Knee jerk reactions on your team

[HAB67]

The Newbies

Prior to the season there was a fair bit of talk that the new additions, "Mid-Majors?", would have difficulty adjusting to playing with the big boys. Xavier and Butler were predicted towards the bottom of the Big East by readers of the blog, and only Creighton, with an unmistakably strong returning team, got some respect. This was despite the fact that the new teams tended to have, on average, higher RPI's and more NCAA victories over the past five years than the incumbent teams.

At this early point in the season, the Newbies are lifting the league's overall level. On Ken Pom, Creighton is (1), Xavier (3), and Butler (7) in the conference. Clearly, Marquette, G'town, and St Johns have played some more challenging opponents, but Pom's algorithms take strength of opponents into account. The holiday tournaments, and the OOC games in December, will be critically important for the whole conference in sending teams to the dance because the league balance this year may be crazy. (The Hoyas got back on track against K-State this afternoon.) It should be an interesting, unpredictable year for a strong Big East.

[FriarJ]

This league is literally wide open. Creighton's 3 point shooting is very impressive. SJU will figure out how to play together and honestly Xavier has been the most impressive of all to me.

I will decide about my Friars after this weekend and Monday hopefully.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Butler is obviously going to go undefeated and win the conference

And the thread winner is.... Well played sir. ^^^^^

[Lavinwood]

The Newbies

Prior to the season there was a fair bit of talk that the new additions, "Mid-Majors?", would have difficulty adjusting to playing with the big boys. Xavier and Butler were predicted towards the bottom of the Big East by readers of the blog, and only Creighton, with an unmistakably strong returning team, got some respect. This was despite the fact that the new teams tended to have, on average, higher RPI's and more NCAA victories over the past five years than the incumbent teams.

At this early point in the season, the Newbies are lifting the league's overall level. On Ken Pom, Creighton is (1), Xavier (3), and Butler (7) in the conference. Clearly, Marquette, G'town, and St Johns have played some more challenging opponents, but Pom's algorithms take strength of opponents into account. The holiday tournaments, and the OOC games in December, will be critically important for the whole conference in sending teams to the dance because the league balance this year may be crazy. (The Hoyas got back on track against K-State this afternoon.) It should be an interesting, unpredictable year for a strong Big East.

I'm definitely impressed with the new members thus far, but just wait a bit. Let's see how Xavier, Creighton, Butler do against legitimate top 25 teams from major conferences. Not New Mexico or something…more like Wisconsin…just a rock solid top 25 team. That will tell us a lot. I'm really liking Creighton, but it's worth mentioning that they played 1 ranked team last year in a power conference and that was Duke whom they lost to. St. Joe's gave them everything they could handle and it took a miracle shot to win it. Not trying to say St. Joe's is bad…they aren't…the Johnnies essentially had the same game against them in the 1st round of the NIT and Pointer hit a fadeaway game-winner not too far from where McDermott hit his. But my point is, let's applaud the new guys for getting the job done up until now, but let's also be cautious and wait until they play some stalwarts to judge. I don't mean to pick on Creighton either…that was just an example. Creighton has the best chance of the new guys to really go far this year and finish high in conference.

[cr8onbb]

My initial expectations were for this Creighton team to finish in the top half of the league and make the NCAAT. That is still my expectation with a slightly higher conviction that they will finish in the top 3. That is not because Creighton has done anything unexpected to this point, more so that Marquette and Georgetown have struggled at times. Bottom line though is that it is still very early. These holiday tournaments should give us a little more info, but I also expect many teams other than Creighton to take big steps the next couple months as there new guys gel into the systems. With Creighton we pretty much know exactly what we have. This group is very experienced at playing together, which is great, but I don't expect drastic improvement throughout the year that I think we will see from some other squads.
In regard to St Joes being considered a miracle shot to win, it may seem like that to someone who hasn't followed Creighton the last few years, but that shot didn't surprise me much. This might be the first time Doug actually hit the game winner, but this team has been winning close nail biter games consistently ever since the McDermott's arrived on campus. This team just keeps their cool and finds a way to win close games. However, beating a bunch of cupcakes (and then St Joes) doesn't change the unknown factor of how this team will respond the grind of playing tough teams on a consistent basis. I am optimistic still but not unrealistic. If we could finish top 3, I would be very satisfied.

[bluejayfanatic]

I'm definitely impressed with the new members thus far, but just wait a bit. Let's see how Xavier, Creighton, Butler do against legitimate top 25 teams from major conferences. Not New Mexico or something…more like Wisconsin…just a rock solid top 25 team. That will tell us a lot. I'm really liking Creighton, but it's worth mentioning that they played 1 ranked team last year in a power conference and that was Duke whom they lost to.

It's probably worth mentioning that Creighton beat Wisconsin last year by double digits on a neutral court in Vegas, and both Creighton and Wisconsin were ranked at the time. It's probably also worth mentioning that Creighton beat the same St. Joe's team that St. John's beat by 2, by 30 points (admittedly at home).

[MUBoxer]

MU's defense is probably one of the best in the league... MU's offense is terrible. Unless Mayo or Wilson start killin it then we'll finish 3rd in the conference and either lose in the round of 64 or 32. This team reminds me of Georgetown's team last year with stellar D and major scoring issues.

[DudeAnon]

MU's defense is probably one of the best in the league... MU's offense is terrible. Unless Mayo or Wilson start killin it then we'll finish 3rd in the conference and either lose in the round of 64 or 32. This team reminds me of Georgetown's team last year with stellar D and major scoring issues.

Your signature is really obnoxious.

[XUFan09]

I picked Xavier at 5th in the conference, and they've exceeded my expectations. I'm going with 3rd now.

My one worry with Xavier is that they'll peak too early. There are some really talented pieces, though, so maybe (*knock on wood*) their ceiling is too high for that to be a concern.

[Xudash]

I picked Xavier at 5th in the conference, and they've exceeded my expectations. I'm going with 3rd now.

My one worry with Xavier is that they'll peak too early. There are some really talented pieces, though, so maybe (*knock on wood*) their ceiling is too high for that to be a concern.

If that happens to be THE one legitimate worry with this team, then I really like our chances. Chris Mack is a better coach than most around here realize. Xavier tends to get better as a season rolls along; it doesn't peak early and dive later - - and I am not including the year of the Brawl in this, as that was clearly an anomaly. Besides, they even came around then and made the S16, as did the Bearkittens.