Top 25 BE players as per Bleacher Report

[Dave]

A lot of pressure being thrown at SJU but Villanova (Jay Wright) is in the same boat...Both programs should win more games than they have over the last 3-5 years for multiple reasons.

Why do you have to be a Nova hater? Are you a St Joes fan?

I like how you didn't disagree...and instead went for the obligatory cheap shot...classic philly.

It was 100% USDA sarcasm. Because I do agree.
I'm accused of not being a real Nova fan, a closet St Joes fan, because I lost my homer goggles. Sorry, it was purely sarcasm from these other recent strings.

[TheHall]

It was 100% USDA sarcasm. Because I do agree.
I'm accused of not being a real Nova fan, a closet St Joes fan, because I lost my homer goggles. Sorry, it was purely sarcasm from these other recent strings.

Arrggghhh (Pirate) foiled again by the ole' inside joke!

[ChelseaFriar]

Makes me laugh that Christon is not top 5, but then none of these morons @ bleacher have ever seen him play. Honestly, don't why anybody would discuss anything they have to say. Rank amateurs.

I don't have any respect for Bleacher and their content, but I can understand their point of view on this. Christon very well might finish in the Top 5 players in the league, but when looking at the Top 5 they picked, who is he completely, obviously better than as a college player? From a casual point of view, 4 of the guys played in a tougher league last year and put up similar or better numbers than Christon. The other guy is Doug McDermott.

I'm not criticizing Christon, just pointing out that it's a league with some really good players who all put up big numbers last year, and some of them did it in the old BE. It will all be sorted out on the court and I think Christon has a good shot at being a 1st team player.

[marquette]

I don't have any respect for Bleacher and their content, but I can understand their point of view on this. Christon very well might finish in the Top 5 players in the league, but when looking at the Top 5 they picked, who is he completely, obviously better than as a college player? From a casual point of view, 4 of the guys played in a tougher league last year and put up similar or better numbers than Christon. The other guy is Doug McDermott.

I'm not criticizing Christon, just pointing out that it's a league with some really good players who all put up big numbers last year, and some of them did it in the old BE. It will all be sorted out on the court and I think Christon has a good shot at being a 1st team player.

To be fair, the A10 was a monster league last year. Butler was a top 25 team for a fair portion of the year (Xavier played them twice), SLU was top 25 (once), VCU was top 25 (once), Temple was good (once), La Salle made a surprising NCAA rune (played once). There were also some fairly strong non-NCAA teams in UMass (once) and Dayton (twice).
They had non-conference games against really good teams in Memphis and Cincinnati. That's a pretty strong schedule in my opinion.

[ChelseaFriar]

I don't have any respect for Bleacher and their content, but I can understand their point of view on this. Christon very well might finish in the Top 5 players in the league, but when looking at the Top 5 they picked, who is he completely, obviously better than as a college player? From a casual point of view, 4 of the guys played in a tougher league last year and put up similar or better numbers than Christon. The other guy is Doug McDermott.

I'm not criticizing Christon, just pointing out that it's a league with some really good players who all put up big numbers last year, and some of them did it in the old BE. It will all be sorted out on the court and I think Christon has a good shot at being a 1st team player.

To be fair, the A10 was a monster league last year. Butler was a top 25 team for a fair portion of the year (Xavier played them twice), SLU was top 25 (once), VCU was top 25 (once), Temple was good (once), La Salle made a surprising NCAA rune (played once). There were also some fairly strong non-NCAA teams in UMass (once) and Dayton (twice).
They had non-conference games against really good teams in Memphis and Cincinnati. That's a pretty strong schedule in my opinion.

I'm not knocking the A-10. I'm quite familiar with the league due to the URI/PC game as well as PC playing other A-10 teams often. I have a lot of respect for the league, but the BE was a tougher league by really any measure, including RPI I believe. I do admit that I did not go over non-conference schedules.

Last year PC played UMass without a PG (Council and Dunn injured) and played a walk-on (Ted Bancroft) for over 10 minutes and lost by 2 points. They then played URI without a PG and won by 15. They beat Charlotte by 9 in the NIT.

But I do think the A-10 was a very good league (probably wouldn't say monster). Top 5 or so teams were really strong and the next 3 or so were solid. In any event, even dismissing my point about the BE being a tougher league last year, on paper I just don't see anyone in their Top 5 who I think is a laughable choice over Christon. You can make an argument either way, but it's not a glaring mistake by the numbers.

My point really wasn't to criticize any league or player, but to show respect for the five players chosen and what they accomplished last season. However, I do think Christon has a chance to play himself into a first team player this year just like the other 5 guys.

[Westbrook36]

A lot of pressure being thrown at SJU but Villanova (Jay Wright) is in the same boat...Both programs should win more games than they have over the last 3-5 years for multiple reasons. Also Hillard is a much better player than Ryan Arch right now and should have been on the top 25 list.

You mean the last 5 years were Jay won 30, 25, 21, skip a year(ok 13), & 20? That's 109 wins, which is about 22 a season, those 5 years that include a FF & 4 twenty win seasons? Jay has had one turd of a season in the last 9 years, give it a break.

Are you serious...So Jay Wright wasn't feeling major heat from the media & fan base (unfairly I agree) before having a great run on the recruiting trail this summer? Plenty of winning coaches feel pressure, so just listing some of his on court accomplishments is cherry-picking. It's actually more about expectations and wright set the bar very high early in his career and you should know that.

