What has become clear with nearly half the conference slate played, the Big East is best divided into 4 tiers: Top, Promising, Not horrible, Bottom feeders.
Bottom Feeders: Rutgers, DePaul, Seton Hall and St. John’s. With the exception of DePaul, these are still dangerous teams. They are buried in a deep conference. Whether it’s lack of depth because of academics and transfers (Seton Hall), injuries (St. John’s), bad coach (Rutgers) or just an overall mess (DePaul). They strike me as more dangerous the longer into the season because they become more desperate and have less to lose.
Not Horrible: USF and Cinci. Stan Heath is making strides with this team. I think he’s playing a little too close to the edge of catastrophe with the Island of Misfit Toys with talented but flagged transfers, but there are clearly some flashes and talent. They gave Syracuse and ‘Nova scares. They stayed with Pitt for a half. Cinci was killed again with injuries. Still, a scary team on any given night.
Promising: Good teams with too many flaws to know what to expect. This is where the bulk of the teams are meeting: Providence, WVU, Villanova, ND, Syracuse and Georgetown. Whether it involves issue of depth, match-up problems, youth, one-dimensional, or just not enough options. These teams can get hot for a stretch. They are especially dangerous at home. They are also just as likely to go cold and look like they should be lower. Four or five of these teams will make the NCAA Tournament.
Top: UConn, Louisville and Pitt. The best teams. They have the mix of coaching, talent, depth and experience. The teams are relatively injury free. They can score and defend.
Now if you counted, I only have 15 teams. Marquette is the team I’m just not sure about. Their record (6-0) says Top. The team and my instincts, though, say Promising. No real interior presence. A 1st year coach. A veteran team that has run hot-and-cold in the past couple years.
In conference play, they’ve had 4 of their 6 games at home. Their best conference wins came at home against WVU and ‘Nova. They played two of the games against the worst of the conference — at Rutgers and DePaul. Against Providence, they had to rally late to win on the road.
Their non-con also offers little in clues. They lost to Tennessee in Nashville. They needed a 3 at the buzzer to beat NC State on the road. They beat a down Wisconsin team by 3. Got pounded by Dayton outside of Chicago.
The truth is, Marquette will be the big unknown until the final two weeks of the season: at G-town, UConn, at Louisville, at Pitt, Syracuse.
I know, I know who cares. Just annoying and I have too much time on my hands;
link to gnxp.com
duke lost to an unranked michigan team too…remember that…….
Actually, I have no issue with Duke being No. 1 though I’m certainly no Duke fan. Just advising everyone to chill out and enjoy the games. It was a pleasure watching our execution in the 2nd half yesterday whether we were ranked 1st or 101st.
P.S. Duke will get bounced by a mid-major in the second round, so who cares what they’re ranked right now anyway?
I think that Fields gives us more net points than Lawson gives his team because of the overall combination of his assists, scoring and command of the floor. Fields does seem to have difficulty, however, guarding a quick guard one-on-one. The front court guys often have to pick up his man.
Other than Marquette, who we always struggle with, no other ranked team worries me. Yeah we’re going to lose some games but there’s no shame in it. What worries me is coming out flat against the aforementioned bottom feeders and not horrible teams. I’d like to see Pitt put teams away earlier in games.
G’town and ND are frauds. Marquette & ‘Nova have the guards to take them deep into the post season, don’t count them out. Fields was better offensively at WVU than I thought, but does have trouble staying in front of quicker guards. The big Difference is no Ronald Ramone, too streaky, too small and too slow for the BE. Defensively Brown Wanny, and Dixon can match up and that is the diff this year.
Of course by that time, should that bracket and chalk hold, I wouldn’t be concerned at all with Pitt’s chances.
