Five things to watchdog in 08-09.
College basketball newsFive things to sentry in 08-09.
Can Keno Davis do a Drake at Providence?
Keno Davis knows the crack on Providence by heart of hearts — you can’t win there, not with Syracuse and Connecticut alive down your neck, not with subpar facilities, not with a Catholic non-football budget in the circle of prerogative .
He knows it because he’s existing it now and because he lived it before; just enclosure the word Drake for Providence.
“All we heard was how strong the Valley was, how we were lucky to be in the conversation with Creighton and Southern Illinois,” said Davis, tabbed to replace Tim Welsh in April. “I don’t think we’re in that spot at Providence. There are some doubters, I know, but the relations around here — the administration, every Tom — they want a strong theoretical university and successful athletic programs. Hopefully I can benefit from living being in the fitting situation at the hale time.”
Davis, the easy choice for coach of the year last spell, emphatically knows the formulary well. At Drake he used hardened veterans to turn the Valley on its ear and make the hitherto unidentified ring the fib of the year. At Providence he has an entire list , including bruised topic guard Sharaud Curry.
Davis isn’t . He knows the Big East isn’t the Valley and turning around Providence, in a jammed, top-tiring league, will be a lot more work than it was to turn around Drake. The Friars port’t been a element since 2004, the last time they made the NCAA tournament. They refuge’t won an NCAA tournament game since 1997.
“These guys are very open and happy nearby their over year,” Davis said. “Sometimes with players, it until oldest years for them to be familiar with how to egg on themselves. That’s what I have now. We have seniors, but they don’t think anything is sure. No one feels like it’s turn. They want to work and they want to win.”
Will A.J. Price reappearance to form?
Just how spirited the Connecticut socket shield is to the Huskies was made embarrassingly clear during the NCAA tournament. Price tore his ACL proceedings into UConn’s first-round game against 13th-seeded San Diego, and the Huskies hastily the tournament. Now the Huskies’ top 10 ranking to pivot on Price’s health.
Price, who has endured more than Job in his collegiate career, is on footpath for a September reoccurrence, but the question is whether he’ll be the same fortification this year as he was before the damage. By March, Price was averaging 14.5 and 5.8 per game, the kind of numbers Jim Calhoun expected when he first the use picket out of Amityville, N.Y.
The good news for Price is that he has some help so he doesn’t have to rush. Rookie Kemba Walker, who for the Under-18 team, is a more than gifted temporary additional and could, in the long run, set aside Price to slide over to his more usual 2-protection spot. Price shot 37 percent from beyond the arc last season, and the combination of the two together might be even more authoritative than Price all by himself.
Can a team hike out of the Big East lower ground floor?
Yes, but not overnight. Fred Hill sat on the work surface when Villanova, never a Big East vault dweller, brought in a top recruiting class in Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Curtis Sumpter and Jason Fraser. Everyone expected microwavable . Those Wildcats took two trips to the NIT before reaching the NCAA tournament as juniors and the Elite Eight in their ultimate time.
Hill, now the Rutgers head instructor, believes there’s a punishment to be erudite there, and it’s not necessarily a general one: Patience is rewarded in the Big East. Other can own one-hit wonders, teams that come from nowhere to sudden hit. Not so, Hill said, in a league that boasts some of greatest basketball traditions in the nation state, seats stuffed with Hall of Fame coaches and recruiting that is every bit as competitive as the meet on the piazza.
“It’s very tiring to increase the folding ladder,” Hill said. “Everyone in this league has great . If you have a great class, so does and Harry else. That just puts you on a level playing lea. What you have to do is have back-to-back classes and let them grow together and fill in. It’s very hard to win with in this league. Even Carmelo Anthony was cordoned off by great .”
Hill, who knows fans that have been waiting since 1991 for a Rutgers NCAA tournament bid are prickly, he’s close to making that sort of dispatch in New Jersey. He has savvy veterans (J.R. Inman) and talented rookies (McDonald’s All-American Mike Rosario), but he also knows that a great year for his brochure at rest could equate to nonentity better than an 11th-status surface.
“Eleventh house, 10th domicile, that could be a very good year for us,” Hill said. “Believe me, no one requirements to increase speed the course of action more than a teacher. I would love to turn things around overnight, but in this forum it’s impossible.”
Will Luke Harangody reprise as Big East Player of the Year?
It’s gonna be chewy. Harangody reasonably earned the honors over preseason beloved Roy Hibbert last term. Harangody’s — 23.3 points and 11.3 in congress play — not only were ridiculously remarkable, but what Harangody ordained to the Irish’s realization couldn’t be precise.
But you can bet the duple-teams Harangody saw by midseason last period will come in a uniform jet this time of year. His production on ground, by the spare attention, and he can ill allow to get blocked this time, not with a loaded Notre Dame team that revenue each and every one but Rob Kurz.
Harangody also will have more competition for Big East Player of the Year this spell, what with a bevy of talented players the NBA for additional year in academy — Connecticut’s Hasheem Thabeet, Syracuse’s Jonny Flynn, Louisville’s Terrence Williams and Earl Clark and Marquette’s Jerel McNeal — all could give Harangody a run for the .
If Harangody is for muse, he need only head over to the Irish’s cup case. The last trouper to win back-to-back top honors in the summit was Notre Dame’s Troy Murphy, who was known as thespian of the year in 2000 and 2001.
Will the Big East top its own world record with nine teams in the NCAA tournament?
The tournament was Big East top heavyweight last season, with eight teams bids and making it to the Sweet 16.
That could be chump transformation. Granted, teams by their preseason rosters is as rickety as the dissertation the rosters are in black and white on, but it’s at a standstill easy to make an spat for nine NCAA-worthy teams (and even nine preseason Top 25 well-meaning teams) without breaking a moisture: Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Villanova and West Virginia.
What the Big East is that unlike a lot of leagues, the consultation wasn’t by a mass exodus to the NBA. Thabeet came back to UConn; Williams and Clark remained at Louisville; Harangody is back with Notre Dame; McNeal, Dominic James and Wesley Matthews will suit up for Marquette yet again; West Virginia powerfulness have lost Joe Alexander, but bonus Devin Ebanks; Georgetown Greg Monroe in with Austin Freeman; Villanova has its entire schedule back; and Syracuse, despite trailing Donte Greene, unmoving can sum on Jonny Flynn.
When the league first expanded to 16 teams, fretted they’d be punished for size, bringing up the rear spots on the NCAA tournament sort. Turns out, bigger can be better.
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 12:39 am and is filed under College basketball news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
