[Rod Becks Mullet]

In the Nova thread, HoyaSoxa made this comment which got me going. Thinks there's enough Big East fans here to make it work.

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Most folks seem to be sure that L'Ville and Cuse are Top 25 teams, I think that is going a lot on reputation (and coaching, which is worth plenty) and not much on actual players on the roster.

Louisville has tons of size, plus a candidate for preseason conf. POY in Taquan Dean. A lot will ride on the potential of Brian Johnson and David Padgett (of Kansas fame). But based on the major losses, I can't see Louisville as preseason top 10, as some have claimed.

Syracuse is another interesting case. A great scorer and go-to guy in McNamara, plus solid supporting players in Roberts and McCroskey. A lot will depend on the PGs though, will Wright or Devendorf live up to their high school hype? Wright had a year to develop, so if he can step into a bigger role he can help free up McNamara, as well as give him some much needed rest.

WVU did lose two big bodies in Fischer and Sally, but I don't think their impact is going to be too much. Fischer was a part time player, while Sally's role should be filled by Young. Plus, remember how Gansy started so slowly finding his niche in that offense. There's something to be said for a team playing together, and they return many of the key components to last year's squad. If I were to throw together preseason projections, I would put them 4th in the conf. (behind Nova, UConn and Syracuse).

Georgetown should be very good as well, a lot riding on Ashanti Cook though. We know they have a great pair of forwards in Green and Bowman, and you can't teach Hibbert's size. But to rise to the upper echelon again, they'll need better PG play.

Cincinnati is a huge question mark. They have some great athletes in White and Muhammad as well as toughness from Hicks and Johnson. But are they going to be in the Huggins mold? How will they respond to Kennedy? And they are very thin on the perimeter.

I think people are sleeping on Pitt a little bit. This isn't the team that had a great run and lost their inside game in Troutman and Taft, but do bring back Krauser, a decent go-to guy in late game situations. If Kendall can play as well as he did over the summer (ie: dropping 40 on Team USA in the U-21), they could have a couple weapons on the perimeter.

[HoyaSoxa]

I will give my take as a very close observer of Georgetown and I will say RBM's initial thoughts are pretty accurate: the Hoyas frontcourt is as good as anyone in the Big East, but their backcourt is not on the same level as teams like Villanova and WVU, and college basketball tends to require strong guard play.

I think the best GU can hope for is steady guard play with both starters returning with a full year in the Princetown offense under their belt. Jon Wallace showed early promise as an outside shooter, then faded down the stretch, but he makes good decisions and handles the ball well, especially for a walk-on. He may lose PT to more talented freshmen. Cook is a senior who was the third leading scorer on the team last year and has the potential to carry the team offensively, but he is a streaky shooter and not much of penetrator. Neither Cook nor Wallace is a great defensive player, and last year's occasional defensive stopper, Ray Reed, transferred out.

That means GU will need contributions from some combination of soph Tyler Crawford and frosh Jesse Sapp and Josh Thornton. Crawford was a tough player who earned PT as the season went on, but he played more as a third guard on the floor and did not show great handle or outside shooting ability. Sapp is supposedly a strong guard who can get to the basket while Thornton is known primarily as a shooter, which would be a nice weapon to have with all the outside shots the offense seems to create.

There has been a fair amount of talk about Roy Hibbert's dramatic improvement over the summer, but I will need to see it to believe it. He has some potential and had a few great games last year. He is needed to improve rebounding and defense, the weaknesses of last years team, but at the same time he sometimes seems to bog down the offense which runs so much better through Jeff Green in the high post. He should start this year, but I doubt he gets more minutes than Darrell Owens, coming back for a fifth year as the presumptive sixth man/shooter.

Bowman and Green are the two studs and potential first team All-BE guys. Bowman needs to show NBA types that he can play defense against quick small forwards and continue to play under control. He has improved every year and should be hungry to go to the tournament as a senior. Green has shorn his trademark dreadlocks and he will look to remind people that Rudy Gay is not the only big time sophomore in the conference. He was the best passer on the team last year and an occasional 3 pt threat, but he could still develop a more polished offensive game.

