The Holy Land of Hoops

We have reached the Final 4. I will set this one to go a few extra days since we skipped a 5th place vote.

So far:
10 - DePaul
9 - Butler
8 - Creighton
7 - Marquette
6 - Seton Hall
5 - St. John's

Going to be hard for PC to finish top 4 losing Fortune and Cotton. Where is all the scoring coming from now that Cotton aka the Big East leader for 2 straight seasons I believe in PPG is gone? I think people are downplaying the losses of Semaj and Cotton/Fortune. Someone on PC will really have to step up to fill his shoes…I assume people will say Dunn but he's been one of the least reliable players in the country. Is he even the same after all these injuries? Can he score at will like Cotton? Time will tell. PC is one of those weird teams I can see finishing anywhere from 4th to 7th. The key is Dunn for them. He absolutely has to be totally healthy and a beast for PC to pickup where they left off among the best in the conference after losing Cotton.

I would've had PC 5th, but of the reamaining teams I have them lowest, so they get the vote. I still think they're a bubble team and could sneak into the tournament. I think not having only 6 players will help them a lot. Great recruiting class and depth as opposed to last year. They won't be quite as good as last year necessarily, but could end up winning more games. Besides at Kentucky I could see them winning all their other games OOC FSU is probably their next toughest test They get all their rivalry games at home except BC, but BC is garbage so.

I had Providence 5th as well so I voted them for the sake of the poll. I think Georgetown finishes 4th. I'm not sold on Josh Smith it just seems like he's been on the decline since first arriving at UCLA. If he can be effective and stay conditioned enough to get minutes/stay out of foul trouble I think they could finish 2nd.

I voted for my own team : ( X will have a good core of: Stainbrook, Davis, Reynolds. But how the accessory players from last year (Randolph, Myles Davis etc.) performs is unknown. And although the 6 incoming players are supposed to be great, you can never know until they hit the floor.

Tha being said, don't know much about Providence. So maybe X will take 3rd.

X could finish anywhere 2-6. Lots of possibilities. Never see much talk about Remy Abell. I think his play and that of Bluiett may tip the scale. Remy played 68 games at Indiana and 6 post-season games. He won't be intimidated by any team in the BE. He's a very good defender which Mack will love at his position. Bluiett was the sixth leading scorer in INDIANA HS history! That covers a lot of greats. Hopefully, we can get a Rogge-like shooter from one of the other frosh. lol.

Wasnt my top 4 but out of the choices I went with xavier. Had them 5th.

xavierfano8 wrote:I had Providence 5th as well so I voted them for the sake of the poll. I think Georgetown finishes 4th. I'm not sold on Josh Smith it just seems like he's been on the decline since first arriving at UCLA. If he can be effective and stay conditioned enough to get minutes/stay out of foul trouble I think they could finish 2nd.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/24722314/qa-john-thompson-iii-hoping-for-better-things-after-rough-season

"How would you rate Josh's progress on and off the floor as of right now?

Thompson: He has a made a lot of progress both on and off the floor. His body looks as good I've seen it look since high school. Off the court, everything is fine."

And here's a tweet from Jon Rothstein: " The biggest thing that stands out from watching Georgetown? Josh Smith's skill level. 300 plus pounds but passes and dribbles like a guard."

Here are some more tweets from Rothstein from his visit to Georgetown yesterday:http://www.casualhoya.com/2014/9/23/6837099/mr-rothstein-goes-to-washington

Josh and the team are going to be a force.

I love the projected starting line up of DSR, Trawick, Peak, Copeland, and Smith.

To the Hoya fans... Concerned at all about depth at guard? Losing Starks is a pretty big void to fill and though I really like DSR you will be asking him to assume more of that floor general role, and basically play the entire 40 minutes. I know with the Princeton offense a traditional PG is not as relied on, but you guys seem very thin in the ball handling dept. Thoughts?

I like PC and Cooley, but anyone thinking the Friars are going to finish better this year without Cotton, Batts, Fortune are nuts.