2008/2009 Big East Thread

[ehh]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

I am telling you as an ND fan, I think UConn scares me more than Louisville. With Thabeet, Walker, Dyson and Adrien...that right there, scares the hell out of me.


And good Lord man man, with Mandelove , Okwandu, and Mandeldove you guys have a 21 1/2 foot front court......

Not to mention we should be getting 6'9 Stanley Robinson and 6'10 freshman Ater Majok for the second semester. :wink:

I like this team a lot, they play much smarter basketball than typical UConn teams. Usually we get the athletes and that naturally comes with some less-than-desirable basketball IQ's. But outside of Dyson (and Thabeet to a certain degree because he's still learning) we have a pretty smart team which is def a rarity.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

The only reason I even give us a shot against UConn, is our ability to shoot the three with KMac, Zeller, Ayers, and Jackson ( a little inconsistent ) We can bang a little underneath with Ayers, Harangody, Nash and Zeller, but we can't compete with that....

The biggest scare I have is that we are a fast break up tempo type of team, and that is mostly predicated on our abilty to hit the glass hard and push the ball, well if you take the typical advantage of dominating the glass away, you turn us into a half court team. We can run that offense because of our athleticism and smart play, but it's not our natural game.

[ehh]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

The only reason I even give us a shot against UConn, is our ability to shoot the three with KMac, Zeller, Ayers, and Jackson ( a little inconsistent ) We can bang a little underneath with Ayers, Harangody, Nash and Zeller, but we can't compete with that....

The biggest scare I have is that we are a fast break up tempo type of team, and that is mostly predicated on our abilty to hit the glass hard and push the ball, well if you take the typical advantage of dominating the glass away, you turn us into a half court team. We can run that offense because of our athleticism and smart play, but it's not our natural game.

Both of our games will be close this year, I guarantee it. ND's style of play gives UConn trouble, as does just about any team that can bring it's bigs away from the hoop and have them knock down perimeter shots. Then of course you have all those shooters, our perimeter D really isn't all that great, probably our biggest weakness. Plus you have heady players who are very unselfish.

Thabeet isn't quick enough to stay with Gody and Adrien is too small and/or would put Hash in a position to guard Zeller or Hillesland who would be outside the entire time. It will be interesting to see how that match up goes because Thabeet dominated Gody at ND (Gody shot 5-23 and Hash had 8 or 9 blocks) but Gody went off at Gampel for 32 points.

[BGPurple]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

If Syracuse finishes 10th or lower I will never come to OS ever again.

LMAO

Yup. sorry bout that meant to put them higher, wouldv'e after their win over Florida.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Yeah, both games should be very fun and close this year. There are very few teams that I get a knot in my stomach about, but Gtwon and UConn are Notre Dames Kryptonite

On the flipside, we play The Cuse at the Dome, like its our homecourt, go figure.

[cjonesfan921]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

I agree about the conference, should be nuts this year. Seton Hall is also playing some great basketball right now. The confrence is just insanely deep. The teams at the bottom aren't terrible, well except St. John's. Those teams at the bottom though, are going to havea tough time getting Ws in conference play because the top 8-9 even 10 teams are real good. Should be fun, well not for me as Rutgers will get their behinds handed to them in conference play.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

^^^^Agreed, I am going to do all in my power this year to grab tickets for the BE tourney, as that could be almost as entertaining as the other.

[BGPurple]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Some factors in the Big East are:
1.) Big East difficult schedules: Every team in the Big East MUST play all of the Big East teams in the Season, and due to that you will see many small teams sneaking up and beating the bigger teams. Also I wouldn't be surprised to see teams with .500 and lower in conference play make the NCAA Tourney, happened before will probably happen again. Tough Schedules to end the season for all Big East teams, either having to deal with Syracuse, UCONN, UL, Pitt, ND, Marq, Nova, Hall. Dang even Prov can stun some and WVU and DePaul if not careful. Toughest conference in Basketball (Forget UNC and Duke)(Even the best teams for ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac 10, and Davidson, will have much trouble dealing with Big East's worst)
2.) "Small" Big East Teams that might upset the best. Seton Hall coming off a win over USC could upset anyone. Syracuse, coming off beating a great Florida team, has the chance to drop some big teams. Villanova and Marquette will both get into the NCAA Tourney, so watch for them to drop some "Big" Big East teams. Providence and DePaul will come to play against ANY team. Also WVU you will have to watch.
3.) Big East. The Best College Basketball Conference still alive and running.