It is too bad Patrick Ewing Jr. has to sit out this year, he could really help add depth to the frontcourt, which is still fairly thin if anyone runs into foul trouble. This team should be good and players like Bowman, Owens, and Cook clearly are not looking too far into the future, but next year could be even better, with a recruiting class that already includes Vernon Macklin, DaJuan Summers, and Jeremiah Rivers and may still add Duke Crews to go along with the aforementioned Mr. Ewing. In any case, I am excited about the program and looking forward to this season more than any I can remember since coming to GU in the fall of 1996.

This post has been edited by HoyaSoxa: 16 October 2005 - 10:42 PM

[Rossox]

Media Day at MSG is tomorrow. CSTV is showing it live BE Media Day Live.

We have Seton Hall in the NIT on Nov. 16th (ESPN) & 'Cuse in the Coaches vs. Cancer on Nov. 17th (ESPN2). I'm looking forward to seeing the pre-season conference selections.

[Rod Becks Mullet]

Just throwing out my preseason all-conf picks:

POY: Taquan Dean
Gerry McNamara
Allen Ray
Rudy Gay
Josh Boone

2nd team
Jeff Green
Randy Foye
Mike Gansey
Daryll Hill
Carl Krauser

This post has been edited by Rod Becks Mullet: 25 October 2005 - 01:44 PM

[Rossox]

My Predictions:

POY: Rudy Gay
Taquan Dean
Gerry McNamara
Allen Ray
Josh Boone

2nd Team:
Jeff Green
Randy Foye
Eric Hicks
Daryll Hill
Carl Krauser

ROY: Eric Devendorf

[HoyaSoxa]

POY: Gay
Jeff Green
Taquan Dean
Allen Ray
Gerry McNamara

2nd Team:
Josh Boone
Brandon Bowman
Eric Hicks
Daryll Hill
Carl Krauser

3rd Team:
Randy Foye
Kyle Lowery
Mike Gansey
Kevin Pittsnoggle
Chris Quinn

ROY: Eric Devendorf

If Marcus Williams is playing this year, he immediately jumps into the conversation for the first team too.

[Rod Becks Mullet]

I was about to say no question, but I'm not so sure. If he can't return until January, that would put him in line easily, but what shape would he return in? There are some very good guards around the conference, and to expect him to just jump in mid-season may be asking a lot of him.

[HoyaSoxa]

When I said Marcus Williams "jumps into the conversation," what I should have said is Williams is the best point guard in the conference, and I don't think it is really close. McNamara and Dean are very good combo players and Krauser is solid, but Williams is a clear future NBA starter at the point. The only question is how long will he sit and how much will that effect his play initially.

[Otto]

For ROY, don't sleep on Johnson at UConn or Biggs at Pitt. Devendorf has the advantage of being a need guy right now at Syracuse (he can shoot), but I like both those guys too.

[Rossox]

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When I said Marcus Williams "jumps into the conversation," what I should have said is Williams is the best point guard in the conference, and I don't think it is really close.

I agree. I also think Terrence Roberts has a shot at replacing Hicks on the 2nd Team. At the very least, he can and should be a 3rd Team selection. And, yes, I am biased.

[Rod Becks Mullet]

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For ROY, don't sleep on Johnson at UConn or Biggs at Pitt. Devendorf has the advantage of being a need guy right now at Syracuse (he can shoot), but I like both those guys too.

Unless Johnson can play the point, I'm not sure he's going to have more of a chance to make an impact than Austrie. If you're looking for ROY candidates, you may want to start and end with the Louisville front line, where it could be either Padgett or (if healthy) Brian Johnson.

[HoyaSoxa]

10 Men on the preseason All-Conference team, as picked by coaches, and Jeff Green is not one of them. Curtis Sumpter is, so I don't know when the poll was conducted. With 16 teams there is going to be a lot of competition for these spots- my only real argument is placing Pittsnoggle on that list. Also, Nova picked first by the coaches.

The media poll is a bit different, with Green on the second team and no Pittsnoggle. Both coaches and media have Hoyas sixth, although the media revoted after the Sumpter injury and made UCon their pick.

This post has been edited by HoyaSoxa: 26 October 2005 - 01:06 PM

[Rod Becks Mullet]

10 man all-conference team? Wow, incredibly weak. Pick 5, call them 1st team. Pick the next 5, call them 2nd team. Its not really that hard.

