SU loses #1 ranking to USC:







Following a spring of additional recruit signings, Bob Gibbons, editor of the All-Star Sports Report, has updated his list of the nation's top 25 college basketball recruiting classes. Gibbons has Syracuse in second place behind only Southern California.

The Orange have added junior college transfer Kristof Ongenaet (Ghent, Belgium/Cuesta College) to class that already included freshmen Jonny Flynn (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls), Donte Greene (Baltimore, MD/Towson Catholic), Rick Jackson (Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti), Antonio Jardine (Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti) and Sean Williams (Villa Park, CA/Villa Park/Notre Dame Prep).

Greene is ranked third among power forwards, Flynn is fifth among point guards, Jackson is the ninth-rated center and Jardine 17th among shooting guards, according to Gibbons.

Southern California secured the top spot with a five-man class headlined by O.J. Mayo. The remainder of the top 10 includes: 3. Florida, 4. Indiana, 5. Kansas State, 6. Duke, 7. Kentucky, 8. Arizona, 9. Ohio State and 10. Depaul. Other BIG EAST Conference schools in the top 25 include Cincinnati (14th), St. John's (16th), Pittsburgh (20th) and Villanova (22nd).

It is really nice to see UC ranked so high after just a couple of down seasons. Mick Cronin has things back on track.

2008 should be monstrous for Cincy, great to see the BE get 6 classes in the top 25, especially with UConn not really recruiting this season.

Depaul at #10? Wow....looks like the BE has helped them with their mid west recruiting

Jackson

Nice to see some of the recent conference laggards DePaul and St. John's scoring big. If those two programs come up to traditional snuff, this league may just kick it up to yet another level.

But, it also could mean the hybrid would result in yet more NCAA snubs

UCbball21 Wrote:2008 should be monstrous for Cincy, great to see the BE get 6 classes in the top 25, especially with UConn not really recruiting this season.

Ditto UofL. All the top players are back...starters and reserves and we had a starting guard from the SEC transfer in so even though we signed a couple of players this was not the year for recruiting here either. If UConn and UofL had several openings we could have very well had 7 BE schools in the top 25.

cardtopper Wrote:

UCbball21 Wrote:2008 should be monstrous for Cincy, great to see the BE get 6 classes in the top 25, especially with UConn not really recruiting this season.

Ditto UofL. All the top players are back...starters and reserves and we had a starting guard from the SEC transfer in so even though we signed a couple of players this was not the year for recruiting here either. If UConn and UofL had several openings we could have very well had 7 BE schools in the top 25.

Yeah, we only lost 1 scholarship player, so you can't bring many people in. It's all speculation at this point, but for the 2008 class the Cards have already signed the #6 center (#32 overall) & are in good right now for 3 guys in the top 15. We likely need it because after the coming year we lose Padgett and Palacios. I also won't be surprised if we lose 2-3 guys early, depending on team & individual success this coming season.

Jackson1011 Wrote:Depaul at #10? Wow....looks like the BE has helped them with their mid west recruiting

Jackson

Nah, DePaul always recruits well. Their lack of success is due to other problems/factors. Q. Richardson, Bobby Simmons, Steven Hunter, Eddie Curry, etc. They have had a stream of top talent sign with them.

MU88 Wrote:

Jackson1011 Wrote:Depaul at #10? Wow....looks like the BE has helped them with their mid west recruiting

Jackson

Nah, DePaul always recruits well. Their lack of success is due to other problems/factors. Q. Richardson, Bobby Simmons, Steven Hunter, Eddie Curry, etc. They have had a stream of top talent sign with them.

Interesting....what do you think is holding Depaul down?

Jackson

Jackson1011 Wrote:

MU88 Wrote:

Jackson1011 Wrote:Depaul at #10? Wow....looks like the BE has helped them with their mid west recruiting

Jackson

Nah, DePaul always recruits well. Their lack of success is due to other problems/factors. Q. Richardson, Bobby Simmons, Steven Hunter, Eddie Curry, etc. They have had a stream of top talent sign with them.

Interesting....what do you think is holding Depaul down?

Jackson

Lack of fan support. Poor coaching at times. Turnover. Kennedy to Leito to Wainright. Lack of institutional support. The list goes on and on. I don't think there is just one factor.

MU88 Wrote:Lack of fan support. Poor coaching at times. Turnover. Kennedy to Leito to Wainright. Lack of institutional support. The list goes on and on. I don't think there is just one factor.

DePaul will always get good fan support when it wins. It hasn't had the Chicago Public League recruiting it once had, but when they turn the corner Chicago fans will be right behind them.

And I know the I-A fans don't like to hear this, but two of the three schools with basketball attendance problems reside on the football side of the yard: Rutgers and South Florida. St. John's, not DePaul, has the attendance problems right now.

