Analyzing the Big East so far

[Mick's Da Man]

At this stage of the game.........the end of November.........here's what is happening so far:

UConn, Pitt, and Notre Dame appear to be the cream of the crop.

Syracuse is better than expected and should move into the top 25 this week.

Georgetown followed a bad loss with a thorough thumping of Maryland by about 30. They are good, but a notch below past seasons. #1 2008 recruit, Greg Monroe has been solid, but nothing spectacular, but many thought he was overrated anyway.

Villanova really hasn't played any team of recognition, but they've beaten everyone soundly. They returned all their starters and actually had no recruits come in this year. Same lineup......but a year wiser and better.

Louisville is overrated, as I predicted they would be. By March, they will be much better, but they lack quality experienced inside play, and they lack the consistent outside shooting that is notable of Pitino teams. They have experience on the outside, but not the scoring.

West Virginia has the same problem. They got outrebounded badly by a bad UK team that turned the ball over 23 times. WVU tends to live and die by the three pointer also. I think they will be middle of the pack and a bubble team for the Big Dance this year. Their prized recruits have yet to shine (Ebanks and Jones).

Marquette returns experience, but McNeal and James have never been very good perimeter threats. Marquette also lacks size and rebounding. I think they are overrated and eventually fall out of the top 25. Another middle of the pack Big East team. Hayward is the real deal though.

Everyone is else is looking up. I think UC has as good a chance as any to improve enough to move beyond the middle of the pack. It's only November and alot of things can happen. I'm glad they got tested this past weekend in Vegas. Several Big East teams have yet to be tested.

[coach]

it's way to early to tell. to many teams, including uc, have to many new parts playing significant minutes, and it will take more games to sort out who can play and who can't play. no one predicted uc to have the kind of start in the big east they had last year.

i haven't seen any comments, and maybe i missed them, on mitchell stepping up and dropping the two three's last night to beat unlv. both he,vaughn and davis struggled to do to much in vegas while the front line was having trouble, but if gates continues to improve thru december, we will be a much improved team, and they're jobs will be easier.

[bearcatbret]

Oh, and do not forget the UConn women just thumped the number 4 team in the country by 30 posting over 100 points. Oops, who cares?

[Bearcat Bob]

Always liked that term.

Off Thread: On my Christmas wish list might include another 1360 Sports Radio like we had in the early 90's. Remember that? It was basically 90% Bearcat Sports. I really think it could work well to a niche market, especially with football big and 700 and 1530's relentless focus on dismal pro teams. It could also include Beast and local high profile HS sports.

I don't think this format failed before. I think 700 basically bought the station to put it out of the sports business and limit competition. Just a word of encouragement to provide some other alternative to Cutler & Co. who spend hours wondering "what's going through John Thornton's head?" or "will Carson have surgery?" Who the frak cares? Just another in a line of Rome wannabees like Furman who tried relentlessly to 'go national' by focusing on only pro sports. Furman was the absolute worst though. I remember when the Bengals were over and Huggins was #1 in the country, and his focus was still on the NFL, giving UC crumbs if anything at all. Good riddance!

To any entertainment entrepreneurs out there, we NEED an alternative. It could even include, gasp, X news. Any thoughts? Could WGUC be talked into reserving a block of programming for talk radio teaching in a local sports format? Sure would make it easy to get interviews on campus.

"There can be only ONE", Bearcat Bob. BSME74