(5) Monday BE Games - MLK Marathon - 01/16/17

[JohnW22]

Would anybody be worried about Xavier if they lost all 3 of these games but not back to back to back?

Xavier's problem is lack of quality wins. Top two wins are current bottom feeders in the ACC, Clemson, right now on the right side of the bubble, and Wake Forest, a team likely to not make the NCAA as they are 1-7 against top 100. Georgetown is coming to town, so an easy W is in the offing, although it won't help the resume.

I agree with this. I guess I'm not worried because I was a lot of Xavier teams have no quality wins at this point in the season. I know I said this a few times but this team reminds me of the 2015 team resume wise and to go back in time reminds me of the 2004 team that made the elite 8 because the talent is there but things aren't clicking yet and when they do it will be a tough team to beat.

[stever20]

for us to get concerned with Xavier- they would need to lose like 4 games to the other 6 teams, along with Cincy. They would then have 10 losses and could be 8-10 18-13 entering the BET if they lose to all 3 top teams again. With no really good wins at that point. It's a huge stretch at this point. Consider in their remaining 9 games vs the other 6 teams- they are projected to get 6.35 wins(and thus 2.65 losses)- and just using binary w/l projections projected to go 8-1. It would be remarkable if they got in that predicament.

[cu blujs]

here's hoping X picks up those quality wins it needs when Butler and Nova come to town.

[Hall2012]

Things could be much worse at Seton Hall. In fact, they have been. Be credul what you wish for.

Yes, I know. I've seen things a lot worse, and full credit to Kevin Willard for cleaning up the program and bringing it back to respectability. However, respectable mediocrity with the occasional one-off tournament appearance is not the goal. KW certainly deserves the rest of the season to turn things around - and hopefully he will. SHU has now pretty much hit this exact same slump at this point in the season 3 years in a row now. Two years ago, they crashed and burned. Last year, they responded and turned things around. We'll see what happens this year and hopefully Willard can surprise me with another turnaround to get in the NCAA Tournament. If not though, it'll just reaffirm that, while he deserves credit for what he's done, he's not the guy who can make the next step with this program. I do think, however, that the right guy is on his staff.

[stever20]

1 thing that I think is pretty amazing- and very different- this year vs last year is the dominance home teams have had so far.

If you remember last year home teams really struggled especially early in the season. For the entire year, home teams were only 49-41(and that number if memory serves me correct was sub .500 well into the year)....

This year home teams are 23-9. The best winning percentage for home teams in the country in conference play. Consider in the 15 years that KP has stats, the Big East home teams have never had better than the 9th best home record collectively in the nation.

[Edrick]

@ButlerMBB To put Butler's 63-point second half in perspective...the BIG EAST record for second half points is 67 (by Pittsburgh, vs. Providence, 1990)

[JohnW22]

Things could be much worse at Seton Hall. In fact, they have been. Be credul what you wish for.

Yes, I know. I've seen things a lot worse, and full credit to Kevin Willard for cleaning up the program and bringing it back to respectability. However, respectable mediocrity with the occasional one-off tournament appearance is not the goal. KW certainly deserves the rest of the season to turn things around - and hopefully he will. SHU has now pretty much hit this exact same slump at this point in the season 3 years in a row now. Two years ago, they crashed and burned. Last year, they responded and turned things around. We'll see what happens this year and hopefully Willard can surprise me with another turnaround to get in the NCAA Tournament. If not though, it'll just reaffirm that, while he deserves credit for what he's done, he's not the guy who can make the next step with this program. I do think, however, that the right guy is on his staff.

I don't know why but I can't see Seton Hall missing the tournament, they will pick up 2-3 wins over Xavier and Butler I'd imagine. I think they get in with a 7-10 seed.

[stever20]

Things could be much worse at Seton Hall. In fact, they have been. Be credul what you wish for.

Yes, I know. I've seen things a lot worse, and full credit to Kevin Willard for cleaning up the program and bringing it back to respectability. However, respectable mediocrity with the occasional one-off tournament appearance is not the goal. KW certainly deserves the rest of the season to turn things around - and hopefully he will. SHU has now pretty much hit this exact same slump at this point in the season 3 years in a row now. Two years ago, they crashed and burned. Last year, they responded and turned things around. We'll see what happens this year and hopefully Willard can surprise me with another turnaround to get in the NCAA Tournament. If not though, it'll just reaffirm that, while he deserves credit for what he's done, he's not the guy who can make the next step with this program. I do think, however, that the right guy is on his staff.

I don't know why but I can't see Seton Hall missing the tournament, they will pick up 2-3 wins over Xavier and Butler I'd imagine. I think they get in with a 7-10 seed.

OK lets say they get 2 from them. Go winless vs Nova and Creighton.

So Seton Hall has 4 conference wins with 8 losses. They would from there have to go 5-1 vs the other 6 games.
St John's 79%
@ Georgetown 42%
Providence 67%
@ St John's 54%
@ DePaul 72%
Georgetown 69%
anything less, and they are pretty much done. Especially if the 2 wins they get from X and Butler are home wins- they would have road wins over quite possibly DePaul and Iowa. They are setting up as a home team hero type of team.

And really no chance at all with them getting 2 wins(or even 3 quite frankly) of them getting anywhere close to a 7 seed.

[Edrick]

As an aside, SHU is 0-6 vs Butler.

[Red Rooster]

Needs to be said...what WILL it take to fire JTIII? A Sandusky type scandal? I mean geez G'Town has played like a mid major the last few yrs. 2007 seems like 50 yrs ago.

Frankly, who gives a crap?! Let Georgetown fans be concerned what happens with JT3. I've never understood other fans being concerned or harping about another team's coach getting fired. Maybe, that's just me.

For the Big East's long term health and prestige we need a good Georgetown program.

That's trite and overstated stuff. As, long as there are 4 or 5 consistently top 25 teams, then it doesn't particularly matter about Georgetown being strong.

When we broke off from the football schools we expected Nova and G'Town to compete for the top 2 spots consistently.

So, what? Check the quote from my initial post.

G'Town is a national program with a known brand. Something is very, very off over there in DC.

I'll repeat, check my first quote. Once again, who cares about what they do with their coach, unless you're a fan of the program? It's only my opinion, but I've never understood why fans of one team would concern themselves about what another team or program does with a coach.