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Ups and downs in the Big East, part II
Since our look at the top half of the Big East preseason coaches' poll -- and since I drove eight hours from Toronto to New Jersey, then witnessed Rider's 102-51 demolition of Canisius today at the Broncs' Zoo -- a lot has happened to shake things up.
Tonight, Bob Huggins pulled a trick out of John Belein's playbook and shut down Marquette using the 1-3-1 zone that become familiar in Morgantown, Villanova bounced back from its loss to DePaul with a big win over Pitt (or is it more a bad loss for Pitt?) and Notre Dame hung on to continue its home-court dominance and beat UConn.
The West Virginia upset throws off our Big East stock market a bit, but we'll go ahead with the bottom eight teams from the coaches' poll anyway.
I'm not sure what the plan is for tomorrow, but I'll think of something fun and post it at some point in the afternoon.
Below is the last part of our three-part MAAC/Big East stock market watch. Comments, questions and suggestions are all welcome with open arms.
9. Notre Dame ( 12-2, 2-0) -- stock has gone up.
Way up. As far up as any team in the conference. In fact, if the season ended right now -- a preposterous scenario, I know -- Mike Brey would be a serious contender for Big East coach of the year. The Irish have two quality Big East wins, albeit they've both come at home, and have a pretty good nonconference resume complete with a win over Kansas State. ND's surge has earned it the No. 17 spot in kenpom.com's national ratings.
10. West Virginia (11-3, 1-1) -- stock has gone up.
Like him or loathe him, Bob Huggins wins wherever he goes. Now that list of teams includes his alma matter, which stunned Marquette to improve to 11-3 and get back to .500 in the Big East. The Mountaineers don't have any marquee wins, but they deserve respect for taking Tennessee down to the wire. WVU is a serious contender for an NCAA bid. Let's just hope Michigan doesn't hire Huggins away to be an assistant to John Belein.
11. DePaul (6-7, 2-0) -- stock has stayed the same.
The upset win over Nova is nice, and give the Blue Demons credit for beating a decent Providence team to improve to 2-0 in the conference. And the nonconference schedule -- with games against Kansas, Clemson, Vanderbilt and Ole Miss -- was brutal. Even a close loss to Chreighton isn't bad. But to garner consideration for an NCAA bid, they'll need to pull at least a couple more upsets in the Big East. They haven't done anything yet to convince me they're capable of doing that.
12. Cincinnati (6-8, 1-1) -- stock has stayed the same.
That win over Louisville doesn't look that impressive in light of the Cardinals' struggles, and the 14-point loss to St. John's isn't the kind of game a top-tier Big East team would play. There's reason to believe Mike Cronin has this thing going in the right direction, but it's going to take awhile.
13. Seton Hall (10-4, 0-1) -- stock has gone up.
The Pirates are by no means an NCAA tournament contender, but they're not cellar dwellers either. Bobby Gonzalez's team has two fairly good wins (Virginia and James Madison) and kept it close against a good N.C. State team. An NIT bid -- which looks right now like a long-shot but not a fantasy -- would be a good step forward.
14. St. John's (7-6, 1-1) -- stock has stayed the same.
That's bad news for Norm Roberts, whose time is running out to turn things around. Those of us who follow the MAAC closely know that losing to Niagara is not an impeachable offense, nor is being in a dogfight with Marist. At least if you're considered a bottom-tier Big East team. If Georgetown lost to Niagara it'd be a different story. The Johnnies beat Cincinnati, gave Syracuse a good game in the Dome and are rated 99th by kenpom.com, but none of that means they deserve to be considered a middle-of-the-pack team.
15. Rutgers (8-7, 0-2) -- stock has gone down.
If anyone out there has an explanation for why the Scarlet Knights aren't the worst team in the Big East, I'm dying to hear it. The Knights have played a weak enough schedule that a team that was bad but not atrocious would have at least 10 wins playing against these teams. This team, though, is a mess. It went 1-2 against the MAAC, losing to lowly St. Peter's, and two of its wins came against teams that are rated the worst team in the country (NJIT, which RU beat by only 10) and second worst team (North Carolina Central) in the country by kenpom.com.
16. South Florida (10-5, 1-1) -- stock has gone up.
If nothing more, the Bulls are much better than Rutgers, and they proved it by blowing out the Knights last week in Tampa. Sure, the schedule isn't great, but Rutgers has proven that even if you play a weak schedule, there's no guaranteeing winning two thirds of your games. And any team that has Kentrell Gransberry (15.1 points, 11.6 rebounds per game) is dangerous.
