Breaking Down Big East Basketball

Tournament Teams

Now we get to the big boys like Villanova (9).  The magic of the 2006-07 campaign has completely worn off for the Wildcats now, and they've fallen to the middle of the pack where they belong.  Look for upsets this season but they're susceptible to bad losses as well.

Look out for Syracuse (8).  Love him or hate him, Jim Boeheim is one of the best coaches in all of college basketball and they're just one year away from getting back on top in the Big East.  His vaunted zone-trap defense is scary good and can completely ruin even the best of scoring offenses.

Marquette (7) will probably fall after the loss of coach Tom Crean to Indiana, but the talent in its back-court will take over and probably get them back to the NCAA tournament.  The tandem of McNeal and James is as good a 1-2 punch as you'll find in the nation.

Georgetown (6) lost too much talent last year to win the regular season title again.  I love what coach Thompson III is doing with that team but losing Roy Hibbert, Jonathan Wallace and Patrick Ewing Jr. will hurt hard.

West Virginia (5) is only going to get better with another year under uber-recruiter Bob Huggins.  Adding Huggins to an already established Big East squad is about as scary as Phil Jackson taking over North Carolina.  He's a fantastic coach with good talent right now.

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