How big is November 8 for the Big East?

[Jet915]

Agree, this BC team will actually be pretty good this year, both teams start the season as a "bubble team" so whoever wins definitely will have the upper hand come selection Sunday. Providence needs to win this game.

[stever20]

November in general I think is important. I believe all 10 teams play in those exempt tournaments in November. Need some sucesses by our bigger teams. Also important for schools like Providence, St John's, Xavier, Butler, I think I'd even throw in Villanova in there- the ones that could be the bubble teams. Winning the 1st game in these tournies is so crucial because if you lose, you don't see the better teams in rds 2 and 3.

[TheHall]

IMO early season games are HUGE, until conference season starts. Teams generally shoot up (and down) the rankings after these early games but by the end of the season usually only the fringe schools (1st 4 in/out) really point to these games. What if Wisconsin/Oregon/BC underachieve the rest of the season or what if some other teams overachieve that we aren't considering big games now. True the BE will have bubble teams so there is an importance and winning always is better than losing but this isn't cfb where early season wins/losses are everything. I can already see Gary Parrish: "Yeah SJU beat Wisky, but they hadn't figured things out yet blah, blah, blah...."

Right now the BE is one of the few conferences that teams won't have any "really" bad RPI killing losses in-conference, which is a tremendous advantage once league play starts. Of course losing never helps, but that said, the BE has enough street cred (Individual school histories, Ken Pom, Recruiting, etc.) to pass the eye test if players/teams are playing well, even in conference against one another. Now if too many teams underachieve in the 2014 NCAAT that's a whole other can of "uh-oh!" going forward.

[stever20]

IMO early season games are HUGE, until conference season starts. Teams generally shoot up (and down) the rankings after these games but by the end of the season only the fringe schools (1st 4 in/out) really point to these games. What if Wisconsin/Oregon/BC underachieve the rest of the season or what if some other teams overachieve that we aren't considering big games now. True the BE will have bubble teams so there is an importance and winning always is better than losing but this isn't cfb where early season wins/losses are everything. I can already see Gary Parrish: "Yeah SJU beat Wisky, but they hadn't figured things out yet blah, blah, blah...."

Losing never helps, but that said, the BE has enough street cred (Individual school histories, Ken Pom, Recruiting, etc.) to pass the eye test if players/teams are playing well, even in conference against one another. Now if too many teams underachieve in the 2014 NCAAT that's a whole other can of "uh-oh!" going forward.

I think the early games this year though are more important than normal. They will form the narrative that will last the entire season.

[TheHall]

IMO early season games are HUGE, until conference season starts. Teams generally shoot up (and down) the rankings after these games but by the end of the season only the fringe schools (1st 4 in/out) really point to these games. What if Wisconsin/Oregon/BC underachieve the rest of the season or what if some other teams overachieve that we aren't considering big games now. True the BE will have bubble teams so there is an importance and winning always is better than losing but this isn't cfb where early season wins/losses are everything. I can already see Gary Parrish: "Yeah SJU beat Wisky, but they hadn't figured things out yet blah, blah, blah...."

Losing never helps, but that said, the BE has enough street cred (Individual school histories, Ken Pom, Recruiting, etc.) to pass the eye test if players/teams are playing well, even in conference against one another. Now if too many teams underachieve in the 2014 NCAAT that's a whole other can of "uh-oh!" going forward.

I think the early games this year though are more important than normal. They will form the narrative that will last the entire season.

Indeed they will, actual everything the league does and has done is creating a narrative. But let's not get fooled by the pundits, it's just the opening narrative. So much ball to be played afterwards. In Kemba's senior year, Uconn beat MSU & Kentucky in preseason tourny's, then they beat Texas (at Texas) in Feb. But they still needed an epic run in the BET to make the NCAAT! Not apples to apples but the point is this isn't cfb where if you win early you have it made or if you loose early your done for.

Even early season rankings mean little in cbb. I fully agree with what Jon Rothstein tweetedtoday:

"Positions in early season polls are meaningless. The only time rankings matter? From early February until Selection Sunday. #playingforseed"

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/395970858939715584

That said....LET'S KICK SOME OOC A$$ starting with BC!

[stever20]

The thing is the early season this year looks to be more important maybe than normal because of the fact that it looks like we're going to have a lot of teams in that 10-8 or 9-9 neighborhood. Early season then will determine if those teams make the tourney or not.

To me, it's kind of like a golf tournament. You can't win the tourney the 1st day, but you can lose it. I think a great case in point was last year with Virginia. If they don't crap the bed in November, they are an easy NCAA team.

[FriarJ]

Don't forget the Providence - Boston College game. Neither team has been a powerhouse in their respective conferenes but it is still the Big East against the ACC and being the earliest of the games played (6 o clock eastern) the final score will be mentioned about 100 times during the other games.

Ken Pom has BC at 37. They will be very good this year.

[stever20]

Also- there's a big difference between the polls and your early season results....

The polls yes, they don't matter in large part early season

Early season results- absolutely do matter.

Obviously you can play your way into the tourney even if you start slowly. But you get in and you're a 11 or 12 seed and you have a brutal road to make the 2nd weekend even.

[Noonzy]

I'm taking the Johnnies to win-they are loaded and I hope they show it that night if Wisconsin doesn't slow the game down too much. Even if the game does slow down I'm taking the Johnnies.

[TheHall]

The thing is the early season this year looks to be more important maybe than normal because of the fact that it looks like we're going to have a lot of teams in that 10-8 or 9-9 neighborhood. Early season then will determine if those teams make the tourney or not.

To me, it's kind of like a golf tournament. You can't win the tourney the 1st day, but you can lose it. I think a great case in point was last year with Virginia. If they don't crap the bed in November, they are an easy NCAA team.

This year feels different to us BE fans because it is...for us. But If a BE team goes 10-8 or 9-9, there are so many scenarios that make playing better later in the season understandable/acceptable. For example:

- What if some of those 9 or 10 wins you mentioned are big road wins instead of mostly defending home court. (NCAAT usually values road wins higher than home wins)
- What if a team reels off 6 wins in a row after starting 4-8 in-conference (NCAAT usually respects finishing strong vs. entire body of work)
- What if a key player was injured early in the season but the team plays better down the stretch (Same as above)
- What if a key Freshman (Jordan, Austin, Sina, Cameron, etc.) start really contributing in mid Feb after not doing so in the preseason. (NCAAT recognizes that freshman rarely figure things out in November)
- What if some of the leagues best players (DMcD, Cotton, Edwin, Christon, etc.) start making a name for themselves & become must see tv (NCAA usual finds ways to get star players in the NCAAT)
- What if some teams from the other conferences that are assumed to be NCAAT quality really underachieve leaving room for others to step in.

Again winning anytime is always better, but if the BE is playing high level bball during league play the eye in the sky won't lie (too much) and the voters will recognize NCAAT quality teams. That said, again, let's crush the OOC schedule and remove as much doubt as soon as possible!