Your thoughts about the BE teams now that non-con is over

[Scoop Snoop]

 Strengths, vulnerabilities, and how you think the teams matchup with Marquette. Non-con performances, coaches, transfers, especially strong fan base, etc.-whatever factors you think support your points.  Group them or put them in order-whatever you like OR just tell us what you think of the teams without comparing them.

One request please-wait until there are at least 6 replies before challenging another scooper's take. My hope is that way we will have a variety of opinions before the scooper battles inevitably begin.

[The Sultan]

Butler: I haven't watched them so I have no opinion
Creighton: I haven't watched them so I have no opinion
DePaul: I haven't watched them so I have no opinion
Georgetown: I haven't watched them so I have no opinion
Marquette: I think we are pretty good, will challenge for the title, and is likely a S16 or E8 team with a shooter's chance to get to the F4.
Providence: I haven't watched them so I have no opinion
Seton Hall: I haven't watched them  - they seem pretty bad though
St. Johns: I haven't watched them so I have no opinion
UConn: I watched five minutes of their game against Gonzaga and they look good.
Villanova: I haven't watched them so I have no opinion
Xavier: I haven't watched them so I have no opinion

[tower912]

As opposed to Sultan, I have watched a fair amount of the Big East.  Get healthy, stay healthy, develop the bench, make 3's at a decent clip and 16-4 is on the table.   

[The Sultan]

Get healthy, stay healthy...

Only four more replies til I can challenge this nonsense.

[wadesworld]

Favorites:

• UCONN
• Marquette

Could win the BE but don't think they're quite the same level:

• St. John's

Bubble teams:

• Depending on how long Freemantle is out, Xavier
• Creighton
• Nova

Not bad but not good:

• Butler
• Providence

Bad but getting better/not guaranteed road wins:

• DePaul
• Georgetown

Shaheen:

• Seton Hall

[tower912]

Only four more replies til I can challenge this nonsense.

I will get this one in to speed up the process.

[Uncle Rico]

Big East blows manatees.

3-bid league.  UConn, Quette, Johnnie's

Maybe sneak in: Dence, X, Creighton, Nova

GTFOH: Butler, DePaul, GTown

New DePaul:  Seton Hall

Quette goes 15-5, loses one weirdo game and Willie calls multiple players fecal or genitalia related names in that game thread

[wadesworld]

Big East blows manatees.

3-bid league.  UConn, Quette, Johnnie's

Maybe sneak in: Dence, X, Creighton

GTFOH: Butler, DePaul, GTown

New DePaul:  Seton Hall

Quette goes 15-5, loses one weirdo game and Willie calls multiple players fecal or genitalia related names in that game thread

Nova got kicked out of the league because Neptune is Wojo.

[Shooter McGavin]

Big East blows manatees.

3-bid league.  UConn, Quette, Johnnie's

Maybe sneak in: Dence, X, Creighton

GTFOH: Butler, DePaul, GTown

New DePaul:  Seton Hall

Quette goes 15-5, loses one weirdo game and Willie calls multiple players fecal or genitalia related names in that game thread

This seems like it is spot on.

[Uncle Rico]

Nova got kicked out of the league because Neptune is Wojo.

Whoops.  Knew I forgot someone

[ATL MU Warrior]

Good: MU, UCONN
Decent: St. John's, Creighton
Meh: Nova, Dence, X
Bad: Butler, GTown, DePaul
Horrible: The Hall

[Lennys Tap]

Likely a 4 bid league.

MU, UCONN in.

St John's and Creighton likely.

Maybe Xavier or Nova instead.

Rest of the conference ranges from meh to awful.

Down year.

[Uncle Rico]

Also, the top 3 are all Final 4 capable and definitely 2nd weekend capable.

If UConn figures out the defensive side of the ball, they can still make a deep run.  The offense is quite good. But if they hover in the 60's defensively (currently 69th, nice, in Defensive Efficiency), that limits their ceiling.

The Johnnies are 26th in offensive efficiency, 18th in defensive efficiency.  This is their best team this century and best team since 1999 which made the Elite 8.

Marquette is a top-20 offense and defense.  They're one of 6 teams that can claim that with Gonzaga and Florida just outside those parameters.

[wadesworld]

Also, the top 3 are all Final 4 capable and definitely 2nd weekend capable.