[HoyaSoxa]

Rod Becks Mullet, on Oct 26 2005, 02:21 PM, said:

10 man all-conference team?  Wow, incredibly weak.  Pick 5, call them 1st team.  Pick the next 5, call them 2nd team. Its not really that hard.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There is definitely precedent for this in the Big East- usually they pick a player of the year and then a 5-man All-Conference team at the end of the year, resulting in six (and sometimes 7, I believe) first-teamers. Agree it is weak, but with 16 teams it is tough too.

[templeUsox]

POY- Rudy Gay
Josh Boone
Taquan Dean
Randy Foye
Mike Nardi

Gerry McNamara
Daryl Hill
Allan Ray
Terence Roberts
Kevin Pittsnogle

Where can I sign for the "Marcus Williams never plays a minute NBA" vote?

[Rod Becks Mullet]

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There is definitely precedent for this in the Big East- usually they pick a player of the year and then a 5-man All-Conference team at the end of the year, resulting in six (and sometimes 7, I believe) first-teamers. Agree it is weak, but with 16 teams it is tough too.

Right, I know they've had 6 and 7 man teams, which I think are almost (but not quite) as weak as a 10 man team. And I know that with 16 teams, selecting the best 5 players are difficult, BUT ITS AN AWARD! Not everybody should get one. This isn't a certificate of achievement, its an honor that should mean something when its given out. Look, if they came out and said, that with the number of coaches voting, only 2 guys were unanimous (say McNamara and Gay for this example) then there was an 8 way tie for the other 3 spots, then fine. But I haven't seen this and think the point of making an all-conference team was lost on the league.

And Mike Nardi? Somebody have their Philly blinders on

[Clears Cleaver]

The vote was done before Sumpter was injured. And Wright said today there was a 40% chance that Sumpter plays this year. that is good news.

Marcus Williams will definitely play in the NBA. and he would have been on one of the first two teams had he not been such a knucklehead. Calhoun has been told that the school will rule on the status on Williams and Price by Monday. We'll see.

Syracuse senior guard Gerry McNamara and Connecticut sophomore forward Rudy Gay were selected preseason co-players of the year. McNamara averaged 15.8 points as a junior and is the Orange's all-time leader with 297 3-pointers. The 6-foot-9 Gay was the league's co-rookie of the year last season with Georgetown's Jeff Green. Joining Gay and McNamara on the 10-member preseason all-Big East team were: Josh Boone, Connecticut; Taquan Dean, Louisville; Carl Krauser, Pittsburgh; Daryll Hill, St. John's; Randy Foye, Villanova; Allan Ray, Villanova; Curtis Sumpter, Villanova; and Kevin Pittsnogle, West Virginia.

To be honest, Gay should not be the preseason player of the year. He has done nothing in college that warrants this, it is all on hype. I am not saying GMac deserves it either, but at least he has won a title and has had huge games.

villanova was picked to win the conf by seven coaches, Uconn by five. this again was before Sumpter injury.

Marques johnson will have a hard time getting minutes ahead of Denham Brown, Rashad Anderosn and Gay. He is not a PG, but Calhoun thinks he is the best athlete and defender they have, so I can see him getting 10 minutes per game playing several positions. austrie or Garrison will have a better chance of getting ROY than Johnson, although Johnson has a better chance of being a pro. Speaking of pros, calhoun is saying that this team may have five NBA draftpicks on it (Gay, Boone, Williams, Brown and...Armstrong). hilton has drawn the eye of several scouts, but I am not going there again after geting lambasted for saying that Hilton may be a better pro than Villaneuva. :-)

Calhoun will be in studio with Mike and Mad Dog later this pm.

[Rod Becks Mullet]

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Marques johnson will have a hard time getting minutes ahead of Denham Brown, Rashad Anderosn and Gay.

I've heard that Anderson is having health problems, reinjured the same area of the groin where he had his infection. If that leaves only Brown and Gay to play 2 positions, then the time will be there for Johnson to take.

[templeUsox]

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And Mike Nardi? Somebody have their Philly blinders on 

It's actually my New Jersey blinders. Same difference I guess.

[bsj]

THis is probably 90% fandom, but I just have a gut feeling. Watch out for Matt Gorman, Junior F from my Orangemen. Something tells me hes going to have a HUGE year.