So who's the Big East favorite in 2014-15?

[SecureDaBall]

In no particular order, I think top 5 will be:

Villanova
Xavier
Georgetown
Seton Hall
Providence

[Bill Marsh]

Can Nova repeat? Who's the dark horse?

Agree that Villanova projects far and away as the best team team next year. I believe that Providence and Xavier will be their strongest coetition in spite of the losses of Cotton/Batts at PC & Christon at XU. But it's hard to say that either of the teams that finished with the 3rd most wins during the regular season is a dark horse.

My dark horse, meaning a team who could rise up from the bottom half of the conference to challenge, would be Georgetown - despite the loss of Starks and even if Smith doesn't return. It's mind boggling that they weren't better in the conference this year. They're bringing in a new talent infusion next year, but with Smith-Rivera, Trawick, Hopkins, Cameron, and Domingo coming back, that's already a lot of talent.

[TheHall]

1) VU
2) GU (They have possibly 2 1 & done players coming in)
3) PC (Cooley)
4) SJU (Senior leadership)
5) SHU
6) DU
7) X (Is a 1st year transfer really going to become the alpha dog right away?)
8) MU (Who really knows at this point, team's morale might be shot by potential transfers/decommits)
9) CU (McGone)
10) BU

I wonder why so many think VU is the runaway favorite. They loose Bell & they still have NO size in the front court. The rest of the BE wasn't good enough to make them pay for being so small up front but I wouldn't count on that next season. I still see them as the early favs but like MU last season that's not worth much come game time.

My dark horse is Depaul. The Jr.'s (BG & TH) will be even better as sophomores & they have 2 transfers in Henry & Stimage that most here probably don't know much about but like Tyler Harris most will once the season gets going. Throw is seasoned vets McKinney & Crockett as well. But the biggest improvement might actually come from Melvin being out.

As for SHU, I see a great deal of improvement mostly because last year our PG position was filled by a freshman (Sina), the previous year's 3rd string PG (Mayaan), and a transfer (Gibbs) who's natural position was combo guard. Going into next season it will be a proven converted combo guard (Gibbs), a seasoned sophomore stud (Sina), and a McD's AAA (IW).

[marquette]

8) MU (Who really knows at this point, team's morale might be shot by potential transfers/decommits)

Can't say I necessarily disagree with this placement, but the word from a lot of players is that there were several that were planning on transferring if Buzz was here next season. One player has gone on record stating this (Steve Taylor Jr.) and Duane Wilson has implied as much.

It is currently expected that our 9 players from last season will all stay (JJJ is still considering, but will likely stay). We are feeling hopeful for 3/4 recruits and haven't given up on 4/4. Malek Harris is gone (never signed LOI), and it's likely that Buzz was butting heads with the administration over him ever getting to campus anyway.

[adoraz11]

St. John's could be a disaster. Obekpa heavily rumored to transfer. Sampson declared for the draft. Sanchez and Gift gone. NO RECRUITS.

[GumbyDamnit!]

I wonder why so many think VU is the runaway favorite. They loose Bell & they still have NO size in the front court. The rest of the BE wasn't good enough to make them pay for being so small up front but I wouldn't count on that next season. I still see them as the early favs but like MU last season that's not worth much come game time.

Yeah, about that... Daniel Ochefu is 6'11" and is prob top 3 C's in the league (behind Stainbrook and Smith) and JVP is probably the best PF in the league next year. But their front court will prove to be their weakness.?. They return 6 of their top 7 players on a team that won the conf by 2 games and was 6 games in front of 3rd. Well you certainly convinced me.

[TheHall]

I wonder why so many think VU is the runaway favorite. They loose Bell & they still have NO size in the front court. The rest of the BE wasn't good enough to make them pay for being so small up front but I wouldn't count on that next season. I still see them as the early favs but like MU last season that's not worth much come game time.