If UConn figures out the defensive side of the ball, they can still make a deep run.  The offense is quite good. But if they hover in the 60's defensively (currently 69th, nice, in Defensive Efficiency), that limits their ceiling.

The Johnnies are 26th in offensive efficiency, 18th in defensive efficiency.  This is their best team this century and best team since 1999 which made the Elite 8.

Marquette is a top-20 offense and defense.  They're one of 6 teams that can claim that with Gonzaga and Florida just outside those parameters.

We scheduled a game at Dayton.  We're not a serious program.

[Uncle Rico]

We scheduled a game at Dayton.  We're not a serious program.

I have Marquette losing another 5 games before MSG, so it's not a serious program anyway

[K1 Lover]

I have Marquette losing another 5 games before MSG, so it's not a serious program anyway

My expectation is that we go 17-3 in league play. Any performance less than that merits a D grade.

[Jockey]

1st or 2nd in BE. Most likely a #2 seed unless the committee feels guilty about putting 4 SEC teams as #1s.

Very pleased. They are better than I though they'd be  (coming into the season, I thought 12-13 in BE and hoped for a 6 or 7 seed). The biggest plus is that the better they are, the less we have to deal with 4ever posting in the b-ball thread.

[Newsdreams]

Big East blows manatees.

3-bid league.  UConn, Quette, Johnnie's

Maybe sneak in: Dence, X, Creighton, Nova

GTFOH: Butler, DePaul, GTown

New DePaul:  Seton Hall

Quette goes 15-5, loses one weirdo game and Willie calls multiple players fecal or genitalia related names in that game thread

PLEASE, 3 bid league? More like 1 bid league to be decided at MSG

[brewcity77]

UConn: Probably good, but not as good as we thought. They don't defend very well and it's hard to know if they're the team that crashed in Maui or the team that (probably?) beat good teams this past week. Biggest competition for the league.

St. John's: Zuby & Luis are awesome, but I don't know about the back court. Richmond & Smith too often seem disinterested. Not as good as I thought so far, but I was very high on them.

Creighton: Haven't watched a ton, but not very good. Kalk is the only decent defender and not nearly as many offensive options as usual.

Xavier: The offensive additions haven't been as good as expected, the defense is just okay, and they were thin up front before losing Free. I think they're in a lot of trouble. Probably end up worse than last year.

Butler: Their offense is just Telfort and Brooks taking whatever shots they want. When those two are hot, they are dangerous. When they're not, well, they lost two buy games for a reason.

Providence: I have no idea how they beat BYU because they seem to run no offense. Just my turn, your turn as they try to beat teams one on one. Kim English doesn't seem very good at this. But they'll probably beast us at the AMP anyway.

Villanova: If they could build the whole team out of Eric Dixon, they might have something. No one does less with more like Neptune.

Seton Hall: They really have no offensive talent, not just on the court but in terms of Sha's coaching. Almost certainly the worst team in the league. Holloway should've jumped ship for Louisville last year.

DePaul: They're fun to watch and can really shoot. Should've beat Providence, but there's still some DePaul in there even with a totally new roster. I expect they'll sneak a few surprising wins this year.

Georgetown: Thomas Sorber is awesome. Maybe the best offensive big in the league. He should be in the NBA next year. But as a team, not good. They're better than the Ewing years, but SHU being awful is probably their saving grace.

[K1 Lover]

UConn: Probably good, but not as good as we thought. They don't defend very well and it's hard to know if they're the team that crashed in Maui or the team that (probably?) beat good teams this past week. Biggest competition for the league.

St. John's: Zuby & Luis are awesome, but I don't know about the back court. Richmond & Smith too often seem disinterested. Not as good as I thought so far, but I was very high on them.

Creighton: Haven't watched a ton, but not very good. Kalk is the only decent defender and not nearly as many offensive options as usual.

Xavier: The offensive additions haven't been as good as expected, the defense is just okay, and they were thin up front before losing Free. I think they're in a lot of trouble. Probably end up worse than last year.

Butler: Their offense is just Telfort and Brooks taking whatever shots they want. When those two are hot, they are dangerous. When they're not, well, they lost two buy games for a reason.

Providence: I have no idea how they beat BYU because they seem to run no offense. Just my turn, your turn as they try to beat teams one on one. Kim English doesn't seem very good at this. But they'll probably beast us at the AMP anyway.

Villanova: If they could build the whole team out of Eric Dixon, they might have something. No one does less with more like Neptune.

