THE BIG EAST CONFERENCE

[vutomcat]

ORDER RESTORED

2014-15 BIG EAST MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS
Conference Overall
School W-L Pct. W-L Pct.
Villanova 6-2 .750 19-2 .905
Georgetown7-3 .700 15-6 .714
Providence 6-3 .667 16-6 .727
Butler 6-3 .667 16-6 .727
Seton Hall 5-4 .556 15-6 .714
Xavier 5-5 .500 14-8 .636
DePaul 5-5 .500 11-12.478
St. John's 3-5 .375 14-7 .667
Marquette 2-7 .222 10-11.476
Creighton 1-9 .100 10-13.435
Through Jan. 31, 6:54 p.m. ET

[vutomcat]

Trouble in South Orange for the talented Pirates. Seton Hall finally gets some great recruits and now they can't figure out how to play together. I heard Sina is going to transfer out now too. Willard needs to get these kids on the same page ASAP.

ARTICLE:

If there were any lingering questions about potential feuds within Seton Hall's locker room going into last night's game against Georgetown, at least one was definitively answered during a second half media timeout.

First reported by Gary Phillips of The Setonian, a brewing divide between Seton Hall junior guard Sterling Gibbs and freshman guard Isaiah Whitehead came to a boiling point following a 17-4 Georgetown run that answered the Hall tying the game at 44 after trailing by 20 in the first half.

Kevin Willard's two star guards didn't throw any punches but had to be separated by associate head coach Shaheen Holloway during the under-12 media timeout in the second half. The event wasn't caught on camera by the Fox Sports 1 team and I missed it live, but Gibbs appeared to be staring Whitehead down following the timeout. I was able to independently confirm that the event happened as reported and that it stemmed from a prior practice.

The near fisticuffs comes days after a poor showing in a loss to Marquette in which senior forward Brandon Mobley called his teammates out for a lack of collective basketball. While I'm skeptical, Willard explained that Mobley's comments were meant to be more positive than interpreted.

"Brandon tried to say something the other day, believe it or not, he tried to say something that was positive and he kind of ran his mouth the wrong way, which sometimes players do. He didn't mean it the way it came out, but he's got to learn, it's a good learning tool for him."

It appeared that Seton Hall had turned a corner after rallying from a dismal 27-7 start against Georgetown last night that was even worse than Marquette's 17-4 opening run the Saturday prior, but the underlying issues reared their ugly head after the Hoyas went on their second half rampage.

Prior to closing the locker room last night for the first time this season, Willard stated how his team is trying to right the ship but is not responding well to adversity.

"I have a group of guys who all trying to do really good things and make plays, they're trying, its just that they're getting a little dejected right now. For the first time, they're struggling and going through it and they're not reacting the right way yet and that's something unfortunately they've got to learn. When things don't go your way, you can't let things get out of hand, we've let that happen twice now."

Willard refused to comment on any team chemistry issues last night, but was up front about the need to call upon the team's leaders going forward.

"I know who has to turn us around, I'll have conversations with them, but that's between me and the team."

When asked if the toughness needed to reverse course and win games down the stretch is present within his team, Willard backed his players with at the moment amounts to mostly blind faith.

"I do, again I have great confidence in these guys, I know it sounds crazy right now, I think this team is capable of great things."

For now, most Seton Hall fans probably agree with Willard in that his confidence sounds a little far-fetched in the midst of dropping six of their last eight games and three straight. With a trio of road games at Providence, Villanova and St. John's on the horizon, things can get a lot worse in South Orange unless Willard's team bands together

[tribe_pride]

Looks like instead of throwing punches at each other, SH is throwing punches at their opponents.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... ova-player" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[vutomcat]

Looks like instead of throwing punches at each other, SH is throwing punches at their opponents.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... ova-player" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Gibbs again. I'm sensing he may be a big part of the problems in South Orange. Real cheap shot out of frustration while getting stripped by Arci.

This coach might be in trouble.

[GannonFan]

Looks like instead of throwing punches at each other, SH is throwing punches at their opponents.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... ova-player" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Gibbs again. I'm sensing he may be a big part of the problems in South Orange. Real cheap shot out of frustration while getting stripped by Arci.

This coach might be in trouble.

Just a total lack of control up there. You have to imagine this is going to be a real black mark on Willard's coaching resume that he's steering the ship on just an awful collapse. That team is horrible right now.

[Seahawks08]

Gibbs again. I'm sensing he may be a big part of the problems in South Orange. Real cheap shot out of frustration while getting stripped by Arci.

This coach might be in trouble.

Just a total lack of control up there. You have to imagine this is going to be a real black mark on Willard's coaching resume that he's steering the ship on just an awful collapse. That team is horrible right now.