DFW HOYA Wrote:

MU88 Wrote:Lack of fan support. Poor coaching at times. Turnover. Kennedy to Leito to Wainright. Lack of institutional support. The list goes on and on. I don't think there is just one factor.

DePaul will always get good fan support when it wins. It hasn't had the Chicago Public League recruiting it once had, but when they turn the corner Chicago fans will be right behind them.

And I know the I-A fans don't like to hear this, but two of the three schools with basketball attendance problems reside on the football side of the yard: Rutgers and South Florida. St. John's, not DePaul, has the attendance problems right now.

What attendance problems does Rutgers have? Their arena only holds less than 8700 people, and thats always packed when the upper tier BE teams visit.

cuseroc Wrote:

DFW HOYA Wrote:

MU88 Wrote:Lack of fan support. Poor coaching at times. Turnover. Kennedy to Leito to Wainright. Lack of institutional support. The list goes on and on. I don't think there is just one factor.

DePaul will always get good fan support when it wins. It hasn't had the Chicago Public League recruiting it once had, but when they turn the corner Chicago fans will be right behind them.

And I know the I-A fans don't like to hear this, but two of the three schools with basketball attendance problems reside on the football side of the yard: Rutgers and South Florida. St. John's, not DePaul, has the attendance problems right now.

What attendance problems does Rutgers have? Their arena only holds less than 8700 people, and thats always packed when the upper tier BE teams visit.

Big East attendance for 2006-07

Syracuse - 21516
Louisville - 18488
Marquette - 15345
Connecticut - 13012
Pittsburgh - 11611
Villanova - 10706
Georgetown - 10441
DePaul - 10145
West Virginia - 9420
Notre Dame - 9027
Cincinnati - 8831
Providence - 8410
St. John's - 6920
Seton Hall - 6636
Rutgers - 5453
South Florida - 3852

I'm surprised that West Virginia and Notre Dame were both below 10000 considering the years and the potential both squads exhibited during the year. Also, I expect Cincinnati's attendance to go over the 10000 average next year as they improve and begin to accept the fact that though Huggy Bear is gone they have themselves a good replacement.

I think bb attendance for Rutgers and USF will likely always be less than stellar.

Cheers,
Neil

omnicarrier Wrote:

cuseroc Wrote:

DFW HOYA Wrote:

MU88 Wrote:Lack of fan support. Poor coaching at times. Turnover. Kennedy to Leito to Wainright. Lack of institutional support. The list goes on and on. I don't think there is just one factor.

DePaul will always get good fan support when it wins. It hasn't had the Chicago Public League recruiting it once had, but when they turn the corner Chicago fans will be right behind them.

And I know the I-A fans don't like to hear this, but two of the three schools with basketball attendance problems reside on the football side of the yard: Rutgers and South Florida. St. John's, not DePaul, has the attendance problems right now.

What attendance problems does Rutgers have? Their arena only holds less than 8700 people, and thats always packed when the upper tier BE teams visit.

Big East attendance for 2006-07

Syracuse - 21516
Louisville - 18488
Marquette - 15345
Connecticut - 13012
Pittsburgh - 11611
Villanova - 10706
Georgetown - 10441
DePaul - 10145
West Virginia - 9420
Notre Dame - 9027
Cincinnati - 8831
Providence - 8410
St. John's - 6920
Seton Hall - 6636
Rutgers - 5453
South Florida - 3852

I'm surprised that West Virginia and Notre Dame were both below 10000 considering the years and the potential both squads exhibited during the year. Also, I expect Cincinnati's attendance to go over the 10000 average next year as they improve and begin to accept the fact that though Huggy Bear is gone they have themselves a good replacement.

I think bb attendance for Rutgers and USF will likely always be less than stellar.

Cheers,
Neil

According to thos numbers, I guess Rutgers does have some attendance problems. I recall seeing some numbers several years back, with Rutgers averaging well over 7,000 fans. Everytime that I've watched them when Cuse visits the RAC, the place is packed to capacity, same with Uconn.

bearcatfan Wrote:It is really nice to see UC ranked so high after just a couple of down seasons. Mick Cronin has things back on track.

Yep, the Bearcats won't be down long. I'm already working on getting a ticket for the first Huggins return to Cincinnati, USA.

Agreed, attendance should go over 10,000. Fans are accepting Huggs is gone, and with this quality recruiting class coming in Cincinnati should be back to their winning ways. Not saying UC will be a Top 5 or 10 teams this year, but UC could be one of the surprise teams in the country and sneak into the Top 25 at some point. The Bob Huggins-led West Virginia vs Mick Cronin-led Cincinnati squad should be fun. Mick will have some weapons, so I hope everyone enjoyed getting their shots in!