Seton Hall: They really have no offensive talent, not just on the court but in terms of Sha's coaching. Almost certainly the worst team in the league. Holloway should've jumped ship for Louisville last year.

DePaul: They're fun to watch and can really shoot. Should've beat Providence, but there's still some DePaul in there even with a totally new roster. I expect they'll sneak a few surprising wins this year.

Georgetown: Thomas Sorber is awesome. Maybe the best offensive big in the league. He should be in the NBA next year. But as a team, not good. They're better than the Ewing years, but SHU being awful is probably their saving grace.

I concur with everything said here. Spot on, IMO. A small part of me fears DePaul will get red hot from deep and have one one of their best games of the season against us, but realistically, we outmatch them hard on both ends and should crush them.

Barring a complete collapse or additional injuries, I genuinely don't think we should lose at home to anyone other than UConn or St. John's. I think we should realistically win all our road games against any team that isn't those two, Creighton, or Providence. Maybe Xavier too if they're healthy, but I'm not entirely sure what their deal is this season.

My honest prediction is that we enter the BE tournament with no more than 6 total losses, like the '22-23 season. So 4 league losses at most.

[Scoop Snoop]

I concur with everything said here. Spot on, IMO. A small part of me fears DePaul will get red hot from deep and have one one of their best games of the season against us, but realistically, we outmatch them hard on both ends and should crush them.

Barring a complete collapse or additional injuries, I genuinely don't think we should lose at home to anyone other than UConn or St. John's. I think we should realistically win all our road games against any team that isn't those two, Creighton, or Providence. Maybe Xavier too if they're healthy, but I'm not entirely sure what their deal is this season.

My honest prediction is that we enter the BE tournament with no more than 6 total losses, like the '22-23 season. So 4 league losses at most.

Loved Brew's summary. A whole lot said in few words.

I think we go 17-3 with @ UCONN, @ St. John's plus one more road game as our Ls. I'm including the 3rd loss simply because it seems to happen to everyone-just an anomaly. Last year it was 2nd half Butler that embarrassed us. 

 

[StillWarriors]

UConn: Probably good, but not as good as we thought. They don't defend very well and it's hard to know if they're the team that crashed in Maui or the team that (probably?) beat good teams this past week. Biggest competition for the league.

St. John's: Zuby & Luis are awesome, but I don't know about the back court. Richmond & Smith too often seem disinterested. Not as good as I thought so far, but I was very high on them.

Creighton: Haven't watched a ton, but not very good. Kalk is the only decent defender and not nearly as many offensive options as usual.

Xavier: The offensive additions haven't been as good as expected, the defense is just okay, and they were thin up front before losing Free. I think they're in a lot of trouble. Probably end up worse than last year.

Butler: Their offense is just Telfort and Brooks taking whatever shots they want. When those two are hot, they are dangerous. When they're not, well, they lost two buy games for a reason.

Providence: I have no idea how they beat BYU because they seem to run no offense. Just my turn, your turn as they try to beat teams one on one. Kim English doesn't seem very good at this. But they'll probably beast us at the AMP anyway.

Villanova: If they could build the whole team out of Eric Dixon, they might have something. No one does less with more like Neptune.

Seton Hall: They really have no offensive talent, not just on the court but in terms of Sha's coaching. Almost certainly the worst team in the league. Holloway should've jumped ship for Louisville last year.

DePaul: They're fun to watch and can really shoot. Should've beat Providence, but there's still some DePaul in there even with a totally new roster. I expect they'll sneak a few surprising wins this year.

Georgetown: Thomas Sorber is awesome. Maybe the best offensive big in the league. He should be in the NBA next year. But as a team, not good. They're better than the Ewing years, but SHU being awful is probably their saving grace.

Excellent summary. Agree with just about all of that. 16-4 feels right. Battle it out with UConn for regular season title.

[wadesworld]

3 or 4 losses seems low to me.  As of this morning we would have 6 Q1 road games and 1 Q1 home game in the BE season.  And Xavier is 1 spot from being a Q1 road game and Butler is 2 spots from being a Q1 road game.  So there's the potential for 8 Q1 road games in the conference.  Those are very hard to win.

[dgies9156]

Big East blows manatees.

How on earth do you blow a manatee?

Dynamite?

[Newsdreams]

How on earth do you blow a manatee?

Dynamite?

They're mammals.....