The Big East is the talk of college hoops, and rightly so. The conference appears to be loaded, even at the bottom (see Seton Hall over USC, USF's 2 pt. road loss at Virginia).But it seems as though we may need to wait until March to find out who is REALLY a beast on a national level. From January through March, the conference will cannibalize itself, and depending upon parity, will send anywhere from 7 to a record-setting 9 teams to the Dance.
But take a look at some of these pre-conference schedules:
UCONN: Hartford, West Carolina, Deleware St, Bryant (huh?), Buffalo and Fairfield. They do have one game against Gonzaga that serves as the only legit game in 2008. (ed. note: I failed to credit them for their pre-season tourney games; add in wins of Miami and Wisconsin, and the schedule looks much better. Still no clue who the hell "Bryant" is, but I am guessing Kobe doesn't play there...)
Georgetown: Same ol' same ol' for the Hoyas. Brutal line-up in cludes: American, Florida Intl, Drexel, Jacksonville, Savannah St, and Wichita St. The Shockers are a reasonable foe, but only Memphis on 12/13 provides a reasonable early season test.
Syracuse: Looks like another season sweating it out on the Boeheim (or "bubble" to some of you). With a chance to rack up quality wins against foes like: Richmond (close win), Oakland, Colgate, Cornell and Canisuis... not exactly an RPI inflater. They do take on a few quality opponents in Virginia (weak, but at least a major conference) Florida, and Memphis. It's a start for the Orange, perhaps learning their lesson from two seasons of competing for the title of "being #66!!"
Pitt: Is there a reason this team goes "Pitt" every March? Look at this schedule: Fairleigh Dickenson, Vermont, Duquesne, Belmont, UMBC, but they DO take on Indiana... of Pennsylvania! Their lone 2 reasonable games include Texas Tech and Florida St.The point? These teams should all cruise into conference play with one or less losses. Add in Notre Dame, Lousiville, Marquette, Villanova, Cincinnati and West Virginia - and you have a conference loaded with powerful teams. Therefor each conference win becomes a "big" win, and each loss becomes a "quality" loss.
But it is hard to gauge the extent of that quality until some of these teams step OUT of their tiny little...well, "bubble."
Champs need "tough-win earned" heart
Hey now - let's not pick on my Duquesne Dukes. They are sitting 3-0 at this point and have beaten a High Point team that only lost by 13 at NC State by 29 to open the season. Add the in-city rivalry and Pitt will have their hands full.
ReplyDeleteLet's see what happens on the 28th against Duke and then the 3rd against Pitt. They'll lose to Duke but A-10 pride will not be besmirched.
Xavier can get Duke for the A-10 on Dec 20th. It is more than possible, and either way it would be a "good loss" if they hang around...
ReplyDeleteDidn't Duquesne do this last year too? I remember Lunardi having them "on the bubble" as late as Late January.