Big East
Big East's teams, coaches and style of play.
Sign of the times: The South Florida will probe the “issues” raised by an AOL Fanhouse report of numerous violations at the school. Ignoring Internet stories like this used to be easy. No longer.
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It’s a good thing Lance Stephenson moved on from his “Born Ready” nickname. It didn’t apply in his debut.
Cincinnati’s 6-5 guard is billed as one of the nation’s impact freshmen (fell for it), but there are no words for opening with a 7-point, 4-rebound performance against Prairie View A&M. The Bearcats won the game (barely), otherwise you’d be reading about UCLA and Cincy stumbling on Monday.
As for Stephenson – 2-10 from the field, 0-3 beyond the arc and 1 turnover in 22 minutes – there’s an explanation.
Kid was nervous.
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Roy Williams likes to say his name doesn’t belong in the same sentence as Dean Smith. When North Carolina won its fifth NCAA tournament last spring – its second under Williams, matching Smith’s total – he continually deflected attention from himself to his school and his players.
“Roy Williams is not that good,” he said last April. “But Ole Roy has got some big-time players and that’s what it takes.”
Well, chalk up another big-time player. Another title may follow.
Harrison Barnes – perhaps the nation’s No. 1 recruit – committed to North Carolina on Friday. "He's the most complete offensive player in the country,” says Paul Biancardi, Scouts Inc.'s national recruiting director.
That gives the Tar Heels two of the Top 10 prospects and three of the top 32 in the class of 2010, according to Rivals.com.
It’s generally acknowledged that places like UNC don’t rebuild after winning a championship, they reload. But this is getting ridiculous.
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Villanova’s dynamite recruiting class is one reason why the Wildcats are a Final Four favorite and favored to win the Big East. Adding two elite guards and a power forward like Mouphtaou Yarou should be enough to offset the losses of guys like Dante Cunningham and Shane Clark to make another NCAA tournament run.
But ‘Nova may have just hit a speed bump. Turns out Yarou may not be eligible to play.
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The list of men’s Division One coaches who’ve reached 800 career victories is a short one.
But the list of coaches who’ve done it faster than Jim Boeheim is even shorter.
Syracuse’s coach reached his “great milestone” Monday with a 75-48 win against Albany. It was the 1,088th game of his career. In 33 seasons, he’s won at least 20 games 31 times.
Few coaches are more consistent winners.
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Anyone who thought Syracuse wouldn’t miss a beat after losing Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris from last season’s 28-10 squad (I’m staring at you, coaches’ poll), was served a nice, cold glass of reality Tuesday.
Le Moyne College 82, Syracuse 79.
It was only an exhibition game, but still. Le Moyne is a D-II school of about 2,800 kids in Syracuse. That’s gonna be a brutal one to for the local TV, paper and radio.
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It’s been 25 years since Villanova staged one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
Now, they’re coming off a 30-8 season, a Final Four, have a dynamic freshman class and are picked to win the Big East by the coaches and media.
If they win an NCAA title this season, it’ll be far from an upset.
But it's not going to be a smooth ride, either.
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Syracuse is trying to replace its three top scorers/players from last season. It’s no easy task, especially when one of them was star point guard Jonny Flynn, the No. 6 overall pick in the NBA draft.
Then again, maybe it won’t be that hard.
The Orange started freshman Brandon Triche during an exhibition win last weekend against Cal State-Los Angeles, while redshirt sophomore Scoop Jardine also nabbed some minutes.
Their line: 14 assists, zero turnovers.
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A year after arguments were made about the Big East being perhaps the best conference ever, the 16-team league is now talking about parity. How’s that for a one-year swing?
The conference’s coaches are giving fair warning: don’t expect more this year. You know, like three No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, five teams in the Sweet 16 and four in the Elite Eight – all Big Dance firsts.
"Last year was the best year that I think any league has ever had in terms of teams top to bottom," said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim.
Instead, last year’s top teams are gonna be a little worse, and the bottom feeders aren’t gonna be as bad.
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Maybe the Big East coaches and the media people who cover them aren’t so different. Turns out they see eye-to-eye on pretty much everything regarding preseason basketball.
Both think Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody is the player of the year.
The league’s top three teams are (in this order) Villanova, West Virginia and Connecticut. DePaul is the worst (again).
But there's one major difference.
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