You can say that again. A complete shell of itself from earlier in the year. Wasting one of the best draft classes SH has ever had too.

[vutomcat]

Villanova is 6-0 against ranked opponents this year with an average margin of victory of 16 points.

[clenz]

Villanova is 6-0 against ranked opponents this year with an average margin of victory of 16 points.

Nova looks real good.

I would love to see UNI avoid them as long as possible.

[GannonFan]

Villanova is 6-0 against ranked opponents this year with an average margin of victory of 16 points.

Nova looks real good.

I would love to see UNI avoid them as long as possible.

They do look good, but I'm worried if it's a bit insular again. Through no fault of their own, the OOC schedule just wasn't as tough as it should have been - Michigan was down, Syracuse was down, Temple was injured. And while the Big East is going to get 5-6 teams in, outside of nova I wouldn't expect any of those teams to make it to the second weekend barring a big upset. How nova handles a team with a really good offense, which they haven't seen in the Big East this year, will be a question mark. When you have to start scoring just to keep up with the other team, as team's have been having to do with nova in the past two months, how will nova react to that kind of pressure? Still the fear that they aren't being pushed enough in the regular season.

[clenz]

Nova looks real good.

I would love to see UNI avoid them as long as possible.

They do look good, but I'm worried if it's a bit insular again. Through no fault of their own, the OOC schedule just wasn't as tough as it should have been - Michigan was down, Syracuse was down, Temple was injured. And while the Big East is going to get 5-6 teams in, outside of nova I wouldn't expect any of those teams to make it to the second weekend barring a big upset. How nova handles a team with a really good offense, which they haven't seen in the Big East this year, will be a question mark. When you have to start scoring just to keep up with the other team, as team's have been having to do with nova in the past two months, how will nova react to that kind of pressure? Still the fear that they aren't being pushed enough in the regular season.

They are the only Big East team that "worries" me.

The list of teams that I'd prefer to avoid is pretty short, but Nova is one of them.

[GannonFan]

They do look good, but I'm worried if it's a bit insular again. Through no fault of their own, the OOC schedule just wasn't as tough as it should have been - Michigan was down, Syracuse was down, Temple was injured. And while the Big East is going to get 5-6 teams in, outside of nova I wouldn't expect any of those teams to make it to the second weekend barring a big upset. How nova handles a team with a really good offense, which they haven't seen in the Big East this year, will be a question mark. When you have to start scoring just to keep up with the other team, as team's have been having to do with nova in the past two months, how will nova react to that kind of pressure? Still the fear that they aren't being pushed enough in the regular season.

They are the only Big East team that "worries" me.

The list of teams that I'd prefer to avoid is pretty short, but Nova is one of them.

I agree. Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin (even with the loss last night), Virginia, and nova, for certain want to avoid those teams. Probably wouldn't want to see Arizona or Gonzaga too early either - maybe Gonzaga will flame out again, but if I were a UNI fan I'd want to see Gonzaga potentially flame out against someone else.

[clenz]

They are the only Big East team that "worries" me.

The list of teams that I'd prefer to avoid is pretty short, but Nova is one of them.

I agree. Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin (even with the loss last night), Virginia, and nova, for certain want to avoid those teams. Probably wouldn't want to see Arizona or Gonzaga too early either - maybe Gonzaga will flame out again, but if I were a UNI fan I'd want to see Gonzaga potentially flame out against someone else.

That's about the same list I had.

The rest of them I give UNI a 50/50 shot at least

[GannonFan]

I agree. Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin (even with the loss last night), Virginia, and nova, for certain want to avoid those teams. Probably wouldn't want to see Arizona or Gonzaga too early either - maybe Gonzaga will flame out again, but if I were a UNI fan I'd want to see Gonzaga potentially flame out against someone else.

That's about the same list I had.

The rest of them I give UNI a 50/50 shot at least

It is a top heavy year in college basketball - heck, that could be the Elite Eight this year for all we know, it could be a chalk year.

[vutomcat]

Villanova is 6-0 against ranked opponents this year with an average margin of victory of 16 points.

Nova looks real good.

I would love to see UNI avoid them as long as possible.

Let's make it an FCS final! UNI vs. Villanova

[clenz]

Further proof Creighton fans are the scum of the earth...

http://bluejayunderground.com/viewtopic ... =30#p88177

I think it's funny how I used to defend the Mid-Major team since we were one ourselves. But now that we're in a big boy conference I've really started to see things differently. We will have played 15 games against the RPI top 50 by season's end. We're currently 3-10 in that category. Know how many UNI have played in the top 50 so far? TWO. Now, UNI or Wichita State would probably hand us our asses this season but those numbers are so telling.

It's why when I look at our record of 13-15, I can't get too mad. We're playing with Valley players every single game against far superior teams.

