can new BE remain a college hoops power?

[Jet915]

Conference alignment winners and losers...

The Big East: While the Big East may not pack the punch at the top that it once did, this 10-team league will be a basketball lover’s dream. It certainly represents a new era, with only four founding Big East members from 1979 now remaining along with Villanova (1980). An 18-game round-robin schedule will make this league as competitive as any other major conference in 2013-14. While Marquette, Georgetown and Creighton are considered by most as the league favorites, none of the three clearly stands out. Additionally, nine of the conference’s 10 teams are ranked at least No. 63 or better in Ken Pomeroy’s preseason ratings and even DePaul (No. 10 in the league) checks within the top 100 at No. 84. The Big East ranks second in overall strength, according to Pomeroy, better than the ACC but behind the Big Ten. When you look at the recruiting success of this conference in the 2014 class, the future looks even brighter. Fourteen ESPN top 100 players have committed to Big East schools and five 2014 recruiting classes already rank in the top 20 (Seton Hall (No. 4), Georgetown (No. 5), Xavier (No. 10), Providence (No. 16) and Marquette (No. 19). Clearly, Big East head coaches are using the basketball-first league and national television exposure (thanks to Fox Sports 1 and its 12-year commitment to the league) as huge selling points in the recruiting process. Financially, it was a no-brainer for this group of schools. With FS1 now on board, most of these Big East schools are taking home more cash than ever before.

http://college-basketball.si.com/2013/10/29/winners-and-losers-conference-realignment/

[stever20]

Ken Pomeroy's preseason ratings point to a pretty balanced league:

13. Creighton
14. Georgetown
24. Marquette
26. Villanova
41. Providence
47. St. John's
53. Butler
57. Xavier
63. Seton Hall
84. DePaul

No top 10 teams, but tough top to bottom. http://kenpom.com/

If that's correct then we have at least 6 tournament teams with a possibility for as many as 9. That's nuts. If DePaul is a top 100 rpi team this year, then conference play will be absolutely insane.

Ken Pom and RPI 2 totally different things. 5 eligible top 50 teams last year didn't make the tourney. So, I wouldn't be counting Providence and St John's as lock tounament teams. Meanwhile, all 49 eligible top 50 RPI teams(UConn was #49)- made the tourney.
I do think he just changed his rating- so I think it may be closer to the RPI now than it was before.

[Bill Marsh]

Ken Pomeroy's preseason ratings point to a pretty balanced league:

13. Creighton
14. Georgetown
24. Marquette
26. Villanova
41. Providence
47. St. John's
53. Butler
57. Xavier
63. Seton Hall
84. DePaul

No top 10 teams, but tough top to bottom. http://kenpom.com/

If that's correct then we have at least 6 tournament teams with a possibility for as many as 9. That's nuts. If DePaul is a top 100 rpi team this year, then conference play will be absolutely insane.

Ken Pom and RPI 2 totally different things. 5 eligible top 50 teams last year didn't make the tourney. So, I wouldn't be counting Providence and St John's as lock tounament teams. Meanwhile, all 49 eligible top 50 RPI teams(UConn was #49)- made the tourney.

Except for Southern Mississippi.

[stever20]

I stand corrected on Southern Miss.