Nice article on the Big 3 surprises in the Big East...Syracuse, Pitt, Marquette

[ChicosBailBonds]

http://web.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100304&content_id=8671996&oid=2&vkey=29

[PGsHeroes32]

Great Article. All 3 teams are having fantastic years. It really goes to show how little preseason and even in season rankings matter.

[Big Daddy Z]

Our's is the best turnaorund as they had us for 12th...

"We're not mercenaries. We're a militia."

[NersEllenson]

Good find Chicos..I posted this in another thread but MU's defense has been very interesting to study, in terms of overall ranking, and ranking with respect to team fouls.  As the article states higher numbers of team fouls tends to lead to more steals, and also a better defensive FG%  Look at these numbers for MU

Year   National Rank Defensive FG%         National Rank in fouls Committed
2006                189                                                  219
2007                79                                                    266   
2008                79                                                    301
2009               123                                                   211
2010                 68                                                    76

This is huge..and accounts for how we are winning games this year - playing good solid D, creating turnovers, and not Fouling and putting teams at the line, therefore we win the Free Throw battle.                                             

[mug644]

Yes, great article. I read it earlier today at baselinestats.com but didn't post it here ('cuz I still can't figure out how to create a hyperlink when writing a message).

Anyway, I wrote a comment to Brendon, asking if his analysis led to who he would vote for as BEast COY. Here's his reply:

"Buzz or Boeheim. Buzz or Boeheim. Overcoming offseason AND in-season personnel issues vs. overcoming offseason personnel issues AND being a top-five team. I'd probably go with Boeheim, but it's definitely a good argument. Dixon third. Stan Heath fourth."

As I said in a message a few days ago, I believe that if we beat ND, then Buzz will be COY. Especially if (though I am not sure that it is the case) voting takes place before the BEast tourney. This run we are on is just too much to overlook. While Syracuse has stayed steady (sure, at the top steady, which is nothing to sneeze at), MU, under Buzz's leadership has bounced back from a poor initial record, not gotten down after some tough losses, handled adversity and proven that they can win tight games on the road.

And, I've found Brendon Desrochers to be top notch when it comes to the BEast. He used to co-host the weekly BEast podcast (I can't recall the name) and is a Prov grad (unless that was his co-host). Anyway, he is knowledgeable and a good writer. And, he seems to respond to individual comments, as I have written in the past to him also.

EDIT: 'did' to 'didn't' (oops.)