[nickb]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Marquette plays crosstown foe UWM tonight and I get the privillige of sitting courtside since I am a writer for MarquetteHoops.com. We are 35-0 all time against UWM so I dont really consider it a rivalry. Marquette should have no problem with them and I expect a 20+ point win

I check Marquettehoops all the time, been reading since Dodds was over on Rivals. Good source for the Marquette basketball fix, glad to see another Marquette fan here at OS...

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

I check Marquettehoops all the time, been reading since Dodds was over on Rivals. Good source for the Marquette basketball fix, glad to see another Marquette fan here at OS...

As much as I dislike Marquette for obvious reason...lol. I felt bad when TC decided to leave and take the IU job. He was one hell of a coach, competitive, fair, and spirited....sorry for the loss. Indiana will be in a much better place in 2 or 3 years from now, because of simply bringing that man aboard.

[BGPurple]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Yea. It was a sad loss for Marquette for losing him. But in a couple years you will see IU running with the head of the pack, and it will probably be due to coaching, not due to lucky bankshots that tie the game (.....Eric Gordon vs. Illinois)

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Yea. It was a sad loss for Marquette for losing him. But in a couple years you will see IU running with the head of the pack, and it will probably be due to coaching, not due to lucky bankshots that tie the game (.....Eric Gordon vs. Illinois)

Yeah, and I always hate to see the BE lose quality coach's, they IMO, have the best coachs as a group, around right now.

[Cusefan]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

If Syracuse finishes 10th or lower I will never come to OS ever again.

LMAO

I'm sticking with my prediction that Syracuse Finishes 4th in the Big east. 7th at the absolute worst (barring any significant injury).

Offensively speaking, this Syracuse team is about as good as i have ever seen. They have 8 guys who can score in double digits every night.

Defensively, Its not a great team for Zone but they will make up for that with Man D, and they can just outscore most teams they will play.

[superjames1992]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

If Syracuse finishes 10th or lower I will never come to OS ever again.

LMAO

Well, 10th might be good enough to get in the NCAA Tournament this year, so no worries.

I still see WVU finishing in the top seven or so. West Virginia was picked ninth in the preseason and has exceeded expectations for the last six years, so eighth or better would be my guess. This team looks really good so far, though, so I wouldn't be shocked to see them in the top five, though I'd like to see how they perform against Iowa and Kentucky coming up before I proclaim anything like that for sure.

The Big East is 44-5 in OOC games thus far. The top 11 teams are a combined 30-0. Wow. They haven't all played the greatest competition yet, but that's pretty good.

[ehh]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

From DeCourcy's latest article...

2. UConn is scarier than you think. The Huskies were a consensus preseason No. 2, so it's not like they're sneaking up on anyone, but they were supposed to be a distant No. 2.

They looked awfully close to the top Sunday evening, though, when they took apart Miami in the Paradise Jam semifinals. The Hurricanes entered the game clearly intent on challenging UConn but simply couldn't find a consistent means of scoring against that defense. Wisconsin is an interesting matchup in the title game, because the Badgers' frontcourt of Marcus Landry, Joe Krabbenhoft and John Leuer might not provide Hasheem Thabeet anyone to guard.

Thabeet blocked seven shots against Miami and has 19 in four games. The only thing that hasn't gone well is 3-point shooting. Veteran Craig Austrie has a three-year track record of not making them. He's pretty well established who he is in that department. He is on pace to attempt 60 more this season than last -- and to make a half-dozen less.

But folks, UConn has five players averaging in double figures -- and none is A.J. Price. He still is on his way back following last spring's knee injury. When he gets there, UConn will become that much more dangerous.


4. Big week for the Big East. During the offseason, the Big East was getting hyped on the level of The Dark Knight, and Seton Hall's third-place finish in Puerto Rico began the process of backing up the talk. Remember, Big East coaches predicted a 13th-place finish for the Pirates, but they knocked out USC and Virginia Tech -- two teams expected to contend for the NCAA Tournament -- in the space of four days.

The Big East this week gets to prove its worth with Georgetown in Orlando, UConn in the Paradise Jam title game, Pitt in the Legends Classic at Newark, Syracuse in the BCE semifinals in Kansas City, Notre Dame in Maui and Cincinnati in Las Vegas for the Global Sports Classic.