12-18-2014, 11:48 AM
What a turnaround from last year! Villanova, St. John's, and Butler are currently in the top 25 in the coaches polls, plus Georgetown, Creighton, and Providence were all there earlier this season. Also, Xavier is in the top 30 and Seton Hall in the top 50 of all 3 major computer rankings. While it's true that there are no truly dominating teams in the league this year (sorry Villanova, you don't quite qualify), there seem to be no bad teams at all (Marquette and Depaul are both quite capable.) Overall, the Big East has recently moved up to #2 in the Sagarin league rankings, ahead of the Big 10, ACC, PAC 12, etc. WOW! (So how did you all like the recent ESPN poll asking fans to pick the "best conference" in college basketball -- and not even including the Big East on their list!?)
In short, I'm REALLY looking forward to the conference season; it's wide open. At this point, I'll predict that Villanova wins the league with at least 3 losses, that Georgetown, St. John's, Butler, and Xavier finish in some order in the 2-5 spots and all make the big dance. I also see Seton Hall, Creighton and Providence finishing in the 6-8 spots with one of them making the dance, and Marquette and Depaul both pulling off a couple of big upsets somewhere along the way. There are some great days ahead for all us Big East fans.
Anyone else care to venture a prediction?
In short, I'm REALLY looking forward to the conference season; it's wide open. At this point, I'll predict that Villanova wins the league with at least 3 losses, that Georgetown, St. John's, Butler, and Xavier finish in some order in the 2-5 spots and all make the big dance. I also see Seton Hall, Creighton and Providence finishing in the 6-8 spots with one of them making the dance, and Marquette and Depaul both pulling off a couple of big upsets somewhere along the way. There are some great days ahead for all us Big East fans.
Anyone else care to venture a prediction?