Top 144 Countdown

[Bill Marsh]

Marquette came in today at #11, a 3-seed, and the top team in the Big East on this list. Overall, College Sports madness has not been kind to the Big East, but this was a very strong endorsement for Marquette. They like Buzz's coaching and believe that the team has plenty of talent to rebuild their perimeter game while being very strong inside with returning players.

[stever20]

Marquette came in today at #11, a 3-seed, and the top team in the Big East on this list. Overall, College Sports madness has not been kind to the Big East, but this was a very strong endorsement for Marquette. They like Buzz's coaching and believe that the team has plenty of talent to rebuild their perimeter game while being very strong inside with returning players.

They rated us better than the coaches poll did. Creighton has questions with how they'll handle the move to the new conference. Georgetown lost best player. I think what we're seeing is a lot of folks don't think we're great at the top, but we're deep. I think what a lot of folks think will happen is we're going to knock the snot out of each other in conference, where we won't have any top teams, but a lot in the middle.

[Bill Marsh]

Marquette came in today at #11, a 3-seed, and the top team in the Big East on this list. Overall, College Sports madness has not been kind to the Big East, but this was a very strong endorsement for Marquette. They like Buzz's coaching and believe that the team has plenty of talent to rebuild their perimeter game while being very strong inside with returning players.

They rated us better than the coaches poll did. Creighton has questions with how they'll handle the move to the new conference. Georgetown lost best player. I think what we're seeing is a lot of folks don't think we're great at the top, but we're deep. I think what a lot of folks think will happen is we're going to knock the snot out of each other in conference, where we won't have any top teams, but a lot in the middle.

If the thinking is that the Big East is deep, why project the league for only 4 bids? Why pass over St. John's and Providence in favor of Cincinnati, Dayton, and UMass?

The ranked PC only at #60 while ranking Cincinnati at #47. These 2 teams tied in the Big East standings last year. Providence has almost everyone back and is bringing in a gang of good recruits. Cincinnati lost 3 starters and has one great recruit coming in but otherwise a bunch of 3-stars. I don't see what Cincinnati did to improve themselves to be ranked that much higher than a team they tied last year - especially since PC finished the season strong and Cincy slumped for the last month of the season. But to make it even more striking, they also ranked Cincy ahead of St. John's. The only reason Cincy finished ahead of st. John's in the Big East - by 1 game - is the D'Angelo Harrison was suspended by St. John's and missed the last few games of the season. Otherwise, St. John's was the better team despite being the youngest team in the country last year. They have everybody back and have added a terrific recruiting class. On what basis is Cincy ranked above them? This is glaring since all 3 played in the same conference last year and we can compare them in conference play. I won't even get started on Dayton being ranked over St. John's and Providence.

[stever20]

Marquette came in today at #11, a 3-seed, and the top team in the Big East on this list. Overall, College Sports madness has not been kind to the Big East, but this was a very strong endorsement for Marquette. They like Buzz's coaching and believe that the team has plenty of talent to rebuild their perimeter game while being very strong inside with returning players.

They rated us better than the coaches poll did. Creighton has questions with how they'll handle the move to the new conference. Georgetown lost best player. I think what we're seeing is a lot of folks don't think we're great at the top, but we're deep. I think what a lot of folks think will happen is we're going to knock the snot out of each other in conference, where we won't have any top teams, but a lot in the middle.

If the thinking is that the Big East is deep, why project the league for only 4 bids? Why pass over St. John's and Providence in favor of Cincinnati, Dayton, and UMass?

The ranked PC only at #60 while ranking Cincinnati at #47. These 2 teams tied in the Big East standings last year. Providence has almost everyone back and is bringing in a gang of good recruits. Cincinnati lost 3 starters and has one great recruit coming in but otherwise a bunch of 3-stars. I don't see what Cincinnati did to improve themselves to be ranked that much higher than a team they tied last year - especially since PC finished the season strong and Cincy slumped for the last month of the season. But to make it even more striking, they also ranked Cincy ahead of St. John's. The only reason cindy finished ahead of st. John's in the Big East - by 1 game - is the D'Angelo Harrison was suspended by St. John's and missed the last few games of the season. Otherwise, St. John's was the better team despite being the youngest team in the country last year. They have everybody back and have added a terrific recruiting class. On what basis is Cincy ranked above them? This is glaring since all 3 played in the same conference last year and we can compare them in conference play. I won't even get started on Dayton being ranked over St. John's and Providence.

Providence they have projected at 7th in the Big East while Cincy 4th. What does that mean? Instead of going like 7-11 or 8-10 in conference play, Cincy will be going 11-7 or 12-6. Say both teams go 10-3 OOC. For Providence, that means 17-14 or 18-13. For Cincy, that's 22-9 or 21-10. Pretty big difference there. Also, Providence did lose their point guard.

