keep in mind that BE teams play 18 conference games whereas the ACC only plays 16 conference games.

I still believe this year has a chance to be an historic year for the Big East conference in terms of number of teams in the tourney and number of NCAA units earned. But the ACC has, without doubt, the best team in the country in North Carolina.

Cheers,
Neil