The Beast That Is The Big East: Four Teams That Are Screwed For 2008-2009

It's been said once, it'll be said a million times this basketball season, the Big East conference is the greatest collection of teams ever.

It's a fact because when looking at the top nine teams, there are nine NCAA Tournament teams. Notre Dame, UCONN, Louisville, and Pitt will be in the preseason top ten while Villanova and Marquette will float around in the top 20 and Georgetown, Syracuse, and West Virginia are top 30 teams.

But that's only nine teams. What about the other seven?

Four of the remaining seven teams are in a position to take a giant step forward, but the gaggle of powerful teams at the top of the conference could prevent these teams from moving forward.

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Providence is the poster boy for constant conference whippings. The Friars are the only one of the original Big East teams to never win the regular season conference title. For the first time in a long time, PC finally has the players to compete for a conference championship. 

Now it may seem like a pretty bold statement, but in a normal year, PC would probably rank fourth or fifth in the conference which means saying they are a conference contender a legitimate statement.

But in 2009, this solid collection of players will at best get the Friars a seventh place finish in the Big East. In essentially any other conference, PC would be projected to finish third or fourth, but not in the Big East. They are projected to finish 10th.

But being 10th in the Big East in 2009 might actually be good enough to go to an NCAA Tournament. Providence should turn itself around from its 15-16 record a year ago to win over 20 games. They won despite not having their best guard Sharaud Curry who sat out all but one game due to injury.

PC returns all but one player. That's four players who averaged double-digit points. That's seven players who played at least ten minutes per game. That's a team loaded with five seniors, two juniors, and three sophomores.

It's a team with a phenomenal coach. Mid-rate coach Tim Walsh was fired after ten so-so seasons in favor of Drake's savior Keno Davis. The new PC coach should be able to work the same magic he did with Drake which was also a very deep, experienced team.

Providence is going to beat a lot of tough teams in 2009, so don't be surprised when the Friars hear their name called on Selection Sunday.

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Rutgers has finally dipped into the good New York and New Jersey talent. Somehow, someway, the Scarlet Knights brought in two stellar freshmen that will eventually be stars in the Big East. With the strength of the conference, having two future stars says a lot.

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