Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

FWIW, the latest ESPN preseason top 25 includes 3 BEASTS, #10 Connecticut (...don't count out back to back to back"), #14 Marquette (brings back 3 starters plus 2 key rotation players plus 2 transfers), and SURPRISE #23 Xavier (brings in 3 all-league shooting guards who each averaged 15+ pts. per game in their leagues, plus a solid 6'10" big guy from California. The solid returnees apparently include Junior guard Desmond Claude, Soph guard Trey Green, Soph swingman Daylin Swain, and just maybe either (OR BOTH !?) Zach Freemantle and Jerome Hunter, the 2 athletic bigs who both sat out last year, but who each have 1 remaining year of eligibility to prove their injuries have healed and that they can play at the pro level.

It's a bit strange that the "pro" level suddenly includes college players competing for NIL money, but that's the world we live in. Can the BEAST keep pace in the long run with the other 4 current majors? The PAC 12 couldn't.

Seems to me that Miller may be developing a portal strategy that focusses on bringing in a few true mid-major all-stars plus just a few true freshmen every year. Wisely spending his NIL funds? OK, but that strategy requires either constant tinkering with offensive and defensive formulas from year to year, or a special sauce formula of your own (Shaka Smart's formula at Marquette, Butler's "...the Butler way, etc. )

So who knows what works now? Maybe Miller should consult with John Calipari about getting young men with testosterone fueled egos to mesh for a 1 year experience together.

Oops, now I see that Des Claude has entered the transfer portal. No wonder Miller is bringing in 3 pretty good mid-major guards. I suspect it doesn't add up to a top 25 team for X, unless Hunter and Freemantle both come back and get somewhere close to their former levels.

https://www.barttorvik.com/trankpre.php?conlimit=BE&state=All&year=2024&sort=
Kalkbrenner's return moves Creighton into Torvik 2024-25 projection top 10.:

6 Creighton
7 Connecticut
14 Xavier
15 Marquette
46 Butler
49 St. John's
53 Providence
64 Villanova
115 Georgetown
116 DePaul
146 Seton Hall

I don't get the PC ranking. Friars are ranked 2nd in BE in talent, 4th in returning minutes, 3rd in experience. Gotta be a missing bead in the abacus.

Boy, its painful to have to wait till November for CBB season. HLOH gets so slow during the summer.

I hope the Big East has another big year. Lets see how the portal plays out.

Haven't heard much hype from Pitino/Johnies. Whats up with them?

ecasadoSBU wrote:Boy, its painful to have to wait till November for CBB season. HLOH gets so slow during the summer.

I hope the Big East has another big year. Lets see how the portal plays out.

Haven't heard much hype from Pitino/Johnies. Whats up with them?

STJ insiders are confident about landing Kadary Richmond + Deivon Smith by Monday. Omier from Miami was linked to the program but talks between his camp seem to cooled down in recent days. Posters on Red.Fans still feel confident but are slowly losing hope on him

STJ is also awaiting the verdict between the NCAA court case and Dingle/Ledlum. Not much reporting on this front but getting these two back with Kadary + Deivon + Aaron + Wilcher is a tournament lock imo.

Jon Rothstein 5/7:

6 UConn
17 Marquette
20 Xavier
22 Creighton
24 St. John's
28 Providence

Gary Parrish 5/6:

4 UConn
15 Marquette
18 Creighton
24 Providence
26 Xavier

ESPN 5/6:

7 UConn
14 Marquette
17 Creighton
22 Xavier
Providence Next in Line

On3 5/6:

4 UConn
10 Creighton
14 Marquette
15 Providence

BE is getting pretty good love in these preseason rankings, and I expect St. John's to appear in next round of updates.

Happy to see St. John's stocking up talent with Pitino, but certainly not at the expense of a fellow BE program (Hall). I recognize in today's world, limiting intra-conference transfers is no longer acceptable (or even legal), but it certainly goes against the mantra of "Us vs. Everyone" mentality we have grown and developed over time. Wasn't a fan of it last year either with Posh going to Butler (from St. John's).

Would much rather recruit high-level talent from other sources. Hopefully, Holloway can reload in some form (either for this season or for the future).

GoldenWarrior11 wrote:Happy to see St. John's stocking up talent with Pitino, but certainly not at the expense of a fellow BE program (Hall). I recognize in today's world, limiting intra-conference transfers is no longer acceptable (or even legal), but it certainly goes against the mantra of "Us vs. Everyone" mentality we have grown and developed over time. Wasn't a fan of it last year either with Posh going to Butler (from St. John's).

Would much rather recruit high-level talent from other sources. Hopefully, Holloway can reload in some form (either for this season or for the future).

Those days are long over. players moving intra-conference, coaches moving intra-conference. No unwritten rules anymore. It's a free open market and all programs have to adapt to survive

The Conference race seems to be more wide open than it was last year, although UCONN has the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. We might have 4 or 5 ranked in the preseason!

Recent-ish updates:

Jon Rothstein (i think his list updates daily):

6 UConn
17 Marquette
20 Xavier
23 Creighton
25 St. John's
31 Providence

Gary Parrish 6/5:

5 UConn
17 Marquette
20 Creighton
24 Xavier
26 Providence

John Fanta 6/5:

2 UConn
14 Creighton
19 Xavier
21 Marquette
25 St. John's
26 Providence

Jeff Borzello 5/30:

3 UConn
14 Creighton
17 Marquette
24 Xavier