Will 2016-2017 be the strongest year for the "new" Big East?

[JohnW22]

Disagree although I tend to be pessimistic. We have a big question mark on our frontcourt. I could see us being 10-8. Anything worse than that would be a disappointment though.

Sadly my feelings for Xavier are the same for yours with Creighton. Could easily see Xavier falling to 5th in the conference and fall outside of top 20. Front court is an issue and I don't see them being able to guard many teams. What's keeping me hopeful for this year is the thought of teams 3rd best defenders will be guarding Macura(and 4th best guarding Macura/Myles when Myles returns) and I don't see many teams that will be able to guard Xavier.

[hortle]

for once Gtmo and I agree. Jet, it could happen that the team goes 10-8 and only receives a 7-9 seed in the tourney, it could happen that the team just flames out and doesn't make it into the tourney

but right now the expectation for the team is basically public knowledge. a 21-24 finish, in the 3-4 seed range. Yes its only preseason polling and analysis, but I think there is a significant honest to god chance this team makes a run. The athletic ability has finally arrived. Our guards should be a force to be reckoned with for any team. our transition game will be deadly. The only thing that could hold us back is rebounding. Honestly though, the offense could be good enough that any deficiency in that category becomes muted. The team has everything else - shooting (foster, zierden, huff + others), athleticism (watson, foster, mintz, patton, thomas, krampelj), willing defenders (foster, thomas, zierden), and absurd depth on top of that (UCLA decommit Kobe Paras may not see more than 10mpg at any point during the season). The preseason ranking is completely justified based off where they finished last year and what they are adding.

Even if they don't gel until late January and finish 10-8, its your guards and your ability to defend that carry you in March. We have enough bodies to throw in the paint. My money's on our first second weekend appearance

[cu blujs]

I don't think rebounding is going to be as much an issue for Creighton as it has in the past few seasons. Starting in February of last year, CU was outrebounded by more than a couple of rebounds only twice. Once by Villanova and by Seton Hall in the BET. We outrebounded our opponent in about half the games. Cole Huff emerged as a very good rebounder over the last month of the season. Keeping opposing teams off the offensive boards has been a challenge since joining the BE, but we improved for the most part in that category down the stretch last year (outside of probably the Seton Hall BET game). The increase in athleticism this year should allow us to make further strides in that area. We will be better equipped to keep opposing guards and forwards off the boards. In the front court, Justin and Zach are going to be a nice one-two punch for us, IMO. We will have to see what Krampelj can bring to the mix, but with him and Toby also able to help out at the 5 if we get into some foul issues, I think our front court is going to be as strong as it has been in several years, and in some respects better than when Gregory E. was here because we won't have the huge drop-off when someone gets into foul trouble. There are always questions going into the season, but I am more optimistic about our front court top to bottom than I have been in many, many years.

[stever20]

for once Gtmo and I agree. Jet, it could happen that the team goes 10-8 and only receives a 7-9 seed in the tourney, it could happen that the team just flames out and doesn't make it into the tourney

but right now the expectation for the team is basically public knowledge. a 21-24 finish, in the 3-4 seed range. Yes its only preseason polling and analysis, but I think there is a significant honest to god chance this team makes a run. The athletic ability has finally arrived. Our guards should be a force to be reckoned with for any team. our transition game will be deadly. The only thing that could hold us back is rebounding. Honestly though, the offense could be good enough that any deficiency in that category becomes muted. The team has everything else - shooting (foster, zierden, huff + others), athleticism (watson, foster, mintz, patton, thomas, krampelj), willing defenders (foster, thomas, zierden), and absurd depth on top of that (UCLA decommit Kobe Paras may not see more than 10mpg at any point during the season). The preseason ranking is completely justified based off where they finished last year and what they are adding.

Even if they don't gel until late January and finish 10-8, its your guards and your ability to defend that carry you in March. We have enough bodies to throw in the paint. My money's on our first second weekend appearance

The problem is if you only go 10-8 and get a 7-9 seed in the tourney, that's not conducive to a 2nd weekend run. That's seeing a 1-2 seed in rd 2, often times on basically a road court. Something like a Kansas in Tulsa, a Oregon in Sacramento, a Kentucky in Indianapolis. Even a Duke or UNC in Greenville. Not impossible, but extremely difficult.