Also, for the last 8 teams in/first 8 teams out- I always look at that with a grain of salt. It's a lot of times luck- a bad bounce here.

I don't think they will be the only publication that gives us 4 tourney teams.

[stever20]

also, you can almost be too deep. If you wind up with 5th place being 9-9 and then 2-3 teams at 8-10- that's a very iffy situation for getting more than 4 bids. 9-9 teams aren't automatic by any stretch. 8-10 you better have had a great OOC schedule to make up for that.

[Bill Marsh]

They rated us better than the coaches poll did. Creighton has questions with how they'll handle the move to the new conference. Georgetown lost best player. I think what we're seeing is a lot of folks don't think we're great at the top, but we're deep. I think what a lot of folks think will happen is we're going to knock the snot out of each other in conference, where we won't have any top teams, but a lot in the middle.

If the thinking is that the Big East is deep, why project the league for only 4 bids? Why pass over St. John's and Providence in favor of Cincinnati, Dayton, and UMass?

The ranked PC only at #60 while ranking Cincinnati at #47. These 2 teams tied in the Big East standings last year. Providence has almost everyone back and is bringing in a gang of good recruits. Cincinnati lost 3 starters and has one great recruit coming in but otherwise a bunch of 3-stars. I don't see what Cincinnati did to improve themselves to be ranked that much higher than a team they tied last year - especially since PC finished the season strong and Cincy slumped for the last month of the season. But to make it even more striking, they also ranked Cincy ahead of St. John's. The only reason cindy finished ahead of st. John's in the Big East - by 1 game - is the D'Angelo Harrison was suspended by St. John's and missed the last few games of the season. Otherwise, St. John's was the better team despite being the youngest team in the country last year. They have everybody back and have added a terrific recruiting class. On what basis is Cincy ranked above them? This is glaring since all 3 played in the same conference last year and we can compare them in conference play. I won't even get started on Dayton being ranked over St. John's and Providence.

Providence they have projected at 7th in the Big East while Cincy 4th. What does that mean? Instead of going like 7-11 or 8-10 in conference play, Cincy will be going 11-7 or 12-6. Say both teams go 10-3 OOC. For Providence, that means 17-14 or 18-13. For Cincy, that's 22-9 or 21-10. Pretty big difference there. Also, Providence did lose their point guard.

Also, for the last 8 teams in/first 8 teams out- I always look at that with a grain of salt. It's a lot of times luck- a bad bounce here.

I don't think they will be the only publication that gives us 4 tourney teams.

I agree with your last 8 in/last 8 out comment. They're all bubble teams.

Steve, I know that you like to project the number of wins & losses and interpret what that means, but I don't think that very many others look at it that was - including the people at College Sports Madness. I think they're simply ranking in order of who's the better team. The comparable records will mean little under scrutiny when Cincy's record will be earned against the dregs of the AAC. Who you beat and who you lose to means a lot to the committee.

Regardless of how many people think the Big East is a 4 bid league, I don't. And I'm only giving my opinion.

College sports Madness gives the AAC 4 bids, same as the Big East. I don't know how anyone in their right mind can look at these 2 conferences and project them as getting the same number of bids. Just the way I look at it.

[stever20]

Once you get down to the 5th team in any 10 team conference- there's a lot of factors in if they get in. Their conference record will a lot of times be a 10-8 or 9-9 even. I think a "problem" that we have, the teams that would be in that position don't have the best OOC schedules. It'd be great for us if the 5th team was Xavier- they do have the good OOC schedule, but I don't know if they can get to finish 5th. St John's and Providence don't have the best OOC schedules. That could come back to bite them end of the day. Huge game for especially Providence is the 1st game of their exempt tourney, vs Vanderbilt. Win there and they get 2 tougher games(like La Salle/Maryland Potentially). Lose, and that tourney does nothing for them.

I know folks want to beat up the AAC, but they are ranked 4th in Ken pom this year. Only Houston is projected to be not good at all, and they're projected to be 8-4 OOC so they won't outright kill RPI for the others. A 12-18 Houston(which is what Ken Pom projects) will be 150 or so in the RPI. Thing also for Cincy is they will have a lot more chances for big name wins. The AAC has 3 top 16 teams by almost any account. That's 6 chances regular season, and possibly 2 more in the conference tourney- to get wins vs those teams. Like it or not, they're not going to be awful this year.

[Dave]

Once you get down to the 5th team in any 10 team conference- there's a lot of factors in if they get in. Their conference record will a lot of times be a 10-8 or 9-9 even. I think a "problem" that we have, the teams that would be in that position don't have the best OOC schedules. It'd be great for us if the 5th team was Xavier- they do have the good OOC schedule, but I don't know if they can get to finish 5th. St John's and Providence don't have the best OOC schedules. That could come back to bite them end of the day. Huge game for especially Providence is the 1st game of their exempt tourney, vs Vanderbilt. Win there and they get 2 tougher games(like La Salle/Maryland Potentially). Lose, and that tourney does nothing for them.

