Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

Things should get pretty interesting from here on out.

Here is the schedule::

10th place - DePaul
9th place -Seton Hall
8th place - Butler
7th place - Xavier
6th place - Providence
5th place - St. Johns
4th place - Sep 26-29
3rd place - Sep 29 - Oct 2
1st/2nd place - Oct 2-Oct

Marquette

I've got more questions about Nova than the others at this point so they get my vote.

Friarfan2 wrote:Marquette

You rang?

I've been mashing that creighton button for like 3 weeks now lol!!

Can't say I'm surprised, especially with the way Nova has sort have been an afterthought on this board. Nova has the fewest question marks of these teams yet picked to finish behind all of them.

Westbrook36 wrote:Can't say I'm surprised, especially with the way Nova has sort have been an afterthought on this board. Nova has the fewest question marks of these teams yet picked to finish behind all of them.

Feel the same about where PC was picked. Only lost their senior PG but a sophomore McD's AA is taking over for him. Return everyone else including the leading scorer in the BE, a potential All League PF/C and also add two ACC transfers and a freshman ranked #56 by ESPN. The team was decimated by injuries during the non-conference slate last year (Council, Dunn, Cotton) and likely would have won a couple more close games early in the year had those players been available for all games and we didn't have to rely on a walk-on for major minutes.

However, when I look at the teams picked above PC I can't really question any of them based on recent success levels.

Main question marks is how will the McD's AA sophomore handle full time PG duties and who else will shoot it consistely from three other than Cotton.

It will certainly be a fight for the top 5 spots in the league.

Westbrook36 wrote:Can't say I'm surprised, especially with the way Nova has sort have been an afterthought on this board. Nova has the fewest question marks of these teams yet picked to finish behind all of them.

Villanova only finished 7th last season and lose their Starting Center who was far and away the teams best rebounder and only interior threat. Ochefu has a lot of promise, but since he chose to go to Villanova instead of Georgetown he'll probably never realize it. In addition for being a guard oriented team Villanova did not shoot the ball well from 3 last year with only James Bell hitting over 33% of players who took the shot frequently enough for it to be meaningful. And again for being a guard oriented team they turned the ball over far too often. Villanova was a good defensive team and a mediocre offensive team. Villanova's entire offense was based off of getting to the freethrow line. They did that well, but the rest of the offense was mediocre and there's no assurance that will improve especially with replacing Yarou with Ochefu who was a decent shot blocker but not good at much else and was very foul prone.

Bottom line: no one is going to be 100% happy except for the team who winds up in first. That does not mean that every other team is being disrespected. The fact that an argument can be made for any team getting any spot is what is going to make this season so special. The games are played on the hardwood, that's where our teams will gain their respect.

Westbrook36 wrote:Can't say I'm surprised, especially with the way Nova has sort have been an afterthought on this board. Nova has the fewest question marks of these teams yet picked to finish behind all of them.

I know this is just a fun poll and we will all find out how teams do with all the changes next year. However, to be clear, there are not a lot of question marks for Creighton's team this year. The following year will be an entirely different story. The Jays only lost one player off the team. That was a big one in Echinique who was a force down low and is perfect Big East material. No Car. and Duke the last two years couldn't move the guy out as he outplayed two first rounders. This team has great leadership which will be huge in this transition year. The other thing this team is used to physical teams. The Valley is not the Big East but it was every team's biggest game against the Jays and they had to be up for every game. Also, I believe, the Jays went 9-2 against BCS teams the last two years, including double digit wins over Ariz St, Calif, and Wisconsin. They beat Wich St twice in the last game of the regular season and in the Valley tournie. People know WIsc and WIch St aren't very soft teams.

It is going to be a lot of new places to play, but I believe this leadership will be up to it. We are also excited to see a couple of new juco guards as well as some good freshmen and a redshirt. A lot of new faces that can hopefully help replace Echinique and provide more depth.