Tonight, Bob Huggins pulled a trick out of John Belein's playbook and shut down Marquette using the 1-3-1 zone that become familiar in Morgantown, Villanova bounced back from its loss to DePaul with a big win over Pitt (or is it more a bad loss for Pitt?) and Notre Dame hung on to continue its home-court dominance and beat UConn.
The West Virginia upset throws off our Big East stock market a bit, but we'll go ahead with the bottom eight teams from the coaches' poll anyway.
I'm not sure what the plan is for tomorrow, but I'll think of something fun and post it at some point in the afternoon.
Below is the last part of our three-part MAAC/Big East stock market watch. Comments, questions and suggestions are all welcome with open arms.
9. Notre Dame ( 12-2, 2-0) -- stock has gone up.
Way up. As far up as any team in the conference. In fact, if the season ended right now -- a preposterous scenario, I know -- Mike Brey would be a serious contender for Big East coach of the year. The Irish have two quality Big East wins, albeit they've both come at home, and have a pretty good nonconference resume complete with a win over Kansas State. ND's surge has earned it the No. 17 spot in kenpom.com's national ratings.
10. West Virginia (11-3, 1-1) -- stock has gone up.
Like him or loathe him, Bob Huggins wins wherever he goes. Now that list of teams includes his alma matter, which stunned Marquette to improve to 11-3 and get back to .500 in the Big East. The Mountaineers don't have any marquee wins, but they deserve respect for taking Tennessee down to the wire. WVU is a serious contender for an NCAA bid. Let's just hope Michigan doesn't hire Huggins away to be an assistant to John Belein.
11. DePaul (6-7, 2-0) -- stock has stayed the same.
The upset win over Nova is nice, and give the Blue Demons credit for beating a decent Providence team to improve to 2-0 in the conference. And the nonconference schedule -- with games against Kansas, Clemson, Vanderbilt and Ole Miss -- was brutal. Even a close loss to Chreighton isn't bad. But to garner consideration for an NCAA bid, they'll need to pull at least a couple more upsets in the Big East. They haven't done anything yet to convince me they're capable of doing that.
12. Cincinnati (6-8, 1-1) -- stock has stayed the same.
That win over Louisville doesn't look that impressive in light of the Cardinals' struggles, and the 14-point loss to St. John's isn't the kind of game a top-tier Big East team would play. There's reason to believe Mike Cronin has this thing going in the right direction, but it's going to take awhile.
13. Seton Hall (10-4, 0-1) -- stock has gone up.
The Pirates are by no means an NCAA tournament contender, but they're not cellar dwellers either. Bobby Gonzalez's team has two fairly good wins (Virginia and James Madison) and kept it close against a good N.C. State team. An NIT bid -- which looks right now like a long-shot but not a fantasy -- would be a good step forward.
14. St. John's (7-6, 1-1) -- stock has stayed the same.
That's bad news for Norm Roberts, whose time is running out to turn things around. Those of us who follow the MAAC closely know that losing to Niagara is not an impeachable offense, nor is being in a dogfight with Marist. At least if you're considered a bottom-tier Big East team. If Georgetown lost to Niagara it'd be a different story. The Johnnies beat Cincinnati, gave Syracuse a good game in the Dome and are rated 99th by kenpom.com, but none of that means they deserve to be considered a middle-of-the-pack team.
15. Rutgers (8-7, 0-2) -- stock has gone down.
If anyone out there has an explanation for why the Scarlet Knights aren't the worst team in the Big East, I'm dying to hear it. The Knights have played a weak enough schedule that a team that was bad but not atrocious would have at least 10 wins playing against these teams. This team, though, is a mess. It went 1-2 against the MAAC, losing to lowly St. Peter's, and two of its wins came against teams that are rated the worst team in the country (NJIT, which RU beat by only 10) and second worst team (North Carolina Central) in the country by kenpom.com.
16. South Florida (10-5, 1-1) -- stock has gone up.
If nothing more, the Bulls are much better than Rutgers, and they proved it by blowing out the Knights last week in Tampa. Sure, the schedule isn't great, but Rutgers has proven that even if you play a weak schedule, there's no guaranteeing winning two thirds of your games. And any team that has Kentrell Gransberry (15.1 points, 11.6 rebounds per game) is dangerous.
posted by Kyle Franko at
12:08 AM
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