2017-18 Big East Rankings

[xusandy]

Ain't counting chickens here, just marveling that we STILL seem to be improving as a league.

Case in point, Lunardi's way-too-early bracketology projection for next season has 6 of our teams in the field: Nova at a 2, Butler at a 5, Seton Hall at a 6, Xavier at a 7, Creighton at a 9, and Providence in a play-in game at an 11. BTW, he's assuming (I think) that Patton leaves Creighton and that Blueitt leaves Xavier.

But wait, there's more: Marquette and St. John's also seem to me have pretty pretty damn good cores coming back. Now I know it's flat out impossible to get 8 teams from the Big East in the field (somebody has to lose a bunch of tossups), but still.....

[BEXU]

Would love to win the BE someday. Injuries can screw things up. 2nd? Fifth? Get in the frickin' Dance and Advance. Nobody cares who was 2nd, 3rd, 5th. 7th when the Dance starts. Tournament Runs! That's where it's at!

[brewcity77]

1) Villanova: Jay Wright simply reloaded. Bridges & Brunson both have BEPOY potential.
2) Xavier: Assuming Blueitt comes back. Started figuring it out without Sumner, should be a force next year.
3) Seton Hall: Assuming Delgado comes back. Experienced & tough, last run with this class.
4) Marquette: Offense will still be efficient, defense almost has to be better.
5) Providence: Return everyone from a solid, not spectacular team. Expect them to be solid, not spectacular again.
6) Butler: Lost a ton, though Chris Holtmann always manages to overachieve.
7) Creighton: Patton is a big loss. Joseph might be okay, but he didn't produce like Watson at his first stop. They'll have to show me before I'm a believer.
8) St. John's: I for one don't think 8 in the NCAAs is impossible, and I could easily see the Johnnies 2-3 spots higher, but the league is just so good.
9) DePaul: Losing Garrett is addition by subtraction. Moving (barely) up the table.
10) Georgetown: No Pryor, no Peak, no chance. Ewing might turn it around, but this year he's in a car that is already mid-air off the cliff.

[jfan]

1) Villanova: Jay Wright simply reloaded. Bridges & Brunson both have BEPOY potential.
2) Xavier: Assuming Blueitt comes back. Started figuring it out without Sumner, should be a force next year.
3) Seton Hall: Assuming Delgado comes back. Experienced & tough, last run with this class.
4) Marquette: Offense will still be efficient, defense almost has to be better.
5) Providence: Return everyone from a solid, not spectacular team. Expect them to be solid, not spectacular again.
6) Butler: Lost a ton, though Chris Holtmann always manages to overachieve.
7) Creighton: Patton is a big loss. Joseph might be okay, but he didn't produce like Watson at his first stop. They'll have to show me before I'm a believer.
8) St. John's: I for one don't think 8 in the NCAAs is impossible, and I could easily see the Johnnies 2-3 spots higher, but the league is just so good.
9) DePaul: Losing Garrett is addition by subtraction. Moving (barely) up the table.
10) Georgetown: No Pryor, no Peak, no chance. Ewing might turn it around, but this year he's in a car that is already mid-air off the cliff.

This actually looks about right. Depending on who leaves on some of the other teams, there might be additional movement. Creighton has two scollies now and depending on who they get, they could go as high as 4th. They would have to get players that would play and help immediately. We have a big gap in the middle and no natural 5. Epperson will be good at some point, but he needs time!

[milksteak]

No love for Marquette, they had 2 stud freshmen this year.

Late to respond to this, but they lose three of their top-five scorers. But that's not even the most grim thing they will face next year. I think Marquette is going to really struggle on the glass in 2017-2018.

[MUBoxer]

No love for Marquette, they had 2 stud freshmen this year.

Late to respond to this, but they lose three of their top-five scorers. But that's not even the most grim thing they will face next year. I think Marquette is going to really struggle on the glass in 2017-2018.

Umm you know the team is actually getting taller next year?

[hilltopalum]

1. Villanova
2. Providence
3. Butler
4. Hall
5. Xavier
6. Creighton
7. St. John's
8. Marquette
9. G'Town
10. DePaul

[hilltopalum]

No love for Marquette, they had 2 stud freshmen this year.

Late to respond to this, but they lose three of their top-five scorers. But that's not even the most grim thing they will face next year. I think Marquette is going to really struggle on the glass in 2017-2018.

I agree. I love Howard and Hauser, but what made Marquette so dangerous is their ability to bring Reinhart and Fischer off bench at the end of the year. those guys dominated other teams benches. I don't see them having that depth this year, so far. Wojo has mastered the grad transfer thing.

[BEXU]

That's some powerful stuff you're either smokin' or snortin' over there, Hoya33. (1) Creighton without Patton is still clearly a top half team in the league, and (2) Xavier without Blueitt will ONLY have 4 returning starters and ONLY 4 4-star recruits coming in. The Hoyas will have ....... hope. You probably got DePaul right though.

Regarding your point on Xavier I remember a Marquette team that went to the Elite 8 and had four starters coming back and a top 10 recruiting class coming in picked first in this new league... didn't work out too well for us so if I were you I'd never count my chickens before they hatch.

Was Mack coaching them?

https://twitter.com/TitanicHoops/status ... 6331834368

[brewcity77]

No love for Marquette, they had 2 stud freshmen this year.

Late to respond to this, but they lose three of their top-five scorers. But that's not even the most grim thing they will face next year. I think Marquette is going to really struggle on the glass in 2017-2018.

The only one of the three Marquette will really miss is Reinhardt. Matt Heldt started and earned more minutes than Fischer in 5 of our last 7 games. JJ and Duane Wilson were our two least offensively efficient players. Duane's defense will be missed, but JJ's won't be. Marquette should be definitely improve on the back end. And we replace 6'2", 6'5", 6'5", and 6'11" with 6'4" Elliott, 6'7" Cain, 6'9" John, 6'10" Eke, and 6'11" Froling.