BIG EAST MOST EXCITING?

[muskieman]

http://www.todaysu.com/big-east/big-eas ... onference/

[olsingledigit]

Can't wait for the season to start.

[bleedXblue]

2 POY candidates. I want to win the conference this year period......

[Pandinus]

I agree. Conference title needs to be paramount. Would be great to oust Villanova as top dog.

Anyway, with the BE title will come an automatic 1 or 2 seed.

[X-lucidity]

I read the last post from 'digit', and had to smile. Not picking on Oldsingle at all here, just struck me that now our expectations are to be in the running for a 1 or 2 seed...... Let that sh!# sink in. Hey, he has a point, which makes it all the more surreal. Might I just share one prime concern I have going into this year. (aside the weighty amount of chips we are placing on Rashid Gaston)
That being, are defensive capabilities this coming season. Gates is thin, Tre is Tre, then we have Sean and Rashid to protect the paint? Can we really expect the two Frosh to learn the dirty ropes down low to help with the pack-line concept. On the perimeter we have: A green Frosh, a slow-footed Myles, J.P. and a very slight Edmond... Offense sells tickets but it is always "D" that earns the hardware. I like our potential, just wondering how we may handle opponents that can score the ball well.

[SC in DC]

Good observation, and may be why we are looking at a can't shoot 5th yr transfer. But a 101-97 win is always a good game! Just not sure that will work in the post-season.

[kyzrex]

The way the rules are written and enforced in today's college basketball, man on man defense is a lot harder to play than it used to be. The emphasis seems to be on opening up the game and stopping a lot of the physical action that took place in the past. There will always be a place for large, tough, physical players down low, but the need for quick, fast, long players on the outside has never been greater. When you combine the new shot clock with the current application of the rules that allows less physical interaction, I believe there will continue to be more and more emphasis on playing a ZONE type defense, and on players that can succeed in such a system. "Protecting the paint" against players with little or no talent, expereience, or desire to play down low is not as difficult as it was when real centers dominated the game. The need for a dominate defensive presence down low is not what it once was. Seems to me that Mack is concentrating on recruiting taller shooters and spending less time on trying to get penetrating drivers or huge players that can't move and run.