After losing players like Connecticut’s Hasheem Thabeet and A.J. Price, Pitt’s Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and LeVance Fields, Syracuse’s Jonny Flynn, Louisville’s Terrence Williams and Villanova’s Dante Cunningham to graduation and the NBA Draft, this was supposed to be a “down” year for the Big East.
Hasn’t really worked out that way.
The conference boasts three teams in the top ten of the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll (#3 Villanova, Syracuse and #7 West Virginia), another three in the top 25 (Connecticut, #13 Georgetown and #19 Cincinnati) and several more (Louisville, Notre Dame, St. John’s and Seton Hall) knocking on the door in the “others receiving votes” category.
Connecticut has been on the losing end of a couple of high-profile out-of-conference matchups, dropping games to Kentucky and North Carolina. But Jim Calhoun’s charges will be tougher with the addition of big man Ater Majok, who should become eligible for the second semester.
With excellent teams at the top and a middle tier of teams with out-of-conference wins that will look good on Selection Sunday (Georgetown beat Butler — one of the nation’s best mid-majors, Cincinnati has already beaten Vanderbilt and Maryland and lost in overtime to Gonzaga, and St. John’s has wins over Temple and Siena — tournament teams in 2009) this could be the season the Big East challenges its own record for most teams from a single conference in the NCAA Tournament field.
The Big East sent a record eight teams to the Big Dance in 2006, and equalled that mark in 2008. Seven Big East teams reached the tournament in 2009. Three had number one seeds (Connecticut, Louisville and Pittsburgh) and two (Connecticut and Villanova) reached the Final Four.
Beasts in the East originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 13:29:31.
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