DAVE Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 What do you guys think about DePaul going into the Big East next year? Facing top ranked teams will probably be a challenge for them since they have a hard time dominating C-USA as it is. I mean, they have a respectable record, but if they can't take out Memphis or Cincinatti, how are they gonna beat teams like Syracuse or UCONN? Do you think they have much of a chance to compete? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buehrle>Wood Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 The Big East isn't what its cracked up to be. Should be a hard transtition, but not a tough one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fotop Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 QUOTE(Hall of Famer @ Jan 30, 2005 -> 08:31 PM) The Big East isn't what its cracked up to be. Should be a hard transtition, but not a tough one. Well that's quite the blanket statement, isn't it?. The past five years, the Big East have sent a ton of teams to the tourney and have won 2 National Titles in the last four years...it might be three. They are a consistent force in the tourney with many teams making the Sweet 16. This year they'll probably send 6 teams, if everything works out right and they send about that pretty much every year. Top to bottom this year, the Big East could be argued as the best conference in America. The ACC hasn't lived up to the hype, plus the few bottom feeders in the ACC are really bad (VT for example). The SEC is a solid conference, but again lacks on the low-end. The Big 10 is extremely overrated, always has been, but they get enough press to choke a horse around here so I won't talk about them much. In the Big East any team can lose any one of their games. St. John's is probably the worst team in the league and they put up a fight every game they play. Blow outs are rare, and it's damn hard to win on the road. Really, the Big East gets the shaft when it comes to "who's the best conference" talk. BC is undefeated still; Uconn, Pitt, and Syracuse can match up with pretty much any team in the country and there are dangerous fringe teams (ND, Villanova, G-town) that could be highly competitve in a one and done situation. Then looking at next year with the addition of perrenial NCAA tourney teams (Cincy and Lousiville) as well as solid DePaul and Marquette teams, plus USF (don't really know much about them) you can't help but say the Big East potentially is the hardest conference next year. The only probably with the league next year is the loss of home and home series between rivals due to a 16team league, as well as a s***ty conference tournament. But really, you can't say going from C-USA to a monster 16team league won't be hard to adjust to. Every game will be a struggle, unlike playing in C-USA or with a upper mid major schedule. Depaul is a good team and I think they'll fair well next year, but to say it won't be tough playing road stretches against Uconn, Syracuse, Louisville, etc; you've got to be kidding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buehrle>Wood Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 The ACC will more than likely still be a better conference next year. I can't see 1 truely elite team next year from the BE, just like the conference this year. 'Cuse loses out big time with Warrick. Their best player becomes a sit-on-the-line 3 point shooter. UCONN has some nice, good young talent, but they are pretty pathetic this year. BC should be alright, but their not a top of the line team without Smith. Pitt will be good again also. Just can't see any of these teams competing for the national championship in the near future. Sure it adds depth to the conference, but to be the best conference, you need a top 5 team. Also, I just don't see what is so elite about this conference in the first place. Teams like Gonzaga have more wins vs. the top 25 than the entire BE conference combined. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fotop Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Well, I don't know about you, but for me a "Good" Conference is one that has "Good" teams in it. I could care less about rankings, Top 5 or whatever means basically nothing in a March Madness situation. And the reason for Gonzaga having more wins NOW vs the top 25, is because they have to play an extremely hard non-con schedule to balance their poor conference schedule. So basically they've just flat out had more opportunities because the Big East season is only half over. Again maybe it's just me, but when I think of an "elite" conference I think of not having any gimmie games and having to play a good game every night. And the Big East is just that, a bunch of solid teams playing solid basketball. They're not going to be on sportscenter every night because their names aren't "UNC" or "Duke", but they play the type of basketball no one wants to run into come March. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 To get back to DePaul, I don't see DePaul competing next year because I don't think they can draw big name recruits. DePaul isn't necessarily a big-time program and you can bet that all the big name state recruits will be going to Illinois. Unless they come up with a big recruiting strategy, I think the program may be finding out what last place is like. Switching to thew Big East may have been a huge risk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buehrle>Wood Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Well, I don't know about you, but for me a "Good" Conference is one that has "Good" teams in it. I could care less about rankings, Top 5 or whatever means basically nothing in a March Madness situation. And the reason for Gonzaga having more wins NOW vs the top 25, is because they have to play an extremely hard non-con schedule to balance their poor conference schedule. So basically they've just flat out had more opportunities because the Big East season is only half over. Oh believe me, there are plenty more teams with more quality wins then the entire Big East conference. Not just Gonzaga. That number of quality OOC wins is just 2. The real reason for this is because they all play pathetic schedules and only schedule 1 or 2 decent teams, losing most of those. Its sad because this actually makes teams like UCONN and BC look good because of a fancy record. Good conference, I'm just not impressed after they are exposed time after time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleepyWhiteSox Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 QUOTE(DAVE @ Jan 30, 2005 -> 09:30 PM) To get back to DePaul, I don't see DePaul competing next year because I don't think they can draw big name recruits. DePaul isn't necessarily a big-time program and you can bet that all the big name state recruits will be going to Illinois. Unless they come up with a big recruiting strategy, I think the program may be finding out what last place is like. Switching to thew Big East may have been a huge risk. You don't pay much attention to recruiting, do you? The class DePaul is bringing in for next year features a top 40 guy and two top 125 guys, one of which is going to win Mr. Basketball in Michigan. Illinois isn't doing s***; Weber is a good coach but a horrible recruiter. Where's Julian Wright going?.. That edge goes to Leitao... DePaul beat Notre Dame and Notre Dame beat UConn...If they play well, DePaul can match up well with any team in the Big East, and it's a bit of a top-heavy conference anyways. I'd have to say it's a bit overrated... