Per Nova twitter.

2 Tickets-- Section E5 Row F
$100 each
Please email boblairdc@gmail.com, if interested

Thanks

What will our record be after 2 games in conference?

In September I certainly didn't think much of Creighton & thought X would be 3rd or 4th in the Big East. Now this is looking like a very tricky 48 hours. If I had to put % on it I would say:

10% 2-0
70% 1-1
20% 0-2

A Saturday night in Omaha has me as worried as X. That place has not been kind to us in our first 2 visits.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
The first two games of the BE season are tonight and they are essentially toss-ups:

Seton Hall @ Marquette 7PM Fox Sports 1
Georgetown @ DePaul 9PM Fox Sports 1

The remainder of the Big East teams begin their conference schedule tomorrow:

Xavier @ Villanova Noon Fox Sports 1
Creighton @ St. John's 2:00 Fox Sports 1
Providence @ Butler 2:30 CBS Sports Network

On Saturday there is a quintuple header as all 5 teams play their 2nd games:

DePaul @ Seton Hall 11AM Fox Sports 1
Butler @ Xavier 1PM Fox Sports 1
St. John's @ Providence 3:30 PM Fox Sports 1
Marquette @ Georgetown 5:30 PM Fox Sports 1
Villanova @ Creighton 10 PM Fox Sports 1

OOC:
Six league teams were able to post between 10 and 12 out-of-conference wins with a handful of OOC games remaining for league teams:

Georgetown @ UConn (25 Jan)
Marquette vs Stetson (27 Jan)
Villanova @ Temple (17 Feb)

TEAM NOTES:

Xavier
Strengths: Playing well defensively, Rebounding, Offensive balance
Weaknesses: Offense can be a bit too perimeter focused

Villanova
Strengths: Team chemistry, sharing the ball, balance, solid on O and D
Weaknesses: Can be beat on the defensive glass, don't get to the FT line consistently, 3-point shooting %

Butler
Strengths: Offensive efficiency and balance. Lot of guys who can share and score the ball.
Weaknesses: Defense doesn't create turnovers or intimidate opponents

Providence
Strengths: great inside-outside combo, National POY-level player that can dominate late in games, solid on both ends of floor
Weaknesses: Don't get to the FT line with frequency, not a good deep shooting team, depth is a ?, consistency of the support cast

Marquette
Strengths: Defense has good length and speed combo and has gelled earlier than anticipated, team is young - there is upside
Weaknesses: Young guards have been turning the ball over too frequently, offensive efficiency is quite average despite having two bigs that can score it.

Seton Hall
Strengths: solid starting core, more balanced offense than in recent seasons (still Whitehead-centric), strong O-board team
Weaknesses: Turnover prone, poor FT shooting, can be beat on the defensive glass, depth

Georgetown
Strengths: Senior leadership of DSR, FT shooting
Weaknesses: Inconsistent, ball-handling, guard depth, rebounding, defense is average

Creighton
Strengths: Offensive efficiency is high, team shares ball well and gets good looks
Weaknesses: The defense is mediocre and doesn't create turnovers, FT shooting, allow opponents to make a high % of 3s

DePaul
Strengths: They get to the FT line on offense and have some offensive firepower
Weaknesses: Poor defense, don't pressure opponents, don't take care of the ball, don't create turnovers, they accept losing too easily and don't play hard

St. John's
Strengths: Good 2PFG defense that can clog the paint and defend well
Weaknesses: One of the worst offenses in the country, poor shooting team, poor ball-handling team, don't create turnovers, allow opponents to make a high % of 3s

PREDICTED STANDINGS:

THE TOP TIER
The battle for first place should be waged by Villanova and Xavier - both teams are in the kenpom and RPI top 10 and are playing well offensively and defensively. Butler seems to be a clear choice to place third but will be challenged by Providence - the Bulldogs offense has been quite efficient but their defense is not up to par with that of 'Nova and X. If Butler can improve defensively as the season progresses, they could challenge for 1st or 2nd in the conference. Providence has a very effective inside-outside combo with Kris Dunn and Ben Bentil but needs more consistency from the supporting cast. The Friars play hard and have demonstrated they can compete with high level teams like Arizona and Michigan St.

1. Xavier (has the least number of question marks at this stage)
2. Villanova (rebounding and defensive questions linger, shooting a lot of 3s while not making a decent % of them)
3. Butler (rugged team that needs to amp up the D while continuing to share it on O)
4. Providence (teams will pack it in against them - can they get balanced scoring and make enough jumpers to open up defenses)

THE MUDDLE (MUDDY MIDDLE)
Any of these teams could finish from 5th to 8th - but is unlikely to finish any higher or lower than that.
5. Seton Hall (best blend of offense / defense from the middle group & nearest thing to a take-over guy)
6. Marquette (most upside of this middle group - will the young guards trend upwards quickly enough to garner 5th?, probably a year away from contending for the upper division of the league)
7. Georgetown (an enigma, which Hoya team shows up?, the talent is there to finish 5th, the lack of ball skills and inconsistent shooting is a concern)
8. Creighton (surprising offense - perhaps not enough defense to finish at the top end of this middle group)

THE BOTTOM FEEDERS
9. DePaul (a team with some talent that is too content with losing and doesn't get after it on defense for 40 minutes)
10. St. John's (young team that lacks offensive talent)

Need 3, but would take 4 to not break up a set.

rbn136@yahoo.com

I know its late but have two text to 856.371.3865

Call me if interested. No charge. 610-399-3763

from zags

Beatty told SNY.tv that UCLA, Arizona State, Georgetown, Villanova, La Salle and Maryland are working the hardest.You

...with another I ranked opponent.