[Hall2012]

We are just a few weeks until the season starts thankfully but before we start I was wondering what everyone's thoughts were on the strength of the league as a whole heading into the season? In my personal opinion this league is without a doubt the strongest it has been since we broke away from the football schools. Here's a quick look at where I ranked each conference member's 2016-2017 team compared to the past 3 years.


5 - Seton Hall - Best team since realignment
Yes Isiah Whitehead is gone, but he was not the entire team last year. Kevin Willard returns 4 starters and essentially the entirety of his roster this year. Khadeen Carrington will step into the lead guard role left by Whitehead and I think he can thrive there. There were games last year where Carrington outplayed Whitehead and I think he can play his way onto an All Big East team by the end of the year. Seton Hall adds what they desperately needed last year, a knockdown three point shooter, in Myles Powell who should help stretch defenses and allow for Carrington and Desi Rodriguez to attack the basket. Seton Hall won based on their defense last year and with Angel Delgado and Ish Sanogo back that should not change this year. Jevon Thomas is likely the starter at point guard and he's reputation as a defender will only make it tougher for teams to score. Thomas and other transfer guard Madison Jones are good enough replacements to fill the point guard role, they don't need to be as good as Isiah Whitehead for this Seton Hall team to succeed. I think this year's Seton Hall team is a top 25 team.

Sorry, but if (as you suggest) this year's Seton Hall team is better than last year's Big East Championship team, there's no way they fall all the way to 5th. Creighton and Georgetown finished the regular season 3 and 5 games behind the Pirates last year, respectively. I agree they're certainly both improved, but if the Pirates are better too...they didn't improve enough to make up that kind of ground.

The only way I see the Hall finishing lower than 3rd is if they regress from last year with the loss of Whitehead.

[GumbyDamnit!]

IMO the issue for Creighton has always been defensive intensity. Big Mac knows how to space the floor and put the ball in the hoop. But I've always thought what kept you guys from being a top-top team is your ability to shut teams down. It has always seemed to me that CU just outguns you when they win. With what you can offer offensively, if Mac can get your guys to be rabid defensively, this team could be wearing home whites the first weekend of the NCAA no problem.

[milksteak]

IMO the issue for Creighton has always been defensive intensity. Big Mac knows how to space the floor and put the ball in the hoop. But I've always thought what kept you guys from being a top-top team is your ability to shut teams down. It has always seemed to me that CU just outguns you when they win. With what you can offer offensively, if Mac can get your guys to be rabid defensively, this team could be wearing home whites the first weekend of the NCAA no problem.

This is an interesting theory and definitely reasonable. Creighton's defense was not good in the first two years of the NBE. It was Top 50 last year though.

This year will tell us a lot. They might have their best defense since realignment. Right now, it's projected to be slightly worse than last year. I would presume KenPom thinks post defense will be suspect. I tend to agree until proven otherwise.

[SJHooper]

Will improve:

G'Town (slightly better)
SJ (much better)
Creighton (much better)

Will stay about the same:

Villanova
Xavier
Butler
DePaul

Will likely do worse:

PC (much worse)
SH (slightly worse)
Marquette (slightly worse)

[TAMU Eagle]

Will improve:

G'Town (slightly better)
SJ (much better)
Creighton (much better)

Will stay about the same:

Villanova
Xavier
Butler
DePaul

Will likely do worse:

PC (much worse)
SH (slightly worse)
Marquette (slightly worse)

Curious how you came to the conclusion that Marquette will be worse. They return more production than any other team in the Big East besides Georgetown, they have the number one recruiting class in the conference, and they bring in two impact transfers. KP ranks them at 49 preseason after finishing 95 last season.

My take:

Better:
Creighton
Georgetown
Marquette
St. Johns

Same:
Villanova
Xavier (closer to better then worse)
Seton Hall (closer to worse then better)
Butler

Worse:
Providence
Depaul

[SJHooper]

Losing Ellenson is a big deal...he was a major talent and helped free up Fischer. Now teams will go after Fischer harder. That was my thought process. Any time you lose a lottery caliber NBA player it will hurt you unless your name is Kentucky or Duke. Same with PC. I hope Marquette proves me wrong.