USA Predicts . . .

[Bill Marsh]

4 Big East teams will make the tournament.

12. Villanova
37. Georgetown
39. Xavier
48. Seton Hall
otb Butler

otb = on the bubble

[BillikenFriar]

Butler on the bubble but not Providence? Maybe I'm a homer but that seems nutty

[Chalmers0]

Butler on the bubble but not Providence? Maybe I'm a homer but that seems nutty

A lot of lazy journalists just expect Butler to go back to the Horizon league days.

[GoldenWarrior11]

If the Big East continues to put 4 (out of 10) teams in the tournament, is that a success or failure?

[robinreed]

4 Big East teams will make the tournament.

12. Villanova
37. Georgetown
39. Xavier
48. Seton Hall
otb Butler

otb = on the bubble

I can buy Georgetown and X.U. in the top 40 and nova in the top 20. I don't know about the hall and Butler. We need 4 teams in the dance for promotional and self esteem reasons.

[robinreed]

If the Big East continues to put 4 (out of 10) teams in the tournament, is that a success or failure?

It's more a necessity than a success or failure.

[stever20]

If the Big East continues to put 4 (out of 10) teams in the tournament, is that a success or failure?

If it's 4 but the seeds are what this is- 3,10,10, 12 in PIG that's a failure.

If it's 4 but the seeds are say 2,3, 7, 10- that's a success.

[hoyahooligan]

I think 4 is the least amount of teams we get in yearly. So I think that's the over under line. Anything less than that would be failure, anything more than that success. I think going forward we'll be getting 5 in pretty regularly and 6 on occasion.

[R to the OB]

If the Big East continues to put 4 (out of 10) teams in the tournament, is that a success or failure?

I think that depends upon how you look at it. The Old Big East got around 50-55% of their teams into the tournament in its last few years. 40% is lower than that, certainly, but consider... in the Old Big East there were 15 or 16 teams. There was no round robin scheduling and there were more wins to be had in conference. Looking at it that way, I don't think I would call 4 out of 10 a failure, but I wouldn't call it a smashing success either. If we could get 5 teams consistently into the Big Dance, I would call it a big success. To do that, though, every team has to step up their OOC Schedule and get those quality wins before Big East play starts. That will boost not only individual teams chances, but the league's SOS and RPI, too.

[stever20]

I think 4 is the least amount of teams we get in yearly. So I think that's the over under line. Anything less than that would be failure, anything more than that success. I think going forward we'll be getting 5 in pretty regularly and 6 on occasion.

with the double round robin schedule- getting 5 or 6 is a very difficult thing. Last year was pretty much best case scenario for final league standings- with 5 seed being 10-8 and 6 seed being 9-9. To get 5-6 in, we have to dominate in the OOC schedule. The 5th or 6 seed going 10-8 or 9-9 can't have more than 2 OOC losses and feel comfortable. The #7 Big 12 team got in even with a 8-10 conference record because they were 12-1 OOC.