When sophomore Mike Coburn plays well, he really plays well—scoring in the high teens and grabbing rebounds and providing assists. When he’s off, though, he’s really off. The experience of being a sophomore should help him and he will hopefully step up and provide the leadership that is missing for this team. Center Hamady N’diaye improved his game a lot last season in every category, and he should be stronger again this year.

The Bad
Inman and Farmer are suspended, and while it may give the team the spark it needs, it will more likely hurt them because of the offensive void it will provide. Whenever these two do return, though, they should help the Scarlet Knights a lot.

The Bottom Line
The Scarlet Knights have the ability to play in big games an win—they beat a ranked Villanova team and a ranked Pittsburgh team back-to-back last season. If they can find consistency in their game and play the way they did there all the time, they stand a chance of doing decently in the Big East this season.

Seton Hall Pirates

Coach: Bobby Gonzalez
2007-2008 Record: 7-11 (17-15)
AP Rank: NR
Coaches: NR

Overview
After losing their first three Big East games last season to ranked opponents, the Pirates went on to win five straight and stand at 5-3 after eight (even beating a ranked Louisville team during that run).

Unfortunately, they then had a very tough Big East schedule and lost five in a row to the Big East powerhouse teams. Coach Gonzalez is hoping to avoid that this year, but only time will tell if he will be able to as the Pirates are facing four ranked teams in their first seven Big East games.

The Good
Two transfers are looking to get involved this year for the Pirates, former Atlantic 10 rookie of the year Robert Mitchell and Jamel Jackson, a guard who averaged 24.5 points per game his freshman year with Technical Career Institute. Sophomore Jeremy Hazell is back in the starting lineup after averaging 12.8 points per game and hitting 33 percent of his three point attempts.

The Bad
The Pirates lost top scorer Brian Laing to the Euro basketball league, which hopefully will not affect the Pirates too negatively. The big question mark currently on the team is senior Paul Gause, who was injured mid-last season and will hopefully be back in full form.

The Bottom Line
If the Pirates can put together a string of wins like they did last year at the beginning of last season and then just hold on, they will end up in the middle of the Big East bunch, which is nothing to be ashamed of. They are a team with the potential to win big games, and it is up to Coach Gonzalez to get them to utilize that potential.

South Florida Bulls

Coach: Stan Heath
2007-2008 Record: 3-15 (12-19)
AP Rank: NR
Coaches: NR

Overview

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