I think CU would be 3rd in the MVC at worst and would probably beat UNI and WSU once or twice as well. In the end

Other than UNI, there isn't a single team in your conference that is worth a damn.

there's no way either WSU or UNI has any chance to win the BE this year

This all coming from a team that has NEVER been out of the first weekend of the modern NCAA tournament....NEVER....EVER...NEVER. Let that sink in for a fucking second. The last time they made the S16 it was a fucking 25 team tournament (1974) so they had to win ONE FUCKING GAME.

Here's a list of teams that have been further than Creighton in the NCAA tournament since the tourney expanded past 32...

Indiana State, Toledo, Lamar, Fresno State, Idaho, Houston, Loyola-Chicago, La Tech Navy, Cleveland State, Wyoming, Ball State, Loyola Marymount, Eastern Michigan, UTETP, George Washington, Georgia, UT-Chattanooga, Rhode Island, Miami (OH), Missouri State, Tulsa, Kent State, UAB, Nevada, UW-Milwaukee, Bradly, George Mason, Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky, Davidson, Memphis, Gonzaga, St. Mary's, Northern Iowa, Cornell, VCU, Richmond, Ohio, La Salle, Wichita State, Florida Gulf Coast, Dayton, San Diego State




Enjoy dealing with those fuck bags...

Sing to the tune of "Fuck You Thunder"

When you hear the sound of sCUm d-bags don't you get too scared
Just grab your tourney bracket and say these magic words:
"Fuck you, Creighton! You can suck my dick! You can't get me Creighton 'Cause you suck shit"

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuWAtdOGfGs[/youtube]


You're welcome for that. I made that up on the fly in St. Louis at the MVC tourney one yet

[Seahawks08]

Nova looks real good.

I would love to see UNI avoid them as long as possible.

They do look good, but I'm worried if it's a bit insular again. Through no fault of their own, the OOC schedule just wasn't as tough as it should have been - Michigan was down, Syracuse was down, Temple was injured. And while the Big East is going to get 5-6 teams in, outside of nova I wouldn't expect any of those teams to make it to the second weekend barring a big upset. How nova handles a team with a really good offense, which they haven't seen in the Big East this year, will be a question mark. When you have to start scoring just to keep up with the other team, as team's have been having to do with nova in the past two months, how will nova react to that kind of pressure? Still the fear that they aren't being pushed enough in the regular season.

I think you have it backwards. Nova hasn't faced a top Defensive team yet and that will be the true test. Nova is #5 in the country in offensive efficiency (kenpom), so I would much rather face someone like Notre Dame (#4 offense) in the tournament rather than Utah (#5 defense).

Also, Big East is #2 in RPI at the moment. Not too shabby for a mid-major conference.

[Seahawks08]

I agree. Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin (even with the loss last night), Virginia, and nova, for certain want to avoid those teams. Probably wouldn't want to see Arizona or Gonzaga too early either - maybe Gonzaga will flame out again, but if I were a UNI fan I'd want to see Gonzaga potentially flame out against someone else.

That's about the same list I had.

The rest of them I give UNI a 50/50 shot at least

If I'm a UNI fan, I'm rooting hard for the 3 seed that takes on kansas as the 2 seed. Kansas looks very beatable this year.

[vutomcat]

They do look good, but I'm worried if it's a bit insular again. Through no fault of their own, the OOC schedule just wasn't as tough as it should have been - Michigan was down, Syracuse was down, Temple was injured. And while the Big East is going to get 5-6 teams in, outside of nova I wouldn't expect any of those teams to make it to the second weekend barring a big upset. How nova handles a team with a really good offense, which they haven't seen in the Big East this year, will be a question mark. When you have to start scoring just to keep up with the other team, as team's have been having to do with nova in the past two months, how will nova react to that kind of pressure? Still the fear that they aren't being pushed enough in the regular season.

I think you have it backwards. Nova hasn't faced a top Defensive team yet and that will be the true test. Nova is #5 in the country in offensive efficiency (kenpom), so I would much rather face someone like Notre Dame (#4 offense) in the tournament rather than Utah (#5 defense).

A[b]lso, Big East is #2 in RPI at the moment. Not too shabby for a mid-major conference.

Love this post!

Lunardi has 6 teams solidly in the tourney. Not bad for a 10 team conference. Nova now a #1 seed.

[GannonFan]

They do look good, but I'm worried if it's a bit insular again. Through no fault of their own, the OOC schedule just wasn't as tough as it should have been - Michigan was down, Syracuse was down, Temple was injured. And while the Big East is going to get 5-6 teams in, outside of nova I wouldn't expect any of those teams to make it to the second weekend barring a big upset. How nova handles a team with a really good offense, which they haven't seen in the Big East this year, will be a question mark. When you have to start scoring just to keep up with the other team, as team's have been having to do with nova in the past two months, how will nova react to that kind of pressure? Still the fear that they aren't being pushed enough in the regular season.

