just saw this:
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Villanova sophomore Donte DiVincenzo will remain in the 2018 NBA Draft and forgo his remaining collegiate eligibility, sources told Yahoo.
The Final Four Most Outstanding Player had strong Combine, has performed well in team workouts.
Not surprising. Everything coming out of the pre-draft process indicated that he was going to be either a late first-rounder/early second rounder and get guaranteed money either way. Nova starting to put guys in the first round should really help recruiting.
(05-29-2018 01:54 PM)Bogg Wrote: [ -> ]Not surprising. Everything coming out of the pre-draft process indicated that he was going to be either a late first-rounder/early second rounder and get guaranteed money either way. Nova starting to put guys in the first round should really help recruiting.
yeah. The really interesting one is still out there with Spellman. Could easily see him leaving as well. He's the one I think a lot of folks said was the absolute key guy in the picture. He returns- they're going to be really good still- possible final 4 favorite. But he leaves- that changes everything for them.
Spellman's an interesting case. I thought he'd get more pro interest than he's apparently getting, as he's barely projected to be a second-rounder, but he pretty clearly wants to go pro now. I do think that with another year of working on his body to get more mobile on the perimeter defensively and a year of being the featured guy on Nova he'd go much higher. Of course, money now is generally better than the idea of money later.
In other news, Ponds is returning to St. John's. Big news for them, should be an all-conference performer so long as he stays healthy.
(05-29-2018 07:36 PM)Bogg Wrote: [ -> ]Spellman's an interesting case. I thought he'd get more pro interest than he's apparently getting, as he's barely projected to be a second-rounder, but he pretty clearly wants to go pro now. I do think that with another year of working on his body to get more mobile on the perimeter defensively and a year of being the featured guy on Nova he'd go much higher. Of course, money now is generally better than the idea of money later.
In other news, Ponds is returning to St. John's. Big news for them, should be an all-conference performer so long as he stays healthy.
Yeah I thought that Spellman would be a late 1st round lock given how the game has gone in the NBA now. Thought Spellman was the prototype big guy for 2018. Will be really interesting to see tomorrow.
DePaul with some good news- Max Strus is returning after testing the waters for the NBA.
I think we could see them be a 6-8 win team in conference play this year.
just saw Spellman is gone as well from Nova.
(05-30-2018 12:52 PM)stever20 Wrote: [ -> ]just saw Spellman is gone as well from Nova.
So long as he winds up on an NBA roster that's fine. The biggest knock against Nova at this point is a suspect ability to put guys into the pros, but getting four guys in this year would help on the recruiting trail. Obviously three would help as well, but four's better (I know, not exactly in-depth analysis).
Big East might be hurting some this year. Will be really interesting to see the updated early bracketology and top 25's after today. Quite possibly only Nova rated in the top 25- and even there them in the teens.
The one thing that could get really bad for the Big East is if Nova was the only team in the RPI top 30, that would mean the only tier 1 home game for teams in conference play would be Nova. Could really impact the metrics for getting teams in the tourney.
saw this from Rothstein-
The main themes resonating for college hoops in 18-19 nine hours away from the deadline: SEC will be even BETTER next season, both the Big East and Pac-12 will take a step back.
Stever doing a little victory dance...
I think next year will be really interesting. I think OOC play will be really huge next year. If a lot of teams take 3-4 OOC losses, going to really limit the number of tourney teams. Where the last few years 9-9 teams got in pretty easily, 9-9 with a weaker conference would equal NIT bids.
I don't think folks realize just how much of a hit the Big East has taken this year. Nova losing 4/6 top guys, Xavier losing 5 of their top 7 guys(plus coach), Seton Hall losing 4/5 top guys, Creighton losing top 2 guys, Providence losing top 2 guys, Butler losing top guy. This year will be a real transition year that we've not really seen in years.
Well, seeing the first top 25 post draft decisions shows what I was saying yesterday.... from Jon Rothstein
Villanova only in at #12
only team in top 25(plus 5 more afterwords)
so if RPI followed- only home games that would count as tier 1 for Big East teams would be the Nova game. A LOT fewer chances to move the needle.
It looks like a down year for the Big East relative to the really strong past two or so, but Nova, Marquette, and Providence should all be very solid if they're relatively healthy and the Heron situation at St John's still has to finalize. After that there's a real big middle/lower-middle class of teams who'll be jockeying for a tournament spot of two. Down years are bound to happen, but the key for a ten-team conference is to make sure these years where you're looking at four or maybe five bids continue to be considered down years and not the norm.
(05-31-2018 09:15 AM)Bogg Wrote: [ -> ]It looks like a down year for the Big East relative to the really strong past two or so, but Nova, Marquette, and Providence should all be very solid if they're relatively healthy and the Heron situation at St John's still has to finalize. After that there's a real big middle/lower-middle class of teams who'll be jockeying for a tournament spot of two. Down years are bound to happen, but the key for a ten-team conference is to make sure these years where you're looking at four or maybe five bids continue to be considered down years and not the norm.
The thing is, the Heron situation IMO is a 1 in a million(if not billion) type of thing. Can hardly count on that at all....
The problem I see is if Nova is the only top 30 team, you have the other teams fighting for maybe 2-3 other spots. Going only even 10-8 puts teams on the bubble(similar to what we saw in 2014).
2 others with their top 25's-
CBS- Nova 9(no one else in top 26)
NBC- Nova 5(Xavier in at 26 just out of the top 25)
And ESPN has Nova at 10 with Butler at 24
Waiting to see Lunardi's updated bracketology. Should be out on Monday/Tuesday
Gotta be killing you that the Big East's projected down year is coinciding with a down year for the AAC as well.
(05-31-2018 10:20 AM)Bogg Wrote: [ -> ]Gotta be killing you that the Big East's projected down year is coinciding with a down year for the AAC as well.
It's just more bad luck for the AAC. If they didn't have bad luck, they would have no luck at all....
I do think that the AAC will get 3 in pretty easily for the tourney. Just the way 12 team leagues work- there are 6 12 team leagues in 2018- and 3rd place teams averaged 12 wins in conference play. Prior year was 12.25. Also had- 2016-17- 6.5 teams per 12 team conference finishing with at least 10 wins, and 2017-18- 5.17 teams per 12 team conference. So going to have between 5-7 teams finishing with 10 conference wins- giving themselves a shot at the tourney.
St. Johns being miles better next year, along with DePaul being improved, is a huge net positive for the Big East. Getting New York City and Chicago more involved with the parity of the league thus far will be great for the league and provide it with even more exposure.
Didn't even make it into a page before a Big East topic transformed into an AAC discussion... sigh.