I know folks want to beat up the AAC, but they are ranked 4th in Ken pom this year. Only Houston is projected to be not good at all, and they're projected to be 8-4 OOC so they won't outright kill RPI for the others. A 12-18 Houston(which is what Ken Pom projects) will be 150 or so in the RPI. Thing also for Cincy is they will have a lot more chances for big name wins. The AAC has 3 top 16 teams by almost any account. That's 6 chances regular season, and possibly 2 more in the conference tourney- to get wins vs those teams. Like it or not, they're not going to be awful this year.

The top of the AAC is pretty good... Ville, UConn, Memphis, Cincy, Temple.
2 National Champs and 3 Final Fours in the last 3 years.
2 NC and 4 FF in last 5
2 NC and 5 FF in last 6
Of course the Big East has 0 NC and 0 FF in the last 4 years. And over that time 2 of our best programs, Nova and GTown, have 1 tourney win each.

[Jet915]

Once you get down to the 5th team in any 10 team conference- there's a lot of factors in if they get in. Their conference record will a lot of times be a 10-8 or 9-9 even. I think a "problem" that we have, the teams that would be in that position don't have the best OOC schedules. It'd be great for us if the 5th team was Xavier- they do have the good OOC schedule, but I don't know if they can get to finish 5th. St John's and Providence don't have the best OOC schedules. That could come back to bite them end of the day. Huge game for especially Providence is the 1st game of their exempt tourney, vs Vanderbilt. Win there and they get 2 tougher games(like La Salle/Maryland Potentially). Lose, and that tourney does nothing for them.

I know folks want to beat up the AAC, but they are ranked 4th in Ken pom this year. Only Houston is projected to be not good at all, and they're projected to be 8-4 OOC so they won't outright kill RPI for the others. A 12-18 Houston(which is what Ken Pom projects) will be 150 or so in the RPI. Thing also for Cincy is they will have a lot more chances for big name wins. The AAC has 3 top 16 teams by almost any account. That's 6 chances regular season, and possibly 2 more in the conference tourney- to get wins vs those teams. Like it or not, they're not going to be awful this year.

The top of the AAC is pretty good... Ville, UConn, Memphis, Cincy, Temple.
2 National Champs and 3 Final Fours in the last 3 years.
2 NC and 4 FF in last 5
2 NC and 5 FF in last 6
Of course the Big East has 0 NC and 0 FF in the last 4 years. And over that time 2 of our best programs, Nova and GTown, have 1 tourney win each.

No doubt AAC will be a top league this year. However, once you trade Louisville for ECU, Tulsa and Tulane, the bottom falls out and the Big East will be better top to bottom.

[stever20]

Once you get down to the 5th team in any 10 team conference- there's a lot of factors in if they get in. Their conference record will a lot of times be a 10-8 or 9-9 even. I think a "problem" that we have, the teams that would be in that position don't have the best OOC schedules. It'd be great for us if the 5th team was Xavier- they do have the good OOC schedule, but I don't know if they can get to finish 5th. St John's and Providence don't have the best OOC schedules. That could come back to bite them end of the day. Huge game for especially Providence is the 1st game of their exempt tourney, vs Vanderbilt. Win there and they get 2 tougher games(like La Salle/Maryland Potentially). Lose, and that tourney does nothing for them.

I know folks want to beat up the AAC, but they are ranked 4th in Ken pom this year. Only Houston is projected to be not good at all, and they're projected to be 8-4 OOC so they won't outright kill RPI for the others. A 12-18 Houston(which is what Ken Pom projects) will be 150 or so in the RPI. Thing also for Cincy is they will have a lot more chances for big name wins. The AAC has 3 top 16 teams by almost any account. That's 6 chances regular season, and possibly 2 more in the conference tourney- to get wins vs those teams. Like it or not, they're not going to be awful this year.

The top of the AAC is pretty good... Ville, UConn, Memphis, Cincy, Temple.
2 National Champs and 3 Final Fours in the last 3 years.
2 NC and 4 FF in last 5
2 NC and 5 FF in last 6
Of course the Big East has 0 NC and 0 FF in the last 4 years. And over that time 2 of our best programs, Nova and GTown, have 1 tourney win each.

No doubt AAC will be a top league this year. However, once you trade Louisville for ECU, Tulsa and Tulane, the bottom falls out and the Big East will be better top to bottom.

The thing that is interesting about that is just with how important this year is. For both the AAC and Big East- it's 1st impressions.

AAC won't be as bad as you think they will be next year. For one they also lose Rutgers. Addition by subtraction there. It'll still be a very good league. And they still will have the top level pretty good with Memphis and UConn.