I think you have it backwards. Nova hasn't faced a top Defensive team yet and that will be the true test. Nova is #5 in the country in offensive efficiency (kenpom), so I would much rather face someone like Notre Dame (#4 offense) in the tournament rather than Utah (#5 defense).

Also, Big East is #2 in RPI at the moment. Not too shabby for a mid-major conference.

Nah, I think I'd still be worried about a team that puts up a lot of points on the board. nova's had the luxury of playing some teams that just aren't very offensively talented. nova's offense has been very good, but they've also have not had the pressure of trying to keep up with a team that is scoring at the same clip they are. Wisconsin isn't the best defensive team in the world, but they score every time down the floor so it doesn't matter. Same with Duke, they don't play great defense but they score in bunches. I don't think Utah, even with their defensive ranking, being able to outscore nova - I would take that matchup in an instant.

And as for the conference RPI, eh, let's see if anyone other than nova makes it to the second week of the tournament. It could be like the Big 10 conference of a decade ago - tons of teams make the tourney, and a lot of them lose right away. nova's legit, the rest, eh, not so much.

[vutomcat]

I think you have it backwards. Nova hasn't faced a top Defensive team yet and that will be the true test. Nova is #5 in the country in offensive efficiency (kenpom), so I would much rather face someone like Notre Dame (#4 offense) in the tournament rather than Utah (#5 defense).

Also, Big East is #2 in RPI at the moment. Not too shabby for a mid-major conference.

Nah, I think I'd still be worried about a team that puts up a lot of points on the board. nova's had the luxury of playing some teams that just aren't very offensively talented. nova's offense has been very good, but they've also have not had the pressure of trying to keep up with a team that is scoring at the same clip they are. Wisconsin isn't the best defensive team in the world, but they score every time down the floor so it doesn't matter. Same with Duke, they don't play great defense but they score in bunches. I don't think Utah, even with their defensive ranking, being able to outscore nova - I would take that matchup in an instant.

And as for the conference RPI, eh, let's see if anyone other than nova makes it to the second week of the tournament. It could be like the Big 10 conference of a decade ago - tons of teams make the tourney, and a lot of them lose right away. nova's legit, the rest, eh, not so much.

The Big 10 of this year looks pretty weak to me. We will see though.

You make the only argument left in questioning the Big East this year. Without a doubt, the conference is legit top two, three, or four conferences for the regualr season. The one knock still left is whether any of the teams are capable of making it to the second week of the tourney. None of us know the answer to that and it will depend on matchups, injuries and seeding to some extent.

March Madness! Can't beat it.

[GannonFan]

Nah, I think I'd still be worried about a team that puts up a lot of points on the board. nova's had the luxury of playing some teams that just aren't very offensively talented. nova's offense has been very good, but they've also have not had the pressure of trying to keep up with a team that is scoring at the same clip they are. Wisconsin isn't the best defensive team in the world, but they score every time down the floor so it doesn't matter. Same with Duke, they don't play great defense but they score in bunches. I don't think Utah, even with their defensive ranking, being able to outscore nova - I would take that matchup in an instant.

And as for the conference RPI, eh, let's see if anyone other than nova makes it to the second week of the tournament. It could be like the Big 10 conference of a decade ago - tons of teams make the tourney, and a lot of them lose right away. nova's legit, the rest, eh, not so much.

The Big 10 of this year looks pretty weak to me. We will see though.

You make the only argument left in questioning the Big East this year. Without a doubt, the conference is legit top two, three, or four conferences for the regualr season. The one knock still left is whether any of the teams are capable of making it to the second week of the tourney. None of us know the answer to that and it will depend on matchups, injuries and seeding to some extent.

March Madness! Can't beat it.

Eh, they are who we thought they were. No god awful teams, one really great team, and a bunch of teams that are middling at best. And this in a year with a lot of veteran lineups. nova could really use some company in the conference at the elite level and they aren't getting it. It's like C-USA when Memphis was left holding the bag when all the other elite teams left. Looks good RPI-wise, but still lonely at the top.

[clenz]

Dear Nova...

Beat Creighton by 60 tonight.

Literally make them cry and ask for the game to end early

[tribe_pride]

Dear Nova...

Beat Creighton by 60 tonight.

Literally make them cry and ask for the game to end early

You mean kind of like this football game.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1862 ... 3-quarters" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[clenz]

Worse.

Georgia Tech v Cumberland style

[clenz]

Hey,Nova...

Quit fucking around and kill these fucks