[Cracked Sidewalks] ESPN's Big East Preview

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

ESPN's Big East Preview

ESPN takes an early look at the 2007-2008 Big East season today.  The main article talks about the difficulty in moving to an 18-game league schedule, and includes capsules on each team.  The MU bit is predictable (the standard great guards, lets see if the frontcourt can hold its own logic ).  Sigh.Bilas takes the honors of predicting the league champs -- and pegs MU as the Big East's third-best team behind Louisville and Georgetown, and in front of UConn, Syracuse and Pitt.  Surprisingly, Bilas pegs PC as just the 9th best team in the league -- me thinks they exceed those expectations.Read it all right here on ESPN.com.Discuss it here at MUScoop -- several good posts in this thread.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2007/09/espns-big-east-preview.html

[tower912]

A fair assessment.   Great guards, need the front court to hold its own.   Tough.   The third best team in the BE, behind G-town and 'ville is high praise.   But we should pay attention to other coach's assessments.    From top to bottom, this is the premier hoops league in the land.   No breathers, no nights off.   We could do everything right and finish 11-7.   But, combine that with an undefeated OOC schedule  , and we will be fine.    Staying healthy and getting adequate contributions from our bigs are the deciding factors.

[NYWarrior]

We could do everything right and finish 11-7

That's a great point....the league will have more balance this year than last IMHO -- and road games are always tough.  gonna be fun

[mu_hilltopper]

With MU and the Bradley Center .. the season is all about the road.  If we drop more than 1 at the BC, I would be shocked.  That's 8 wins right there.  A mediocre 4-5 on the road gets you 12-6. 

[ozmetal71]

Just for fun, Lunardi's early bracketology has us as a #2 seed playing in Omaha.......

After the White Sox, Bears, and ND football, I sure as hell hope that Marquette has a good season or this is really going to be a lost sports season for me.

[NYWarrior]

With MU and the Bradley Center .. the season is all about the road.  If we drop more than 1 at the BC, I would be shocked.  That's 8 wins right there.  A mediocre 4-5 on the road gets you 12-6. 

HIGH EXPECTATIONS.........particularly in the Hilltopper household. 

very justified. . . . . . unless you think this team will miss Kinsella and Lott in some weird sorta way.

[mu_hilltopper]

Pshaw, high expectations.  They shouldn't even play those games in the BC.  The other teams should just save their air fare.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

With MU and the Bradley Center .. the season is all about the road.  If we drop more than 1 at the BC, I would be shocked.  That's 8 wins right there.  A mediocre 4-5 on the road gets you 12-6. 

I completely agree.

The formula in the Big East (as well as the Big Ten) is win almost all of your games at home (8-1 or 9-0), and hopefully steal a handful on the road (5-4 or maybe even 6-3).

Winning on the road in the Big East is going to be very, very tough every season. I would saying going close to .500 on the road in most seasons would be considered successful.

[NYWarrior]

If we drop more than 1 at the BC, I would be shocked.  That's 8 wins right there.  A mediocre 4-5 on the road gets you 12-6. 

Going 9-0 in the league is very tough.  Only ND went undefeated last season, and only two Big East teams went 7-1.  Holding serve at home is vital -- but lets face it, road games are what really differentiate contenders from pretenders.

Consider that DPU, SU, PC and SJU all went 6-2 at home last year -- just like MU, Ville and Pitt.   None of those previous four teams made it to the NCAA tourney.  Heck, WVU won 7 of 8 at home.....but missed the tourney.   Winning on the road is the differentiator.

2006-2007 Big East Home Records

ND: 8-0

G'town: 7-1
WVU: 7-1

DePaul: 6-2
Lville: 6-2
MU: 6-2
Pitt:  6-2
PC: 6-2
SJU: 6-2
Cuse: 6-2

Nova: 5-3

SHU: 4-4
UConn:  4-4

USF: 3-5

Cincy:  2-6
RU: 2-6

[Coobeys Oil Depot]

Just think:
The Big East is loaded this year with 10-12 teams that are legitimate NCAA Tournament berth contenders. Even though MU has a soft inside and a question on depth with experience they are picked to finish 3rd.

Imagine this team with a frontcourt that matches the backcourt? Well, now you know why people are hoping for a Ben-Eze, Shumpert, et al. commitments.

[NYWarrior]

Imagine this team with a frontcourt that matches the backcourt? Well, now you know why people are hoping for a Ben-Eze, Shumpert, et al. commitments.

yup.......Ben-Eze is incredibly key for the program. 

[tower912]

Coobey, questions on depth and experience?   Who?   Where?  Soft frontcourt, I will give you, but this has the potential to be one of the deepest teams in the country.

[muwarrior87]

Coobey, questions on depth and experience?   Who?   Where?  Soft frontcourt, I will give you, but this has the potential to be one of the deepest teams in the country.

deep yes, but up front there are a lot of pieces that do not have BE bball experience. Trend, even though on the team never saw BE gametime last year, Mbakwe, Hazel, all hoping to contribute this year in some way or another but they are young and inexperienced at this level.

