3 Team race for Big East Title

[ChestRockwell85]

If Villanova can keep their 3 point shooting around 35% they are going to be VERY difficult to beat.

SHOOT 'EM UP AND SLEEP IN THE STREETS.

[BigmanU]

Welp, let's just not play the season since we already know that the only competitive teams are going to be Nova, G'Town, and X.

This is what I've been trying to say. Joking of course.

This is only one man's opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. I'm just checking out the depth of quality players on each team's rosters and Nova, G'Town, and Xavier are the top 3 to make some noise.

Providence & Seton Hall are deep enough with talent to make some noise and break the glass. Seton Hall is just very young. Providence would be the most likely with the mix of veterans & youth to jump in the mix

In no specific order:
St. John's will have to paly like Providence last year short rotation and have 0 room for error.
Marquette is lite on the front line even when their big is eligible next semester.
Creighton intrigues me. I don't know this years version can be as dominate without the horses. Competitive yes, Champs no.
Butler has solid pieces with Jones, Dunham & Woods (boards). They are not deep enough throughout the roster.
DePaul is DePaul


Please give me some insight on how others feel and reasons why. Believe me, I may have forgotten something. This should be a great discussion.

[FlyJays]

I mean, in general I agree with your assessment.

I think those three are the most likely to finish at the top. I just think Georgetown has to improve for that to happen. They certainly have the talent on the roster to do it, but getting out of bed isn't gonna get it done.

I still think Creighton finishes middle of the pack. 5th-7th. They'll be competitive as you stated, but they have too many new pieces right now to win the league, and they'll struggle with some conference road games. Don't see any way they finish 9th, though.

[FlyJays]

If Villanova can keep their 3 point shooting around 35% they are going to be VERY difficult to beat.

SHOOT 'EM UP AND SLEEP IN THE STREETS.

Agreed with this as well. If they can shoot the rock consistently, I think they run away with the league title.

On the flip side, Creighton fans are a little frustrated right now because we shot it 35% from three-land last game. For a team that doesn't necessarily have proven post players like Nova, we need that number to be closer to 40%. Although Artino did have 20pts last time out.

[Xudash]

I would agree with Villanova and Georgetown. Xavier could be there, but their first few games are real snoozers so it is hard to tell with the level of competition they have played. They need to take care of Missouri and I think Auburn; other than that, they play no one out of conference until late in the year against UC.

Few things to note with regards to scheduling

Pros:
1. Mid-majors we scheduled are very good: Murry St. LBSU, Stephen F. Austin etc.
2. Unlike the A-10, conference games actually help our RPI now

Cons:
1. The P5 teams we scheduled unfortunately seem to be having down years
2. Our tourney isn't great this year (Wooden Legacy)

It was an enjoyable game to watch last night. It was nice having Raftery in the building to do the game. As for the game itself, LBSU is not a bad team at all. Their UCLA transfer is solid, and they had good athleticism and good shooters.

But here's Xavier so far in a nutshell: LBSU was shooting something like 91% at one point in the first half, and was down by 5. This Xavier team is batshit good right now. It's deep, it's very talented, and it has two freshmen, in particular - Bluiett and Macara - who already look like they've played at the collegiate level for a while. The front court is huge and talented, and its supported by a bunch of shooters and a senior point guard who has grown into his role very nicely.

Last year? Semaj and Matt and Martin when he showed up mentally, but no bench. This year? Good lord; pick your poison. That Brazil trip and this group have blended up some great team chemistry. They'll have their hiccups, but Xavier 2014 is already heads and shoulders above Xavier 2013 in every meaningful way, from talent to early season execution on the floor.

[Red Rooster]

Georgetown is not going to live up to their potential if Josh is struggling to go up and down the court.

Did you watch last night? He isn't struggling to go up and down the court.

If it's so easy for these GTown players then why did they do so bad last season? Smith is a head case and wont last the entire season. If you're counting on him you're already screwed.

Um this is an entirely different team than last year. We have 4 new players that are playing meaningful minutes, 5 if you include Smith. Smith is going to be just fine. Just wait and see.

The bench will shorten once the season gets rolling. I bet they'll only go 8-deep (the 5 starters and 3 off the bench) for the most part.

[Red Rooster]

Welp, let's just not play the season since we already know that the only competitive teams are going to be Nova, G'Town, and X.

This is what I've been trying to say. Joking of course.

This is only one man's opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. I'm just checking out the depth of quality players on each team's rosters and Nova, G'Town, and Xavier are the top 3 to make some noise.

Providence & Seton Hall are deep enough with talent to make some noise and break the glass. Seton Hall is just very young. Providence would be the most likely with the mix of veterans & youth to jump in the mix

In no specific order:
St. John's will have to paly like Providence last year short rotation and have 0 room for error.
Marquette is lite on the front line even when their big is eligible next semester.
Creighton intrigues me. I don't know this years version can be as dominate without the horses. Competitive yes, Champs no.
Butler has solid pieces with Jones, Dunham & Woods (boards). They are not deep enough throughout the roster.
DePaul is DePaul


Please give me some insight on how others feel and reasons why. Believe me, I may have forgotten something. This should be a great discussion.

Seton Hall will be decent, but forget about them being in the top 3. It's possible with Providence, but I'm not big on their backcourt. Their frontcourt also doesn't seem deep. Good, but not deep. Once again, they'll have a short rotation and little room for error.

St. John's will field one of the best backcourts in the conference. Their frontcourt isn't chop liver, either. It's a very, decent frontcourt. It'll be somewhat thin, though.

It'll be Villanova, of course, in 1st place, with St. John's, Georgetown, and Xavier duking it out for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place, respectively (who gets those spots remains to be seen).

[BigmanU]

Georgetown is not going to live up to their potential if Josh is struggling to go up and down the court.

Did you watch last night? He isn't struggling to go up and down the court.

If it's so easy for these GTown players then why did they do so bad last season? Smith is a head case and wont last the entire season. If you're counting on him you're already screwed.

Um this is an entirely different team than last year. We have 4 new players that are playing meaningful minutes, 5 if you include Smith. Smith is going to be just fine. Just wait and see.

The bench will shorten once the season gets rolling. I bet they'll only go 8-deep (the 5 starters and 3 off the bench) for the most part.

Nine deep at bare minimum. I promise you, this isn't the normal Georgetown team your use to. Lots of talented interchangeable parts.

Smith
Hopkins
Peak
Trawick
DSR

Copeland
White
Bowen
Campbell

[Red Rooster]

Nine deep at bare minimum. I promise you, this isn't the normal Georgetown team your use to. Lots of talented interchangeable parts.

Smith
Hopkins
Peak
Trawick
DSR

Copeland
White
Bowen
Campbell

Once, the games get tougher, then they'll mostly go 8-deep. I'm sticking to my guns here.

[XtoDC]

I would take everything with a grain of salt so far. It is really hard to say that anyone is better or worse than we thought they would be this far into the season. Nobody has pulled off an upset yet, nobody has laid a giant egg yet.

Xavier to me looks like they are going to be a top 50 offense this year. They will usually have better size than their opponent to beat them down low, and this year they have some capable shooters to prevent teams from just collapsing the defense in the paint. The defense worries me though. Rarely can a freshman come in and play really good team defense to the scheme. That isn't to say the new guys can't be good defenders one on one, but knowing when to make the switches, when to sag down to the paint to help against opposing bigs, etc. could take a while. I see Xavier as capable of pouring it on against overmatched opponents and playing good enough defense to win almost all of those games. Right now I haven't seen enough to expect wins against NCAA Tournament caliber competition that can play some D. Yet.