Quote:I'm surprised that West Virginia and Notre Dame were both below 10000 considering the years and the potential both squads exhibited during the year. Also, I expect Cincinnati's attendance to go over the 10000 average next year as they improve and begin to accept the fact that though Huggy Bear is gone they have themselves a good replacement.

-- WVUs bball attendance is so low because WV is so lightly populated. Attendance for basketball games, especially on week nights, usually comes from the Morgantown area and other communities in the north-central part of the state. Many Mountaineer fans in the northern/eastern panhandles and the Kanawah Valley aren't going to make a 2 hour drive each way for a 2 hour game when they have to work the next day.

-- I think if you broke down the numbers, WVUs attendnace is much higher on weekends for that reason

Jackson

08 is looking very good as well. Syracuse has a commitment form top 50 player Kris Joseph. Either Nova or Louisville will get top 10 guard Tyreke Evans. UConn is in there for top 10 players Ed Davis and Samardo Samuels. Georgetown has commits from top 50 players Henry Sims and Chris Braswell. UC has commitments from two top 50 players in Darnell Wilks and Yancy Gates. The future looks great for BE basketball.

Jackson1011 Wrote:

Quote:I'm surprised that West Virginia and Notre Dame were both below 10000 considering the years and the potential both squads exhibited during the year. Also, I expect Cincinnati's attendance to go over the 10000 average next year as they improve and begin to accept the fact that though Huggy Bear is gone they have themselves a good replacement.

-- WVUs bball attendance is so low because WV is so lightly populated. Attendance for basketball games, especially on week nights, usually comes from the Morgantown area and other communities in the north-central part of the state. Many Mountaineer fans in the northern/eastern panhandles and the Kanawah Valley aren't going to make a 2 hour drive each way for a 2 hour game when they have to work the next day.

-- I think if you broke down the numbers, WVUs attendnace is much higher on weekends for that reason

Jackson

Hail Jackson!

I made that comment basically because the drop from 05-06 to 06-07 for the Eers was slightly over 1000 per game. Now I suppose the 05-06 team was a record high for West Virginia and the fact the 04-05 got to the Elite 8 generated more interest early in the season. But still, with the start to the year the 06-07 team had and the promise it held, I was just surprised that the Eers didn't keep the momentum in terms of attendance from one year to the next.

Were the weekend games better in 05-06? did the BE schedule have better teams on it the year in 05-06? Do you think with winning the NIT and having Huggy Bear on board, that the Eers will return to the 05-06 attendance level?

Cheers,
Neil

Quote:Hail Jackson!

I made that comment basically because the drop from 05-06 to 06-07 for the Eers was slightly over 1000 per game. Now I suppose the 05-06 team was a record high for West Virginia and the fact the 04-05 got to the Elite 8 generated more interest early in the season. But still, with the start to the year the 06-07 team had and the promise it held, I was just surprised that the Eers didn't keep the momentum in terms of attendance from one year to the next.

Were the weekend games better in 05-06? did the BE schedule have better teams on it the year in 05-06? Do you think with winning the NIT and having Huggy Bear on board, that the Eers will return to the 05-06 attendance level?

Cheers,
Neil

-- It is very rare for WVU to average over 10k per game. In our part of the world getting 9k and change for a rebuilding year was great. Even during Pittsnogle/Gansey's last year, WVU didn't break the 10k average untill the last week or two of the season. Historically, the only years I can remember WVU getting over 10k was the prementioned season two years ago, the 1997-1998 (?) team that had Damion Owens and beat UC on a buzzer beater to get into the Sweet 16, and a few of Gale Catlett's early teams that just ran through the A10.

One should put an asterk by those years because WVU had been down so far prior to them that any success was greated with great enthusaism. During those years WVU had the nation's longest winning streak for awhile, had the legenday (for us) win over UNLV and of course the great rivalry with John Cheney and Temple

One thing I should also mention is that WVU will draw will for certain teams no matter what. Pitt will be sellout no matter when its played. Same with Georgetown . UC is becoming a big game too. I have not noticed the Big East doing WVU any scheduling favors in that regard, but I guess that doesn't mean its not happening.

As for Huggins, he is and always has been very popular in WV. In the long run attendance may go slightly back up to 10k per if Bobby is able to change WVUs underdog attitude in baseketball. However, I don't see it going up a great deal because of the demographic issues and the simple fact that basketball is a distant second to football in the heart's of our fans. I'm afraid many of our fans attitude is much more aligned with an SEC school then say Syracuse or UL. Last febuary, our fan base seemed just as concerned with what Noel Devine was going to do then who we were playing that night bball.




Jackson