Penn State up 60 to 57 on Maryland's floor with 4:25 left to play

Big game for mental advantage going forward. Who ya got?

ESPN NBA writer Zach Lowe had Kyle Lowry on his podcast yesterday. No specific Nova mentions but a great listen, about a half hour long.

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=10528553

WE ARE TEN AND TWO...16th in AMERICA......JUST WONDERING IF YOU COULD QUICKLY GIVE A GRADE TO EACH OF OUR PLAYERS FOR THE PRE BIG EAST PART OF THE SEASON OR SIMPLY PUT THE IST TWELVE GAMES....WHO IS YOUR MVP..SO FAR...."...I ASKED THIS EXACT QUESTION LAST YEAR AT THE EXACT TIME....AND THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE BOARD CHOSE DYLAN ENNIS...AS MVP PRE BIG EAST......JUST WANT TO SEE HOW IT WILL CHANGE AT SEASONS END.... THIS YEAR.....ANYONE CAN JOIN IN.......

i know Roscoe Harris was stabbed to death.

How did Art Quarterman die again?

Anyone have an extra? Was trying to find 2 together but will have to settle for 1+1.

justin.kundrat@gmail.com

Thanks!

These are the latest Sagarin ratings.

Team. . . . . . . . . . . . . Schedule Rank. . . Record. . . Sagarin Rating. . . Comment
#1 Xavier. . . . . . . . . . 55. . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-0. . . . . . 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . OOC done
#2 DePaul. . . . . . . . . 73. .. . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6. . . . . . 115. . .. . . . . . . . . OOC done
#3 Villanova. . . . . . . . 102. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-2. . . .. 13. . . . . . . . . . . . At Temple -Feb. 17
#4 Providence . . . . . . 161 . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-1 . . . . . 27 . . . . . . . . . . . OOC done
#5 Georgetown . . . . . 180 . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-5 . . . . . .78 . . . . . . . . . . . At UConn - Jan. 23
#6 Seton Hall . . . .. . . . 254 . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-2 . . . . 48 . . .. . . . . . . . . OOC done
#7 St. John's . . . . . . . . 257 . . . . . . . . . .. . 6-6 . . . . . 203 . . . . . . . . . . OOC done
#8 Butler . . . . . .. . .. . . 263. . . . . . . . . . . . 11-1. . . . . 11. . . . .. . . . . . . OOC done
#9 Creighton . . . . .. . . 300. ..............…......9-4 ..........62. .....................OOC done
#10 Marquette. ............343. .......................10-2. .......68. ...................... Stetson - Jan. 27

2/20.

...

1. DO is only going to be so good...and that is pretty good. I expected for him to be at 13-15 PPG at this point in the season and he is not. Still shooting an excellent % but he just is not that aggressive at demanding the ball.

2. Jenkins is struggling with his game...as is Booth. Their 3FG% is way below where any of us expected. I have no doubt that both will play better in the BE.

3. Bridges has been a very pleasant surprise. In the preseason I noticed a hitch in his shot from 3FG, which has resulted in him shooting about 28% from 3FG, he has done so many other things on the court that are positive. His long arms are very disrupting on defense. He also has shown a very good ability to take the ball to the hoop, primarily on the baseline. He is going to be a big player for this team in the future. With Pascall, Painter and Spellman, the front line is in good shape for the future.

4. Archie has played well and we still haven't seen his three pointer get red hot like it has in each of the previous BE seasons.

5. Brunson has been pretty damn good also. He will have the ups and downs of a frosh, but he shows so much of that Scottie Reynolds craftiness, he is a pleasure to watch.

6. Hart has been exactly what we all thought after last season. Just a damn good player on both ends of the court.

7. Reynolds has done what has been asked. He has been limited with the ankle injury, but he seemed full strength against Penn. He is the backup center that DO has needed.

8. The D is not great, but solid. Give it time. Made three pointers have killed this team in each of their losses.

9. The O has been up and down. They still haven't strung together two solid halves against a decent opponent. Against the good teams, there have been long lapses of points, that allow the opponent to run away. Missed three pointers have killed this team in each of their losses.

Going forward, this team will face much stiffer competition in the improved BE this year.

The team is good, with the likelihood that they will continue to get better with Bridges becoming more experienced and PB and KJ improving their shooting percentages. There are not a whole lot of unanswered questions with this teams individual players. The questions are can they gel defensively and avoid dry spells on D?

Why would someone with his notoriety have to drug women for sex?....seems to me that he could just hang around a Lounge and attract fish?

One ticket for Xavier available - face value @ $30 - section NB row 3 -

Call Dave @ cell, 610.587.8690

...that recruiting cycle where we missed out on the "bigs" that went to Syracuse, Michigan State and NC State, respectively.

We are left naked both offensively and defensively whenever Danny O has to come out of the game.

I am taking the Family to Nashville for NYE celebration. Anyone else in town want to get together for game watch somewhere?

21 - 14 after a 100 yd INT. First time Eagles ever intercepted Brady.
BTW Lot 8 I feel your pain brother. NOT.

Section E-5 Row E.
Contact Bob: kulesherr@ecu.edu

Thanks to all who contacted me. It was quite an event.

Talk about a tough OOC sked. TX Southern plays their first 13 games at either neutral location or on the road. Jeez, what did the HC do to piss off the AD? Not one home game yet.

Just using the team to pick up some guarantee pay checks.