Yeah, about that... Daniel Ochefu is 6'11" and is prob top 3 C's in the league (behind Stainbrook and Smith) and JVP is probably the best PF in the league next year. But their front court will prove to be their weakness.?. They return 6 of their top 7 players on a team that won the conf by 2 games and was 6 games in front of 3rd. Well you certainly convinced me.

1) Daniel Ochefu is a stud & may be the best big in the league next year if he puts some more muscle on in the off-season.

2) You list only two players to prove how much size VU will have next year (beer googles)...so what happens when Ochefu or JVP gets two fouls in the first half or fouls out early in the 2nd half, or simply are having bad games?

3) 6 of 7 returning starters true but Bell played in the front court most of the time (especially on D), he's probably one of the most irreplaceable guys from last years team. Can Jenkins grow into that role? maybe.

4) Don't give me that won the league by 2 games stuff either, you sound like MU fans a year ago. Just check the posts here from the preseason. Everyone was making similar arguments as you are about MU & that was a sweet 16 team a year earlier. But what we all under estimated was how special the previous season was & how important the one key non-returning player (Vander) was for that team. VU had a special season last year no one saw that much success coming (not even you) so just assuming a natural progression is cool for us fans but I'll believe it when I see it. Damnit I still picked VU as the fav but I'm not crowning their asses when they still have real questions just like the some of other contenders.

5) I'm shocked a VU homer like you isn't convinced by my argument......

[GumbyDamnit!]

It's all good Hall. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. We fans, naturally, come to the defense of the team we support. I think the big difference between the MU and VU comparison is guard play. Vander's loss was magnified by the fact that they had no one at PG who could take the reigns. Although G'twn bucked the trend with DSR and Starks, most good teams have strong guard play. That's good news for SHU's chances. If Dunn struggles so will PC. SJU will be OK without Sampson with DH and RS. CU will be better than most expect.

The game has changed. Games are won mostly at the 3 pt line, great pressure D and taking good care of the ball, not post play. Show me a college team with a great/disciplined backcourt and I'll show you a team that's got a good chance of winning consistently (see UCONN). I think Nova has this in spades.

[marquette]

4) Don't give me that won the league by 2 games stuff either, you sound like MU fans a year ago. Just check the posts here from the preseason. Everyone was making similar arguments as you are about MU & that was a sweet 16 team a year earlier. But what we all under estimated was how special the previous season was & how important the one key non-returning player (Vander) was for that team. VU had a special season last year no one saw that much success coming (not even you) so just assuming a natural progression is cool for us fans but I'll believe it when I see it. Damnit I still picked VU as the fav but I'm not crowning their asses when they still have real questions just like the some of other contenders.

Not to be too argumentative, but I think Nova is much better off than Marquette was this past season. We lost more than just Vander, our starting point guard also graduated. I don't think many people realized how big of a dropoff there was between Junior and Derrick Wilson (love the kid, great student, great representative for Marquette, nowhere near Junior's level). I think Vander makes us an NCAA team, but probably only win one game in the tourney (if we are lucky). Plus, although we only had him for 1 season, Trent Lockett was a difference maker by the end of the season.

I don't want to get into rumors and conspiracy theories, but it seems there were also some locker room problems this year. There were some quiet rumblings during the season, in a better year they would have been easy to ignore, but the chatter is definitely ratcheting up now. I don't see Jay Wright letting something like that happen.

[TheHall]

It's all good Hall. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. We fans, naturally, come to the defense of the team we support. I think the big difference between the MU and VU comparison is guard play. Vander's loss was magnified by the fact that they had no one at PG who could take the reigns. Although G'twn bucked the trend with DSR and Starks, most good teams have strong guard play. That's good news for SHU's chances. If Dunn struggles so will PC. SJU will be OK without Sampson with DH and RS. CU will be better than most expect.

The game has changed. Games are won mostly at the 3 pt line, great pressure D and taking good care of the ball, not post play. Show me a college team with a great/disciplined backcourt and I'll show you a team that's got a good chance of winning consistently (see UCONN). I think Nova has this in spades.

I actually agree with everything in your post, just had to throw some counter points out there.