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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 59040, member: 289"] THE BIG EAST- Feburary Saturday 2/4/12 Noon at St. John’s Steve Lavin, the former UCLA coach, was hired to revived this once-proud program. He, in turn, hired his mentor, former Purdue coach Gene Keady, to be his assistant. Those two guys had 695 career wins between them, (of course our guy had 829 wins between him.) Lavin/Keady got the team back up to 21 wins and a spot in the NCAA tournament, their best season in nine years. They had nine seniors on the roster, however and have lost 965 of their scoring and 98% of their rebounding. But Lavin had a huge recruiting haul that had 6 top 100 recruits and a JUCO All-American. Unfortunately three of those players, forward Jakarr Sampson and Amir Garrett and center Norvell Pelle were declared academically ineligible. Lavin is trying to get them readmitted for the spring semester. That leaves him with 8 scholarship players and Lavin had a try-out for walk-ons to fill out the roster. He’s got the wonderfully named God’sgift Achiuwa, a 6-9 240 forward who was the JUCO AA. 6-3 guard Nurideen Lindsay almost broke Wilt Chamberlain’s scoring record at Overbrook High in Philadelphia. Then there are guards Phil Greene and D’Angelo Harrison and forwards Maurice Harkless and another great name guy, Sir’Dominic, (one word) pointer. But Achiuwa and the 6-8 Harkless are the only two players over 6-7. It’s going to be a rough year in Queens but the future is still bright. Wednesday 2/8/12 7PM at the Carrier Dome Georgetown The saddest thing about the jump to the ACC is that this legendary series will be coming to an end, although we may be scheduling them for non-conference games. Still, it‘s not the same. The series was reinvigorated when John Thompson III became the coach in 2004. JB is 6-5 against him, including a 56-64 loss in the Dome last year. But it was a disappointing 21-11 team last year, one that got badly beaten by Virginia Commonwealth in the NCAAs. They lost either best player, Austin Freeman and point guard Chris Wright. Their other guard, Jason White hit 42% from three point range two seasons ago but fell to 35% last year. Thompson has brought in a class of five freshman for what should be a rebuilding year. Saturday 2/11/12 1PM at the Carrier Dome Connecticut This is another rivalry that would be tough to lose but I have a feeling the Huskies will wind up in the ACC when they go to 16. Last year Jim Calhoun won his third national championship. It was most unexpected as the Huskies had finished 9th in the conference with a 9-9 record. They had to win five games in five nights to win the Big east tournament, an unprecedented feat, (the McNamara run was 4 in four). They played tremendous defense down the stretch, giving up only 56 points a game in the NCAA tournament and holding Butler to 41 points on an anemic 19% from the field in the ugliest NCAA final ever. We beat this team 66-58 in their own place and lost to them in overtime in the Big East tournament, 71-76, so it was hard to watch them winning another national title. The Huskies may have been the “worst national champion ever” but I wouldn‘t mind it if someday SU was called that after coming out of the blue to win another one. The Huskies no longer have Kemba Walker, who had another season of eligibility remaining but headed for the NBA instead. Walker, who averaged 23.5 points and was a great clutch player, can’t be replaced. But he wasn’t the only reason they won it all. 6-5 Jeremy Lamb scored 16.2 as a freshman and will now be the team’s “go-to” guy. Shabazz Napier was a defensive force at point guard. But the big thing was their big men, a youthful group, (much like SU’s three guys this year), who grew up in a hurry at the end of the season. 6-9 240 Alex Oriahki led the conference in rebounding and had a double -double in the national title game. 6-8 205 Roscoe Smith scored in double figures 12 times. There’s also 6-9 225 Tyler Olander. Calhoun also landed a top recruit, 6-8 195 forward DeAndre Daniels. If our young big men haven’t developed like Connecticut’s did last year, this is a team that could take advantage of it. Monday 2/13/12 7PM at Louisville Rick Pitino has owned Jim Boeheim in recent years, beating him 7 straight times, including our great 2009-10 team twice. Pitino was very vocal in his opposition to SU and Pitt leaving the conference, (even though Louisville is trying to get into the Big 12 themselves), and he will want to give us quite a send-off. Last year an injury-plagued year ended with a 25-10 record, 12-6 in the conference. But it ended with a first round NCAA loss to Morehead State, (no jokes, please). Three starters return and a fourth who sat out last year with his injury. Peyton Silva is an excellent passer and defender. Chris Smith shot 40% from three point range. Kyle Kuric after burning SU for 22 points as a little-used reserve two years ago shot 45% from the arc and scored 15.1ppg in the team’s last 13 games. Jared Swopshire, a 6-8 forward comes back from a groin injury after averaging 7.5 points and 6.1 rebounds two years ago. He will give them a much-needed inside presence. They are also an excellent defensive team, holding their last nine opponents to 36% shooting and 61 ppg. Sunday 2/19/11 1PM at Rutgers They are another school that may resent the Orange’s move to the ACC ad yet may follow us there someday. They’ve never been very good at basketball since they joined the Big East. Last year they were 15-17 and 5-13 in the conference. But six of their losses were by 5 points or less and it took overtime for SU to beat them in the Dome. And their home court is one of the toughest places to play in the conference. They have no double figure scorers returning but forwards Dane Miller (9.2) and Gilvydas Biruta, (9.6) were close and Coach Mike Rice has brought in a top recruiting class headed by 6-9 Kadeem Jack. Wednesday 2/22/12 TBA at the Carrier Dome South Florida The Bulls were brought into the conference to replace Miami in football and competing in basketball has been a struggle. Last year they were 10-23 and 3-15 in the conference. But they get 6 of their top 7 scorers back. But their point guard, Anthony Crater, was dismissed from the team for rules violations. Their best player is 6-10 245 Augustus Gilchrist, (13.4 points, 6.0 rebounds). Saturday 2/25/12 9PM at Connecticut See 2/11/12. Saturday 3/3/12 4PM in the Carrier Dome Louisville See 2/13/12. Overall, I don’t think the Big East will be quite as good as last season. Last year we didn’t have any great teams but we had enough depth to set a record with 11 NCAA invites and to have the 9th place team win the national championship. I don’t think we will have that many NCAA worthy teams this year, (and there is likely to be a reaction against having eleven of them) and with SU with it‘s serious questions up front and Connecticut without Kemba Walker being co-favorites, I‘m not sure if we have a powerhouse team. But apparently you don’t need one to win it all any more. We’ve only won the Big East outright twice so that would be a reasonable goal. The post season, as always is a great unknown. [/QUOTE]

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