Eight Big East Teams Placed In AP Top 25 Poll

After losing 78-60 to Villanova, Albany's head coach, Will Brown gave his opinions on the game during the post-game press conference which not only compliemented Villianova head coach, Jay Wright's Wildcats, but the entire Big East Conference.

"You just have so little room for error against Big East schools," said Brown, "especially the good ones."

The 'good ones' in the Big East are difficult to separate from the 'bad ones' this season, while all sixteen teams in the conference have started out their season .600 or better, and eight of those teams are currently ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll.

While the rankings may be a success for the conference as a whole, Big East Commissioner, Mike Tranghese is worried.

"I've always said our league is great for fans and the media, but it's a brutal league for coaches to keep on winning.  Now I think everyone will be taking a shot at us because so much has been written about our league.  But the great thing is, there is a tournament to decide the national champion at the end of the year."

No. 2 Connecticut and No. 3 Pittsburgh have shown they are both legitimate Final Four contenders.

Connecticut senior forward, Jeff Adrien believes that this is the year for the Huskies to win it all.

"We're a veteran team," said Adrien.  "We feel good out there.  We're ready to get this started."

After a loss to the Panthers in November, Tom Green, head coach of Fairleigh Dickinson expressed his amazement with head coach Jamie Dixon's team.

"I've been coaching [at Fairleigh Dickinson] for 25 years, I've been to three NCAA tournaments, and I've never seen a man-to-man defense like this.  This is the best defense I've ever coached against.

"They played the ball; they blitzed.  It was incredible...They played physical; they execute plays well; they passed the ball; they shared it well; they looked for the open man.  This team looks like they're in mid-season form."

Along with No. 2 Connecticut, No. 3 Pittsburgh, No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 11 Louisville, No. 16 Syracuse, No. 17 Villanova, No. 20 Georgetown and No. 25 Marquette, Seton Hall has also shown that it will be a contender as well when conference play begins after upsetting both Southern Cal and Virginia Tech in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Championship Tournament.