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

[Rum_Ham]

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.

Good point, Seton Hall could easily end up in the top 3 this year. After Nova the league is pretty wide open, I think Xavier will be second but Seton Hall, Georgetown, or Creighton could just as easily end up in second with the talent that those teams have. 5th place seems to be the floor for Seton Hall. In my opinion Creighton and Georgetown brought in more talent so I placed them marginally ahead but they are pretty interchangeable in terms of where they finish.

[TAMU Eagle]

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.

Losing Ellenson hurts (though wasn't unexpected). But it won't hurt as much as you might think. Ellenson was very talented on offense but had very poor shot selection. His efficiency numbers were no bueno and his usage was very high. We will miss him on the boards though. I'm not worried about Fischer. We recruited a lot of shooters and that will take the pressure off him and give him lots of space to work. Reports saying that Fischer dominated Dayton in the post they were to busy trying to cover all the different shooters.

Unscientfic way to put it is:
Ellenson Bros < Howard + Hauser + Rowsey + Reinhardt + Improvement from every returning player

[BigmanU]

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.

Losing Ellenson hurts (though wasn't unexpected). But it won't hurt as much as you might think. Ellenson was very talented on offense but had very poor shot selection. His efficiency numbers were no bueno and his usage was very high. We will miss him on the boards though. I'm not worried about Fischer. We recruited a lot of shooters and that will take the pressure off him and give him lots of space to work. Reports saying that Fischer dominated Dayton in the post they were to busy trying to cover all the different shooters.

Unscientfic way to put it is:
Ellenson Bros < Howard + Hauser + Rowsey + Reinhardt + Improvement from every returning player

Sounds like they'll be starting 1 in 4 out. Is this right?

If so, I still think they'll have major issues on the defensive end especially controlling the boards. One thing about losing Ellenson, hopefully Cheatham has the ball in his hands more often.

[TAMU Eagle]

Sounds like they'll be starting 1 in 4 out. Is this right?

If so, I still think they'll have major issues on the defensive end especially controlling the boards. One thing about losing Ellenson, hopefully Cheatham has the ball in his hands more often.

They will do 4 out 1 in for offense for sure. I'm not as worried about defense. While undersized, they have players like Cohen and Reinhardt who can defend the four well. USC ran a similar lineup and Reinhardt often guarded the post. Cohen was a mess on offense but is a great defender. He completely shut down Nigel Hayes last season in our upset win. Early reports also suggest that they will be running full court defense for all 40 minutes. They have the depth to do it. The drop off from their starters to their 12th man is not that great. And with JJJ, the returning player with the highest steal% in the conference, they will create a lot of turnovers.

Rebounding is the biggest concern. But I'm not sure the drop off will be as bad as you would imagine. Watch any MU possession last season. Once the shot went up, the guards would all run to get back on d or start transition. The rebounding strategy was to let Ellenson and Fischer take care of it. They will use a team rebounding focus this season. There will be a drop off but it will hopefully be negligible.

[FriarJ]

This board has really helped me accept what's ahead this year for the Friars. I honestly don't think they will win a game in the conference. I mean how could we? We lost players!!! I just hope that we can keep our RPI below 250 so we don't damage all the great teams in the conference too much.

[Novachap]

Well played Friar.

[Westbrook#36]

Or the shoe could be on the opposite foot ...

PC fans on this board have really helped me accept what's ahead this year for the Friars and the BE. I honestly don't think they will lose a game in the conference. I mean how could they? They lost no one of any significance what so ever, and return a roster full of proven talent and production!!! I just hope that the rest of the conference can keep our RPI's below 200 so we don't damage this great PC team too much.

[REDMEN1415]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc ... a9a1ef23de

7. St. John’s Red Storm

► What to watch: Marcus LoVett Jr., a heavily recruited point guard who was initially in last season’s class, has gained his eligibility. LoVett will take the reins of the offense from Federico Mussini, a rising sophomore who struggled to orchestrate the team’s offense from the point guard spot. He will be joined by Shamorie Ponds, a four-star 6-1 freshman guard who figures to operate as an undersized off-the-ball shooter. These two players provide the Red Storm with their best recruiting class in recent memory and the best reason for future hope.

► Bottom line: Last season featured significant roster turnover and growing pains as coach Chris Mullin’s newest players integrated. However, the Red Storm talent profile is undoubtedly solid. Rising sophomores Kassoum Yakwe, a forward, and Yanuba Sima, a center, formed one of the best defensive frontcourts in the country and should take a step forward on the offensive end, particularly with stronger guard play around them. It might take another season for them to truly make the jump, but St. John’s return to relevance is quickly approaching.

[FriarJ]

Or the shoe could be on the opposite foot ...

PC fans on this board have really helped me accept what's ahead this year for the Friars and the BE. I honestly don't think they will lose a game in the conference. I mean how could they? They lost no one of any significance what so ever, and return a roster full of proven talent and production!!! I just hope that the rest of the conference can keep our RPI's below 200 so we don't damage this great PC team too much.

That's great but it makes no sense as there is not one PC fan on this board saying anything remotely like that. Not one! However there is post after post stating that PC will have their worst team of the NBE (reasonable) and other posts saying that they will be much worse. So once again your response makes no sense. I see the National Championship hasn't brought any new reasoning skills to the Main Line.

[BigmanU]

I've been anticipating this year for the conference more than any other probably since 96'. I cant help but set the DVR to record all the early season conference games to get a glimpse of each team. I'm interested in seeing all the teams play except 1.

I equate the start of the BEast Hoops season as the start of most peoples NFL season. Conference play are my playoffs and the Big East tourney is my Super Bowl

Maybe I'm too jacked because the season is approaching but, I couldn't help but post this.