Biggest Surprises so far

[stever20]

Here's another surprise - maybe the biggest of the season lol

ESPN's power rankings include 4 Big East teams in the top 25 (3 in the top 10!)

3. Villanova
8. Xavier
10. Creighton
24. Seton Hall

And that article, under the Seton Hall segment, rightfully refers to the Big East as a power league. Love the respect from Goodman, not that it should be a surprise at this point.

Interesting in that article Goodman said that the hope is Myles Davis returns at the semester break.

[Irishdawg]

Positives:

1 - As mentioned by the SHU fan - Myles Powell has been impressive, and their win at Iowa cemented that they'll be an upper half team in the Big East at the very least.
2 - Creighton - I knew they were going to be good, but they have been devastating early this year. Their starting 5 is as athletic as they come, and they are explosive offensively as Creighton almost always seems to be.
3 - Kamar Baldwin - Not only for hitting the game winner against Northwestern, but he is better than I thought he was going to be this early in his first season. Team hasn't seemed to miss much of a beat even without Kethan Savage who will arguably be their 2nd best scorer once he gets back from pneumonia. Butler's next 3 games (Vandy, possibly Arizona and at Utah) will tell us a lot more about how good they might be.
4 - Georgetown - Not that anything about them is particularly positive at the moment, but I recall when the common train of thought was that unless Villanova, Georgetown and Marquette were all rolling that this league wouldn't be very respectable. Thankfully the rest of the league has made sure that hasn't been the case (even though ESPN still seems surprised).

Negatives:
1 - Georgetown - I feel bad for their players and fans. They still have the player talent to turn things in the right direction, but I don't think anyone's confident that they will.
2 - Xavier - Wins are wins, and maybe once they get Gates and Davis back they'll really start rolling, but something's just been a little off with them so far this season. Good wins against Clemson and UNI though, especially considering how lopsided the foul tally was in the 2nd half of that game against Northern Iowa.
3 - Tying in the Gavitt Games for the 2nd year in a row. Yuck.

[BigmanU]

Georgetown needs to fire JT3 right now

Right now, Mid season, really?

Who exactly are you replacing him with, now?

I'm pretty sure you thought this out. I'm pissed, but the season still has to play out. Firing him now is just making a move to make a move.

At a certain point having one of the assistants run the program would be no worse than JT3 at the helm. We are officially at that point.

JT3 is paid 2.9M for his last name and that's it

I'm done supporting that bum

Dumb philosophy, glad your not in charge. That is a reactionary decision. Why eat 3 million if he has a chance to right the ship. I understand after the season but it makes zero sense to do it mid season when he is implementing a new offensive & defensive philosophy. Who knows, this may be an adjustment period.

What if he rights the ship (i.e. 2013 after Pitt game). You would have fired him and lost a potential game changing recruit in Waters, making a reactionary decision. If the season ends in a crap fest all bets are off. I'll be the first in line holding the pitchfork.

[BEX]

JP Macura - 19ppg/4 reb last week - Xavier's "#3" guard.

[JohnW22]

Georgetown needs to fire JT3 right now

Who do they hire if they do get rid of him? We're always hearing the fire JT3's but I've yet to see a name that they could get and do better than him.

[JohnW22]

Interesting in that article Goodman said that the hope is Myles Davis returns at the semester break.

What's so interesting about it? That he called it the hope instead of the expectation?

[SJHooper]

think the big take away from me and big surprise is how much it feels like Nova, X, and Creighton have split from everyone else. League feels much more top heavy than it has post-split.

Agree to an extent, but I also think that's because it's OOC season. Once we start conference play we will see the dogfights and close matches that will make it seem tighter. I also expect SJ to shock Villanova if for nothing else than the law of averages...maybe I'm crazy but we were overdue for years vs. Cuse and ended that. Even if we don't beat Nova which isn't a big deal anyway, I do expect to knock off 2-3 ranked teams this year. By the way, give Butler their due...it doesn't seem to matter who is on the team, who leaves, what coach they have, etc...they are always at worst a rock solid program and at best a national contender.

[xusandy]

Surprises? Blueitt, Macura, and Sumner are averaging 19.6, 18.6, and 17.6 ppg respectively, and all 3 are averaging over 35 minutes per game. Nobody else has averaged over 7.5 ppg. So we have 3 great 6'6" guards and not much inside! What a strange lineup Mack is now playing, and what will happen if/when the "little" guard (Miles Davis) comes back? And how will the addition of another big (Kaiser Gates, if/when he is able to come back from a pretty serious knee injury impact things. Life is pretty unsettled for us X fans at present!

FWIW, X is holding off on Miles until his court case is resolved. His story: I just went went into my old apartment and took my stuff back. His ex-girlfriend's story: I've filed charges for harassment, breaking and entering my apartment, stealing my stuff, property destruction, etc. etc. Oh my! I have no idea when this will be heard in court, and X has been mum on the subject.

[stever20]

Surprises? Blueitt, Macura, and Sumner are averaging 19.6, 18.6, and 17.6 ppg respectively, and all 3 are averaging over 35 minutes per game. Nobody else has averaged over 7.5 ppg. So we have 3 great 6'6" guards and not much inside! What a strange lineup Mack is now playing, and what will happen if/when the "little" guard (Miles Davis) comes back? And how will the addition of another big (Kaiser Gates, if/when he is able to come back from a pretty serious knee injury impact things. Life is pretty unsettled for us X fans at present!

FWIW, X is holding off on Miles until his court case is resolved. His story: I just went went into my old apartment and took my stuff back. His ex-girlfriend's story: I've filed charges for harassment, breaking and entering my apartment, stealing my stuff, property destruction, etc. etc. Oh my! I have no idea when this will be heard in court, and X has been mum on the subject.

I thought I heard that got resolved last week....

[DudeAnon]

Surprises? Blueitt, Macura, and Sumner are averaging 19.6, 18.6, and 17.6 ppg respectively, and all 3 are averaging over 35 minutes per game. Nobody else has averaged over 7.5 ppg. So we have 3 great 6'6" guards and not much inside! What a strange lineup Mack is now playing, and what will happen if/when the "little" guard (Miles Davis) comes back? And how will the addition of another big (Kaiser Gates, if/when he is able to come back from a pretty serious knee injury impact things. Life is pretty unsettled for us X fans at present!

FWIW, X is holding off on Miles until his court case is resolved. His story: I just went went into my old apartment and took my stuff back. His ex-girlfriend's story: I've filed charges for harassment, breaking and entering my apartment, stealing my stuff, property destruction, etc. etc. Oh my! I have no idea when this will be heard in court, and X has been mum on the subject.

I believe the court case has been resolved. He plead guilty to breaking her phone and got probation for a year.