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitesoxfan99 Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Jan 31, 2005 -> 01:24 AM) You don't pay much attention to recruiting, do you? The class DePaul is bringing in for next year features a top 40 guy and two top 125 guys, one of which is going to win Mr. Basketball in Michigan. Illinois isn't doing s***; Weber is a good coach but a horrible recruiter. Where's Julian Wright going?.. That edge goes to Leitao... DePaul beat Notre Dame and Notre Dame beat UConn...If they play well, DePaul can match up well with any team in the Big East, and it's a bit of a top-heavy conference anyways. I'd have to say it's a bit overrated... Weber and Leitao went head to head for one recruit, Calvin Brock and Weber won that battle. Julian Wright is going to Kansas one of the premier programs in the country, last I checked not DePaul so I don't know why that was brought into the argument. Secondly your top 40 guys (Rashad Woods) list consisted of SMU, Baylor, and DePaul so its not like Leitao beat a bunch of top programs for the guy. And he isn't ranked any where even near the top 100 on scout.com rankings. I'm not going to say Weber has been a huge success recruiting because that would be a lie but people seem to over state his recruiting failures a bit. He lost Livingston to Duke and ultimately the pros no loss there. He lost Rajon Rondo to Kentucky the home state school, after Rondo basically said if Louisville or Kentucky offered he would go to one of those schools. I would love to have him though. Weber beat MSU and Izzo for Shaun Pruitt who was a top 100 recruit and the second best player in Illinois last year behind a NBA lottery pick. Calvin Brock finished third in Illinois Mr. Basketball voting behind Pruitt and Livingston and was the Chicago player of the year per the Sun-Times. He also finished in scout.com top 100 players as well. '05 recruiting was a bit rough. Obviously lost Wright to Kansas, one of the elite programs in the country who also have a great recruiter in Self at the helm. Wright was enamored with Kansas the entire time. He lost Austin Jackson to Georgia Tech, Luke Zeller who comes from a religious family in Indiana to Notre Dame. He got his top SG target Jamar Smith who is currently playing great for Peoria Richwoods and should be 1st team all state now that he has recovered from a broken hand. Charles Jackson the PF/C from Georgia is the guy I think we lucked into. Every time I read something on this guy it is saying how great he is playing and how much potential is there. Bob Gibbons for one absolutely loves Jackson's game. And for those who love recruiting rankings, Jackson recently went up against Korvortney Barber who is considered a top 40 recruit and despite playing only 8 first half minutes due to foul trouble scored 28 pts, had 18 rbs, and 8 block shots to Barber's 15 and 12. Those two will should end up being very good collegiate players. Chester Frazier I don't know as much about but he is having a good year at his prep school right now and was brought in as mostly an insurance policy in the case that both Deron and Dee go pro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleepyWhiteSox Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Wilson Chandler will be a better player than anything the Illini are getting... I brought up Julian Wright because someone made the comment that DePaul will lose out on premier players in Illinois because of the Illini. DePaul was in a better position to get him, but he ultimately left for the Illini's former coach. The point is that Weber is not a good recruiter... The Illini have consistently been going to the Tournament and making some noise (although they always faulter), yet the recruits aren't coming in as they should. Say what you will about the upcoming class, but you have to admit that it seems rather weak for a team ranked number one... I'm proud of the recruits Leitao is attracting (Don't forget we lost Dorrell Wright to the NBA, as opposed to losing Villanueva to UConn), so it's not as if DePaul is in such a horrible position as some people want to argue. I'm excited about the Big East, and I think we'll be just fine. It will also open up avenues for getting more recruits from the east coast... If Weber can translate this season into good recruiting (I mean, he's doing it with Self's guys now), then I will say he is a very good coach for a very good program. As of now, that hasn't been the case... I give Illinois all of the credit that they deserve right now since they are definitely the top team. Now let's see what happens in the Tournament... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmteam Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Well, don't forget Illinois lost Villanueva to UCONN because he had orally committed under Self, and when Self left, he bolted to UCONN. Also, isn't BC heading into the ACC next year? And, DePaul got Sammy Mejia a year or two ago, and he was rated pretty highly, if I remember correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleepyWhiteSox Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 QUOTE(farmteam @ Jan 31, 2005 -> 06:33 PM) And, DePaul got Sammy Mejia a year or two ago, and he was rated pretty highly, if I remember correctly. Yup. He was top 50, I believe. And he's from New York. Leitao must have good ties to the East Coast from his UConn days. Although I believe the infusion of Chicago-area talent is key in bringing back the program to the city, and eventually national, spotlight, it's going to be nice to see Leitao pick up some good east coast talent as they play in the Big East... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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