Jon Rothstein on BE

[ChicagoX]

I have some concerns that Xavier seems to be a bit overrated this season since they are so young, but hopefully all the young talent will gel by the time conference season starts. If that's the case, then a 3rd or 4th place finish seems reasonable.

[DudeAnon]

I have some concerns that Xavier seems be a bit overrated this season since they are so young, but hopefully all the young talent will gel by the time conference season starts. If that's the case, then a 3rd or 4th place finish seems reasonable.

Will be interesting either way,

[BEX]

X is a Wildcard this yr. Post players should be pretty good. Mack went out and got a bunch of athletic shooters. Need a sixth man to come in and drain shots. One or two of them need to catch fire or it will be a long season. Hopefully we learn something from the Brazil trip.

[Irishdawg]

I think really everything after Nova is a crap shoot because of all the young talent that most teams are bringing in. I think Georgetown should make a big jump up the standings if Josh Smith can manage to stay on the court this year. X should be really good because they've got veteran leadership where you need it in Stainbrook and Davis. St. John's is still really talented, but can they make jumpers and stay focused for 40 minutes game after game. Seton Hall will be interesting with all their young talent. Creighton will be interesting to watch with all the pieces (not just McDermott) that they lost after last season. Marquette had some good young pieces last season, but it will be difficult to replace Gardner, Otule and Thomas even though I think Fischer will do well there, and shooting might be an issue there as well. Providence could be good again, but IMO, that depends heavily on the health of Kris Dunn. DePaul could be interesting to see how big of a jump Garrett and Hamilton were able to make after last season. Nova should be awesome again.

Of course I'm hoping that Butler can make the climb out of the bottom of the league, but we'll see what happens. They lost 10 games last year by a total of 48 points, so hopefully they can improve on that.