Here is the final installment of our look at the Big East. In case you missed it, here is Part 1 and Part 2. Currently, the top half of the conference consists of West Virginia, Villanova, Syracuse, Providence, Pittsburgh, UConn, Louisville and Marquette. Let’s look at how they have done so far.
West Virginia Mountaineers (14-5, 3-3): John Belein is the guy who built this program up, but he left for Michigan and now Bob Huggins is running the show. West Virginia seems like an overachiever to me. They lost Joe Alexander to the NBA and Da’Sean Butler and Alex Ruoff now carry the team. Their losses have been to UConn, Marquette and Pitt which isn’t anything to get upset about, and they did score a nice win over Georgetown last week. But to me, I just don’t seem holding this pace throughout the year. Huggins is a good coach though, and he’ll have them ready to play. Villanova travels there on Friday the 13th in February. Ouch.
#17 Syracuse Orange (17-4, 5-3): Johnny Flynn headlines a team that did well in in the OOC portion, beating Florida, Kansas and Memphis (but with a loss to Cleveland State). Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins’ returns have done wonders for the Orange, who many felt underachieved all of last year. They currently have 5 players averaging double figures in scoring, so the balance is there. They have a HOF coach in Jim Boeheim and talent all over the court, so this will be a team to be reckoned with as the season wears on. Villanova has a home and home series with Syracuse, hosting them at The Wachovia Center on February 7 and traveling to The Carrier Dome on February 22.
Providence Friars (13-6, 5-2): See which one doesn’t belong? I don’t want to knock the Friars too much because 5-2 in the Big East this early is very impressive for them. But when those 5 wins are against St. John’s, DePaul, Seton Hall and Cincy (twice), that takes a little bit away. The easy part of their schedule is behind them, and now they enter the gauntlet. The Friars will be at the low end of the totum when the season comes to a close. Villanova travles to Rhode Island on February 4 to face them.
#3 Pittsburgh Panthers (18-1, 6-1): Typical Pitt basketball getting it done again. Slow the pace, play hard-nosed defense and grind out games. The Panthers aren’t going to blow anybody out of the building, but they are as tough as they come. DeJuan Blair is a beast inside and Sam Young has steadily improved every year. Levance Fields (feels like he’s been there forever) is the glue to this team. Pitt will challenge for the title. Villanova hosts them on Wednesday at The Wachovia Spectrum.
#2 UConn Huskies (18-1, 7-1): My pick for the conference champion. AJ Price and Jerome Dyson form the best backcourt in the conference, and maybe the country. Hasheem Thabeet, for all his flaws on offense is a one-of-a-kind weapon on defense and Jeff Adrien is a double-double machine. Jim Calhoun, love him or hate him, is a HOF coach and has this team really playing well. They just snapped ND’s 45 game home winning streak, which may not seem like a huge deal, but 44 teams before them couldn’t get it done. Villanova went punch for punch with them a week ago, and Calhoun called ‘Nova “the toughest team they face, year in and year out.” If you heard his voice, he meant it too.
#7 Louisville Cardinals (15-3, 7-0): Rick Pitino’s squad (how many HOF coaches are there in this league?) was underperforming early in the year when they lost so head scratchers. Those days are behind them. The Cardinals have learned how to win. They are undefeated in league play and have taken out Villanova, Pitt, Syracuse and Notre Dame in the past 2 weeks. I won’t be holding my breath while I wait for them to come back down to Earth. They are very good. I won’t mention what happened with the Villanova game, but that should have been an L for Louisville.
#8 Marquette Golden Eagles (18-2, 7-0): What many people hoped would be a transition year with Tom Crean leaving has turned out to be exactly the opposite. The 3 headed monster of Jerel McNeal, Wesley Matthews and Dominic James have carried the Golden Eagles to the top of the Big East. Villanova is probalby the best team they’ve played though, and their last 5 games are at Georgetown, vs. UConn, at Louisville, at Pitt and vs. Syracuse. Whoa. Let’s hope Buzz Williams squad has the endurance for that. That’s the type of schedule that can drop you from 1st to out of the top 5 in a hurry. They still have a return trip to Villanova set up for February 10th (in The Pavilion).
Now that we’ve taken a look, what will happen? It’s anyone’s guess really. There’s a logjam at the top but I think that will start to sort itself as the season unfolds. UConn, Pitt and Louisville are my locks to stay near the top. I think Marquette will falter with that brutal schedule down the stretch. Syracuse is a team headed for a top 4 reanking in my opinion. Villanova will hopefully avoid losing to the patsies and steal a few and get a top 8 seed. That’s what really matters here.
Hope you enjoyed it. We’ll probably check back here in a few weeks to see what has happened in the conference.
