Way-Too-Early Big East
- Thread starter Halldan1
- Start date
If this team gels I can see us leap frogging Nova and St. John's but that is a BIG IF .
I posted this for message board discussions. Until I see them in person this is just a guess.
I can see us moving up 4 slots, thereby eliminating the bubble decision entirely.
1 - Marquette (Retainage, Fast, System, Defensive Tips)
2 - UCONN (Coach, Skill, Always Cutting Basket on O, Defensive Intensity)
3 - St. John's (Coach, Talent, Kooks if Motivated, Quick Shot D-Press)
4 – Creighton (System, Spacing, Shooting)
5 – Providence (Length, Muscle, Hopkins, Pocket Guards)
6 - Seton Hall (Defense, Coaching, Emerging Talent, Jell)
7 – Xavier (Health, Incoming Talent, Balance)
8 – Villanova (Talent but for Coaching)
9 – Butler (Turnover Questions)
10 - Georgetown (Kids need Seasoning, Future)
11 – DePaul (Rebuild)
2 - UCONN (Coach, Skill, Always Cutting Basket on O, Defensive Intensity)
3 - St. John's (Coach, Talent, Kooks if Motivated, Quick Shot D-Press)
4 – Creighton (System, Spacing, Shooting)
5 – Providence (Length, Muscle, Hopkins, Pocket Guards)
6 - Seton Hall (Defense, Coaching, Emerging Talent, Jell)
7 – Xavier (Health, Incoming Talent, Balance)
8 – Villanova (Talent but for Coaching)
9 – Butler (Turnover Questions)
10 - Georgetown (Kids need Seasoning, Future)
11 – DePaul (Rebuild)
Good thoughts but disagree with you on St. John's . Good fun talking about this in June but as we all know it's way too early . GO PIRATES !!!!!!!!!
No one here has any clue about anything they are writing in this thread.
I agree and no clue is way overboard shuat08 .If you do not want to play around with this don't but just don't ridicule the posters by saying they have no clue .
No one on this board knows what any of the new players will do for the pirates this year or how the team will gel.
And no one knows how our returners will grow from basically giving us nothing except for Wusu and to a MUCH lesser extent Coleman.
Heck we have had people on this board saying Mbaye will give us lockdown rim protector defense this year.
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I would like to see us defy some expectations by finishing ahead of Nova, Providence and Pitino and also not tap out in the first round of the BET. That oughta place us solidly in the NCAA’s.
I think it’s safe to say the SH will finish somewhere between 3rd and 8th, but what do I know?
Why not first? With every team trying to develop chemistry among all new and returning players, there's a certain parity among teams in spite of talent disparity.
This team is 1 yr away but unfortunately that doesn't mean anything.....I'd say 7-9 range this year with chance for top 4 next, if they stayed.
One persons reality is another's fantasy.
I would like to see them surprise everyone and finish very high in the standings. A surprise would be to win enough games to finish at .500 or 2 to 4 game over. I'm hoping for the later. Where that lands us in the standings will be gravy.
I would like to see them surprise everyone and finish very high in the standings. A surprise would be to win enough games to finish at .500 or 2 to 4 game over. I'm hoping for the later. Where that lands us in the standings will be gravy.
Watch out for Xavier. I think they'll be better than most believe.
Agreed, they added a lot through the portal and Hunter and Freemantle are back.
Seton Hall has some elite individual defenders. I'm excited to see them compete as a group.
Will Freemantle ever be really healthy again? I wish him the best.
But once a guy reinjures a surgically repaired foot once, lots of bad history of other guys who battled that their whole lives. I am sure surgery gets better and better and hope he plays 18 solid BE games.
But once a guy reinjures a surgically repaired foot once, lots of bad history of other guys who battled that their whole lives. I am sure surgery gets better and better and hope he plays 18 solid BE games.
Is Hunter going to play? I saw that he tore his Achilles in February. If he's back in November and December that's a huge win for them.
We will see with St John’s.
How Kadary Richmond plays will be key.
Last year, I think Soriano was a big disappointment for Pitino. Now he has elevated his rim protection with defensive minded 7 footers Iwuchukwa from USC and Khaman Maker with experienced Ejiofor at center. You know Pitino wants the opposition to take out of comfort, inexplicably quick shots. Their length, experience and deep roster will help.
Kadary will have plenty of help off the ball with Wilcher and Dunlap and some very good targeted transfers Smith (Utah) and Aaron Scott (UNT). RJ Luis is there for another year and Glover should see some time. The two Euros should add length and shooting as well.
It all comes down to a motivated Richmond. Can he handle what Pitino is dishing out? Already a bad sign not doing all of summer practice routine.
I would like to see the following:
1. The establishment and implementation of the system that Sha has wanted to put in, with the team finding a rhythm offensively and performing excellently on defense.
2. Isaiah Coleman (or another player, Middleton, Dual) to establish themselves as "the guy" going forward.
3. Identifying a core group of 8-9 guys who we definitely want back in 2024-25
4. The continued growth of our NIL to be able to keep those 8-9 guys
5. Beat Rutgers at the RAC
If those five things happen, I will be as happy with this season as I was winning the NIT last year, regardless if we make the NCAAs. I would like to be where Marquette has been the last few years: a top 3 Big East team that relies less on the transfer portal year after year and instead focuses on a core group of guys that will be here for 2-3 years at least.
1. The establishment and implementation of the system that Sha has wanted to put in, with the team finding a rhythm offensively and performing excellently on defense.
2. Isaiah Coleman (or another player, Middleton, Dual) to establish themselves as "the guy" going forward.
3. Identifying a core group of 8-9 guys who we definitely want back in 2024-25
4. The continued growth of our NIL to be able to keep those 8-9 guys
5. Beat Rutgers at the RAC
If those five things happen, I will be as happy with this season as I was winning the NIT last year, regardless if we make the NCAAs. I would like to be where Marquette has been the last few years: a top 3 Big East team that relies less on the transfer portal year after year and instead focuses on a core group of guys that will be here for 2-3 years at least.
Wow, congratulations to him. That is an amazing recovery after heart surgery and an Achilles tear. I hope he makes it back 100%.
These are all great except making the NCAA's is always job 1.
Holloway did a terrific job last year taking a team that had some weak spots in it and making it pretty solid. This will be a really interesting year, because I think it'll show whether last year was a fluke or whether Holloway is good at playing the cards he dealt. I've only half been paying attention, but it looks like you guys picked up enough pieces to be very competitive this year assuming it all comes together.
I've seen some outlets pick them near the top of the league and I don't disagree on paper.
Hard to know for sure how some of the mid-major transfer guards will translate to the Big East, but he brought in a ton of them to compliment McKnight. Olivari and Claude are losses no doubt -- two best players from last year -- but on paper they are deep in the backcourt/potential wings and with Hunter/Freemantle back plus the 2-transfer bigs they brought in that solves the big front court abyss they had last year.
Soriano wasn't as good last year as the year prior, and read in some of the pre-draft stuff that he was playing through a knee injury/meniscus tear. Still, I would like all of our bigs to disappoint as much as Soriano did last year leading the Big East in rebounding and averaging like 14 and 10 or whatever it was.
