2012 Big East preview

[JTBMU7]

Any thoughts on who will be expected to do well in conf next year?

I'm scared of how good st johns could be. They are all stud freshman and lavin will be back. Also assuming nova will bounce back.

what say you?

[JTBMU7]

Btw - I think we are no worse than top 5 in conf next year...

[real chili 83]

We have no time for this nonsense.  

There are haikus to be spun, nits to pick, baseless rumors to be taken as gospel....

Actually, this is the first breathe of fresh air on this board.  

Nova should be much better.  ND will suck.  Curious how USF will do.....great showing this year.

[Otule's Glass Eye]

Any thoughts on who will be expected to do well in conf next year?

I'm scared of how good st johns could be. They are all stud freshman and lavin will be back. Also assuming nova will bounce back.

what say you?

We should finish in the 5 range, yeah

Are St Johns bringing in more top recuits? I know Moe Harkless is leaving so are they replacing him?

[Otule's Glass Eye]

We have no time for this nonsense. 

There are haikus to be spun, nits to pick, baseless rumors to be taken as gospel....

Actually, this is the first breathe of fresh air on this board. 

Nova should be much better.  ND will suck.  Curious how USF will do.....great showing this year.

Why do you think ND will suck? looks like they have a good recruiting class and they only have one SR leaving. Are players transfering?

[real chili 83]

Why do you think ND will suck? looks like they have a good recruiting class and they only have one SR leaving. Are players transfering?

Cause, they are ND.  That is my "objective" opinion.

[Otule's Glass Eye]

Cause, they are ND.  That is my "objective" opinion.

aha gotcha

[bilsu]

I believe St. John's best player has already signed with an agent.

[QuetteHoops]

Any thoughts on who will be expected to do well in conf next year?

I'm scared of how good st johns could be. They are all stud freshman and lavin will be back. Also assuming nova will bounce back.

what say you?

It looks like Harkless for st. Johns and Wayns for Nova are leaving for the NBA. So that will put a dent in both of those teams.

[brewcity77]

Louisville will be the overwhelming favorites and could be preseason #1. They return everyone except Chris Smith and Kyle Kuric. And IMO, losing Kuric is addition by subtraction. He's way too 3-happy. They'll be better off without him jacking up every almost-open three he gets half a look at.

[MarquetteDano]

I am still confused as to who will in the Big East next season.  West Virginia is gone.  Will Memphis already be in the league next year?  Who else?

[brewcity77]

Pretty sure it will be the same minus WVU, which means 1 year of 4 mirror opponents.

[GOO]

I'll sign up for a top 5 finish right now. We will have less talent than this year.

[GOO]

At least less experienced talent.

[SaveOD238]

can we get a value add rundown of the 2012-2013 Big East?  I have to imagine Cuse and LVille will be at the top even without kuric/smith/waiters.  Georgetown had a bunch of young guys who will be back. Ditto for us and Notre Dame, except we lose more off the top.  If that shot-blocking forward from Cincy steps in to fill Yancy's space the bearcats should be good again too. 

Looks like the BEast will have an up year, even with teams like UConn and Nova trending downward.

[JTBMU7]

i think college hoops overall will be down next year, not just the big east. seems like this year, due to the lockout uncertainty, more young guys stuck around (sullinger, henson, zeller, lamb, etc) which made for some really great, proven teams with returning talent. 

safe to say Kentucky will reload, but outside of them, where are the really heavy hitters?

back to the BEAST... i am really curious to see what Pitt does after such a tough year, not sure who they return, but i have to imagine they will be better. Providence was also very young/talented, i would assume that would translate into a somewhat "up" year for them too.

GTown/Lville are my picks to be tops headed into next year, with Cincy, MU, Cuse and nova right behind.

ND will be what they always are... fundamentally sound, weak in the non-conf, get it together near the middle of conf play, win a few big games at home, fizzle out in the post season. no real threat there.

[injuryBug]

1. L'ville
2. Cuse
3. MU
4. Gtown
5. Cincy
6. USF
7. ND
8. Pitt
9. uconn
10. Nova
11. Stj
12. Rutgers
13. PC
14. SH
15. DP

[RawdogDX]

i think college hoops overall will be down next year, not just the big east. seems like this year, due to the lockout uncertainty, more young guys stuck around (sullinger, henson, zeller, lamb, etc) which made for some really great, proven teams with returning talent. 

safe to say Kentucky will reload, but outside of them, where are the really heavy hitters?

Yeah, it's a well known fact that no athletic people were born 18 years ago.  There is no fresh crop of talent to replace this year's talent.  It will be a down year for all of college basketball.  Probably take a few years to recover from it.

[TJ]

I can't speak to the rest of the conference, but I think we'll be fine next year if we are healthy (big if).  Otule/Gardner/Wilson is the best and most experienced front court we've had in a long time.  Rely on them to set the table.  Get some improvement from Mayo and Blue at 2 guard and that will help to make up for some of the loss of DJO (this is the biggest question mark, but I think it will work out ok).  Cadougan will be a senior and I think he'll play well next year.