Yes I'm serious, every coach of every major conference school with ambitions or expectations feels heat and pressure, that's part of the job description. Are you saying anyone is calling for Jay's head or saying he's on the hot seat or anything close to that? No rational Nova fan is saying anything close to that, well maybe accept for Dave. Yes Jay set the bar high earlier in his Nova tenure, but with that he gets some leeway, again 8 out 9 years in the NCAA's. Some people act like top ten seasons grow on trees or something.

[TheHall]

You mean the last 5 years were Jay won 30, 25, 21, skip a year(ok 13), & 20? That's 109 wins, which is about 22 a season, those 5 years that include a FF & 4 twenty win seasons? Jay has had one turd of a season in the last 9 years, give it a break.

Are you serious...So Jay Wright wasn't feeling major heat from the media & fan base (unfairly I agree) before having a great run on the recruiting trail this summer? Plenty of winning coaches feel pressure, so just listing some of his on court accomplishments is cherry-picking. It's actually more about expectations and wright set the bar very high early in his career and you should know that.

Yes I'm serious, every coach of every major conference school with ambitions or expectations feels heat and pressure, that's part of the job description. Are you saying anyone is calling for Jay's head or saying he's on the hot seat or anything close to that? No rational Nova fan is saying anything close to that, well maybe accept for Dave. Yes Jay set the bar high earlier in his Nova tenure, but with that he gets some leeway, again 8 out 9 years in the NCAA's. Some people act like top ten seasons grow on trees or something.

Go get a paper bag a take a few deep breaths man...I said pressure, never said calling for his head...You don't have to be a nova fan to know the following:

1) The Cheek/Wayans/Mouph era was an unequivocal bust by nova standards.
2) Before this summer nova was getting waxed on the recruiting trail the last few years (Amile Jefferson, Savon Goodman, Rasheed Jordan, Harrison Twins, etc), you do know you got Arch b/c he had a family tie to nova. Nova only has one big man on the roster because of that lack of recruiting success.
3) Buzz & Marquette have leap-frogged Wright & nova in the BE pecking order since that epic F4 run (scottie coast-2-coast!).
4) Stunning amount of key transfers: Isaiah Armwood, Marcus Kennedy, Ash Yacoubou, Ty Johnson, Brzoja.
5) To top it off the jury is still out on the development of Bell & JVP.

Pretend all you want, deny it all you want, call it what you want but what happens on the mainline doesn't just stay on the mainline...My only point was that if Lavs & SJU has pressure so does Wright/Nova, Willard/SHU, OP/Depaul, Miller/Butler, JT3/Hoyas, & Cooley/Prov...Btw the only coach in the league on the hot seat now has to be OP.

Even with all that I do expect a big year from nova & a big reason is Wright is a very good coach & D Hillard. He's a baller & the rest of the league is going to know his name by the end of this season.

[Dave]

No rational Nova fan is saying anything close to that, well maybe accept for Dave.

Thank you for calling me a rational Nova fan.

While I am not calling for anyone's head, I am not blind to the obvious shortfalls of the program over the last 4 years.

[Dave]

edited to fix quote

[Dave]

Go get a paper bag a take a few deep breaths man...I said pressure, never said calling for his head...You don't have to be a nova fan to know the following:

1) The Cheek/Wayans/Mouph era was an unequivocal bust by nova standards.
2) Before this summer nova was getting waxed on the recruiting trail the last few years (Amile Jefferson, Savon Goodman, Rasheed Jordan, Harrison Twins, etc), you do know you got Arch b/c he had a family tie to nova. Nova only has one big man on the roster because of that lack of recruiting success.
3) Buzz & Marquette have leap-frogged Wright & nova in the BE pecking order since that epic F4 run (scottie coast-2-coast!).
4) Stunning amount of key transfers: Isaiah Armwood, Marcus Kennedy, Ash Yacoubou, Ty Johnson, Brzoja.
5) To top it off the jury is still out on the development of Bell & JVP.

Pretend all you want, deny it all you want, call it what you want but what happens on the mainline doesn't just stay on the mainline...My only point was that if Lavs & SJU has pressure so does Wright/Nova, Willard/SHU, OP/Depaul, Miller/Butler, JT3/Hoyas, & Cooley/Prov...Btw the only coach in the league on the hot seat now has to be OP.

Even with all that I do expect a big year from nova & a big reason is Wright is a very good coach & D Hillard. He's a baller & the rest of the league is going to know his name by the end of this season.

As a Nova fan...
1) True. This is the "bump" of talent from a Final 4 appearance.
2) True. Especially the lack of Big Men landed. We are one injury away from no one over 6-8.
3) True.
4) True. And Wayns and Cheek also leaving early to not play in the NBA.
5) JVP is our best player. Although stunning he wasn't a starter for all of last year, I don't think the jury is still out on him. Bell still has something to prove.

Jay is in a dream position. He is at a high profile program, but does not have the same pressures as at most schools. The administration does not really have a focus on athletics, and Jay is never in the hot seat from them, even if we are not winning. Sure some heat from fans, but that is not the same heat as job security. Jay hugely overshadows an AD who was promoted from our ticket office. Jay is the biggest fish in athletics by far. It's why he turned down UCLA. '11-'12 results would end a job at UCLA.

Jay runs a good program. But we can't be blind to our issues.

SJU and Nova, based on talent and the stability of returning starters, should be favored to win the conference. When considering the steady success of Buzz and JT3, we are not projected there, by any poll, or any individual fan, except the Kool-Aid juiced Westbrook. Hey, I appreciate a rabid fan. Have at it on game day. But if you want to have a serious discussion...