Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

I know being an ESPN insider is probably not that vogue here, but if you are, they previewed the conference here:
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketba ... t?id=88918

and links to previews of each of the teams here:
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation

As an Insider I'm going to post some general information, basically the predicted lineups and their rankings. Some of this I really don't agree with.

Rankings
1. Creighton
2. Georgetown
3. Marquette
4. Villanova
5. St. John's
6. Butler
7. Providence
8. Xavier
9. Seton Hall
10. Depaul

Projected Starting Lineups (C-G):
Creighton:
Will Artino, Doug McDermott, Grant Gibbs, Jahenns Manigat, Austin Chatman

Georgetown
Mikael Hopkins, Nate Lubick, Jabril Trawick, D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Markel Starks

Marquette
Chris Otule, Jamil Wilson, Steve Taylor, Todd Mayo, Derrick Wilson

Villanova
Daniel Ochefu, JayVaughn Pinkston, James Bell, Darrun Hilliard, Ryan Arcidiacono

St. Johns
Chris Obekpa, Jakarr Sampson, Sir'Dominic Pointer, D'Angelo Harrison, Rysheed Jordan

Butler(Just warning you as a Butler fan I don't think this is right)
Khyle Marshall, Kameron Woods, Kellen Dunham, Alex Barlow, Rene Castro

Providence
Kadeem Batts, LaDonte Henton, Josh Fortune, Bryce Cotton, Kris Dunn

Xavier
Matt Stainbrook, Isaiah Philmore, Justin Martin, Dee Davis, Semaj Christon

Seton Hall
Eugene Teague, Brian Oliver, Fuquan Edwin, Tom Maayan, Sterling Gibbs

Depaul
Sandi Marcius, Cleveland Melvin, Charles McKinney, Jamee Crockett, Brandon Young


Wasn't really impressed by the rankings, but that's their opinion. As for the starting lineups, there is no way Butler is using that lineup. Likely going to be Brown, Dunham, Fromm, Marshall, Woods.
Not sure about the other schools completely, but I'm guessing this isn't a great indication of how the conference will turn out.

Bulldawg wrote:As an Insider I'm going to post some general information, basically the predicted lineups and their rankings. Some of this I really don't agree with.

Rankings
1. Creighton
2. Georgetown
3. Marquette
4. Villanova
5. St. John's
6. Butler
7. Providence
8. Xavier
9. Seton Hall
10. Depaul

Projected Starting Lineups (C-G):
Creighton:
Will Artino, Doug McDermott, Grant Gibbs, Jahenns Manigat, Austin Chatman

Georgetown
Mikael Hopkins, Nate Lubick, Jabril Trawick, D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Markel Starks

Marquette
Chris Otule, Jamil Wilson, Steve Taylor, Todd Mayo, Derrick Wilson

Villanova
Daniel Ochefu, JayVaughn Pinkston, James Bell, Darrun Hilliard, Ryan Arcidiacono

St. Johns
Chris Obekpa, Jakarr Sampson, Sir'Dominic Pointer, D'Angelo Harrison, Rysheed Jordan

Butler(Just warning you as a Butler fan I don't think this is right)
Khyle Marshall, Kameron Woods, Kellen Dunham, Alex Barlow, Rene Castro

Providence
Kadeem Batts, LaDonte Henton, Josh Fortune, Bryce Cotton, Kris Dunn

Xavier
Matt Stainbrook, Isaiah Philmore, Justin Martin, Dee Davis, Semaj Christon

Seton Hall
Eugene Teague, Brian Oliver, Fuquan Edwin, Tom Maayan, Sterling Gibbs

Depaul
Sandi Marcius, Cleveland Melvin, Charles McKinney, Jamee Crockett, Brandon Young


Wasn't really impressed by the rankings, but that's their opinion. As for the starting lineups, there is no way Butler is using that lineup. Likely going to be Brown, Dunham, Fromm, Marshall, Woods.
Not sure about the other schools completely, but I'm guessing this isn't a great indication of how the conference will turn out.

Not a butler fan but I would think Barlow starts at point at least to start the season with Dunham, Marshall, Fromm, and Woods.

Alex Barlow starts for sure.

Barlow
Dunham
Woods
Fromm
Marshall

Nova line-up is reasonable. I can also see Ennis at 1 and Hilliard and Arch splitting time at 2.

I wouldn't put any faith in those rankings.

The fact they have Butler so high (with their coach and injury circumstances) and for PC they have Josh Fortune starting (unlikely), and for PC they only commented on incoming 4 star freshman Austin, but did not mention the 2 new 4star big men transfers shows this is just more filler that isn't up to date or well researched.

Nice story on Doug and Creighton is #20 in the ESPN Power Rankings.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/preview2013/story/_/id/9893372/doug-mcdermott-ready-write-final-chapter-creighton-career-alongside-father-coach

I can see it happening that way. Butler is obviously a wild card this year, but there is a lot of parity in the league and we could all wind up surprised at the end of the season.

Butler at #6??? Someone didn't do his homework.