Will it be a dropoff from this year?  Probably.  But I think it will be a good, competitive team.

[brewcity77]

I can't speak to the rest of the conference, but I think we'll be fine next year if we are healthy (big if).  Otule/Gardner/Wilson is the best and most experienced front court we've had in a long time.  Rely on them to set the table.  Get some improvement from Mayo and Blue at 2 guard and that will help to make up for some of the loss of DJO (this is the biggest question mark, but I think it will work out ok).  Cadougan will be a senior and I think he'll play well next year.

Will it be a dropoff from this year?  Probably.  But I think it will be a good, competitive team.

Right now the biggest thing is who's at the helm. If Buzz is back or we get someone who can retain what we have and the commits coming in, we can play at a high level and be a top-6 or better team. Lose Buzz and we could end up losing half our team as well as our incoming recruits.

[seinfeld]

Right now the biggest thing is who's at the helm. If Buzz is back or we get someone who can retain what we have and the commits coming in, we can play at a high level and be a top-6 or better team. Lose Buzz and we could end up losing half our team as well as our incoming recruits.

I'm curious about the rules concerning transferring within the conference. If Buzz left for SMU Would Buzz be hindered in bringing along any of his players? Also, since SMU officially doesn't join Big East until 2013, would that be a loophole?

[brewcity77]

I'm curious about the rules concerning transferring within the conference. If Buzz left for SMU Would Buzz be hindered in bringing along any of his players? Also, since SMU officially doesn't join Big East until 2013, would that be a loophole?

I honestly don't know, but the players wouldn't be eligible to play for SMU until they were in the Big East. I have to imagine that MU would appeal to the Big East to block any such moves, and I would also imagine that appeal would be granted.

But that said, I'd guess that we could end up losing TJ Taylor and Aaron Durley at the least, and it wouldn't surprise me if Otule appealed for a 6th year, and once granted, provided he had graduated, left Marquette for SMU.

Losing Buzz is just the tip of the iceberg.

[TJ]

Right now the biggest thing is who's at the helm. If Buzz is back or we get someone who can retain what we have and the commits coming in, we can play at a high level and be a top-6 or better team. Lose Buzz and we could end up losing half our team as well as our incoming recruits.

Well of course, but this is a thread to talk about next year's team and since there has been nothing but unsubstantiated rumors, gossip, and overreaction so far I am ignoring the coach talk in here and talking about next year's team as it currently stands.

[downtown85]

Well of course, but this is a thread to talk about next year's team and since there has been nothing but unsubstantiated rumors, gossip, and overreaction so far I am ignoring the coach talk in here and talking about next year's team as it currently stands.

+ a billion.  I kind of tune out hoops for a few days and don't really visit this board and I come back and there seems to be a full blown melt down. If Buzz goes, he goes. Our future would then be in the hands of the Manchurian candidate AD. 

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, I think the Big East is really up for grabs.  Some opinions:

Rutgers is actually going to do better than most people expect.  They seem to have a good recruiting class and have some good players returning.

ND sucks, but they will do o.k. as they always seem to do as someone already said, they will start slow gain momentum in the middle of the season and then fizzle in the post season.

Providence has a 5 star point guard and a couple of other good players coming in next year.  If they gel, watch out.  Henton is very good and with good guard play they could be top half BE.

My top 5 are:

1. Louisville
2. Georgetown
3. Cuse
4. Cincy
5. MU

[BCHoopster]

+ a billion.  I kind of tune out hoops for a few days and don't really visit this board and I come back and there seems to be a full blown melt down. If Buzz goes, he goes. Our future would then be in the hands of the Manchurian candidate AD. 

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, I think the Big East is really up for grabs.  Some opinions:

Rutgers is actually going to do better than most people expect.  They seem to have a good recruiting class and have some good players returning.

ND sucks, but they will do o.k. as they always seem to do as someone already said, they will start slow gain momentum in the middle of the season and then fizzle in the post season.

Providence has a 5 star point guard and a couple of other good players coming in next year.  If they gel, watch out.  Henton is very good and with good guard play they could be top half BE.



Not sure about Georgetown, they lose 2 starters, Notre Dame maybe better than you think?  If Abromitas comes back, they will have 4 starters back plus him and I am sure they have a
few new recruits coming in.  Rutgers will surprise, Providence will be much better.  Syracuse now worse losing there 4 top players, Cinci only loses Gates, so I see:  Louey, Cincy, GT, MU
and Cuse. Cuse is not done recruiting so lets see how they do in spring, they have the potential to sign gets late as there is playing time right now, Noel is the big name.

My top 5 are:

1. Louisville
2. Georgetown
3. Cuse
4. Cincy
5. MU