[NYWarrior]

deep yes, but up front there are a lot of pieces that do not have BE bball experience. Trend, even though on the team never saw BE gametime last year, Mbakwe, Hazel, all hoping to contribute this year in some way or another but they are young and inexperienced at this level.

Mbakwe, Hazel and Trend are merely role players who won't make or break the team's fortunes this year. MU returns what,  95% of its scoring and 90% of its rebounding,  maybe more?   Factor in Hayward's stunted development last season and you'd have to be even more encouraged about what lies ahead.  Regardless, having inexperienced role players is, if anything, a high class problem.

A little help from the new guys would be great -- but given that MU was 10-6 in the Big East last year with a team dominated by underclassmen who all returned, it is a stretch to say there are 'a lot of pieces that do not have BE bball experience'.

[tower912]

Ooze, Fitz, Lazar and Burke all have experience and all had their moments. (OK, Ooze, Fitz and Lazar had their moments)   Between Burke, Blackledge, Mbakwe and Hazel, we are going to be able to get enough to compete up front.   Not dominate, but compete.   And if the frontline can keep from getting punked, the guards should win their matchups.

[79Warrior]

With MU and the Bradley Center .. the season is all about the road.  If we drop more than 1 at the BC, I would be shocked.  That's 8 wins right there.  A mediocre 4-5 on the road gets you 12-6. 

Seems to me the Bradley Center was not that big an advantage for us last year. 7-1 is very optimistic.

[Coobeys Oil Depot]

Coobey, questions on depth and experience?   Who?   Where?  Soft frontcourt, I will give you, but this has the potential to be one of the deepest teams in the country.

I should clear that up a bit. No questions on depth. Crean has the best roster yet in terms of finding guys for certain situations. What I was alluding to was more the experience, or lackthereof, that those players will have.

I see Crean leaning heavily on Acker (PG skills), Mbakwe (post defense), and Christopherson (shooting) and all 3 have never played a Big East game. We need to vet those guys quickly (we all probably believe Acker will have a quicker learning curve due to Ball State) because in March they could be huge players like Chapman, Bradley, and Novak were 4 years ago.

[CTWarrior]

ESPN's Big East Preview

Bilas takes the honors of predicting the league champs -- and pegs MU as the Big East's third-best team behind Louisville and Georgetown, and in front of UConn, Syracuse and Pitt.  
http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2007/09/espns-big-east-preview.html

I don't understand how UConn is 5th.  They didn't add anybody from last year.  They have a bunch of track stars that can run and jump and so they play great defense, but they don't have many actual basketball players, so they will remain horrible on the offensive side of the ball.

[muwarrior87]

I still don't see christopherson getting big minutes or even small minutes when a clutch 3 is needed. I would hope that's what fitz and coobie are for. w/ the back court depth we have, i thought christopherson would have been redshirted but maybe i'm wrong and he'll get minutes. From the open scrimmage though, where he sat on the bench during the majority of the 5 on 5 scrimmages, i doubt he'll be much of anything if not a garbage man this year if he plays.

[NYWarrior]

I still don't see christopherson getting big minutes or even small minutes when a clutch 3 is needed.

I'm hoping Christopherson is redshirted. why waste him?

[bilsu]

He was very good in Canada and is much bigger than Culliban. Also, while Culliban have demmonstrated they can shoot, they also have demonstrated that they can disappear. Each year players should become more consistant. More consistant play out of Ooze, Culliban & Fitz and the return to form for James will make this a very good team.

[Pardner]

Ok--I have been drinking the holy water at The Gesu...the BE is down this year with a lot of team's rebuilding, including coaches, transfers, grads, early departures for the NBA.  I have MU as a top 6 team  in the country and winning the regular season BE with a 14-4 record.  I see GU winning the BET because of the big man and the sloggy play with with the compressed schedule.

We have a lot more depth and experience added, improved trey choices, a bigger, more physical frontcourt, more flexibility around match-ups, the best guard depth in the country.  We will force play the entire court as we have more depth and athleticism.  Wes improved his game with McNeal out last year--and will be huge with both his in and out game as he learned the importance of driving to the hoop (getting foul shots).  We need him at the line a lot this year.  People forget Lazar was a surprise on the o-boards last year.  He can step out and hit a three or a face up two--I look for a big improvement here to match his buzz out of hs.  Hope to see Ooze post up a bit more to relax the pressure on the match-up zones we'll see with some kick-backs to Fitz--if anything to give different looks.  Our guards, small forwards will bring it to the hoop--with kick backs, a slash move from Trend, dish offs being all more viable options this year.  Mo, as a true PG, will take off pressure on DJ.  Jerel will set the tone for us on D.  The frosh are all a big step up on depth--especially Mbakwe's muscle.  We are loaded like never before...but yes, we do have holes against certain teams, but experience wins out here in the BE.  I even think we have a more experienced coaching staff--and one who works better with TC.

LVille has young talent and the best coach, yet had a lot of churn off a mediocre year (for them).  GU will be the biggest competition--but lost their best player (when he sowed up).  I think we will be underestimated to start due to last year's finish.

Ok--back to the confessional...while you skewer me.