What a better time to start writing about Big East Basketball than right now? At the beginning of the week the best conference in college basketball had seven teams in the Top 15 to go along with UConn and Pittsburgh coming in at two and three respectively. After seeing Marquette lose to a streaky Tennessee team last night, the Big East now possesses eight teams with one loss or less. EIGHT. And that’s with the Top 10 preseason team Notre Dame sitting at 7-2. The entire conference (which is 16 teams strong) is at or above the .500 mark with the exception of South Florida (3-5). Now that’s depth.
Earlier this week Syracuse lost a heart-breaker to the Vikings of Cleveland State in a game that was destined for overtime, but Cedric Jackson put up a three quarter court prayer that was answered with no time showing on the clock which left the Carrier Dome fans speechless. Syracuse fell to 9-1 on the season but this was not the only close call this year for the Orange as they’ve beaten Kansas in overtime along with close games with Virginia and Richmond, who are clearly inferior to the ‘Cuse. “We can’t keep putting ourselves in these holes and expect to come out of them,” said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. Syracuse plays Canisius Wednesday then has a showdown with No. 21 ranked Memphis on Saturday.
As for the rest of the Big East, UConn cruised to a 91-57 victory over Stony Brook on Monday night and Cincinnati looked impressive in their 74-55 win over Charleston Southern. Tuesday night saw Marquette fall apart late and lose to Tennessee 80-68 along with the miserable Bulls of South Florida being handled by Vandy 71-52.
The Big East has the potential to get nine teams into the big dance come March, but there still are some weaknesses. One of the most important, yet most under-rated, aspects of basketball is free-throw shooting. It can decide games and even championships (Sorry Memphis). There are not many teams in this conference that have a good free-throw percentage. As a matter of fact, there are only three teams in the Top 100 in FT % in the nation (Villanova- 18th Georgetown- 24th Seton Hall- 58th). Getting to the charity stripe, however, is not an issue as seven of the Top 20 teams in FT Attempted are from the Big East. As very successful head coach but not a very good college basketball analyst, Bobby Knight says: “A game is won by out-shooting your opponents on the free-throw line.”
Down the stretch, you will see a lot of teams in the Big East lose a lot of games they shouldn’t for the sole reason of free-throw shooting, but overall, this conference is by far the most talented in the nation. A combination of power, shooting, quickness, defense, rebounding, experience and toughness allow this conference to flex its’ muscles day-in and day-out.
Doug
Well done with the first post – great to have you on ‘The Bench’.
Marquette concerns me. Although they stayed with Tenn on the boards for most of the game, their inability to rebound in the end hurt them. This has to be expected when you start three guards 6’5″ and under, BUT you can’t allow yourself to get in that position.
Dominic James is such an enigma. As a freshman I thought he was going to be one of the best point guards in the country. He has a low center of gravity, yet he is stocky enough to knock anyone off the ball. Now he just seems discontented. Last night he picks up a technical late in a close game. Seniiors shouldn’t be doing that. He is a long shot to get drafted in the NBA.
Don’t underestimate the Cavaliers. They are a little down, but they will need to exist in the ACC. They should be able to hang with the ‘Cuse. Besides the Orange still have some maturing to do. Jonny Flynn is a great athlete- just not sure about some of his decisions as a point guard. Yeah he can make great shots at the end of the game. It’s his decision-making early in contests that get me scratchin’ my head.
Thanks for your inaugural post, Doug. Well done! As Casey may have pointed out, I’m a big Notre Dame fan and therefore really interested in what’s going on in the Big East. You’re right … a very deep conference … yet I truly wonder if there’s a legit Final 4 team in there? Maybe it’s UConn, maybe it’s L’ville … we’ll see … I guess it’s unfair to compare everyone to North Carolina these days.
One thing I can confirm … ND will not finish in the Top 10 if they are not a top FT shooting team. They do not have the athleticism or in-the-paint -toughness to offset mediocre FT shooting.
We’re still a week or so away from BE conference games starting … that’s when the real wars start and when we’ll see some of these teams get tagged with a few losses (or more).
Welcome to the Bench! I look forward to your posts …
Thanks guys… Wally your right, North Carolina is lightyears ahead of everyone right now and just way out of anyones league. I can’t imagine what will happen when they get Marcus Ginyard back very soon and have even more depth!
As for Notre Dame, you’re right they lack the inside presence to be a truly dominating team, but they still do have in my opinion the second hardest working player in all of college basketball (behind Hansbrough) in Luke Harangody. Also, another disturbing stat is that arguably their best player, Kyle McAlarney, has only attempted 14 free throws this season through 9 games! He has to do a better job getting to the basket than just simply being a spot-up shooter.
As for a Final Four contender, it has to be UConn, but they also concern me. Not only their meltdown last year against San Diego but this year at Buffalo too. This goes for any Big East team but I think UConn suffers from it the most (along with Syracuse) YOU MUST SHOW UP EVERY GAME! If UConn does that, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t run away with the conference and also earn atleast a spot in the Final Four.
If I remember correctly, we were saying just about the same things last year when referring to the Tar Heels. They are good…very good – don’t get me wrong. But when they are forced to run a half court offense for an entire game they become average. Don’t forget their meltdowns the last two years. How many shots in a row did they miss?
Syracuse tied at 20 with Canisius – eeeekkk. And then Flynn picking up the silly technical.
Casey the clairvoyant. You basically described the Wake Forest game a month in advance. There are a lot people who’d wish to retract their UNC invincible remarks. I’m one of them. But I am absolutely loving looking at the bottom of the ACC and seeing the Heels at 0-2.