This past week my boy Biff Nightingale stopped by and we got to talking about Big East bball.....Biff is a big Notre Dame fan and was hyping up some guy named Russell Carter, a senior off-guard for ND and the 2nd leading scorer in the Big East. I first digested the fact that the 2nd leading scorer in the famed Big East was from a school whose best player in the past 5 years was Chris "Hey guys, I'm looking for a jump shot!" Thomas; then I got around to asking Biff who in the hell was the actual leading scorer in the Big East.
The answer, which was quickly accompanied by a feeling akin to hearing that I've been entered into a hot dog eating contest with Richard Simmons, was that Demetris Nichols was the leading scorer in Big East basketball.
No slight against Nichols, who is clearly a much better player now than he was as a freshman, but are you f$cking serious?? Demetris Nichols\Big East\Leading Scorer...????
When I was done hurling in the bathroom (biff held my hair back...thanks pal), I got to thinking about the facts presented to me: namely that two guys who I had never previously heard of (and they were SENIORS) were the 2 leading scorers in the Big East. I mean, Big East ball has always been one of the biggest stages in college ball, and the stars have gone on to be stars at the next level(a.k.a. the NBA; sister organization to the NRA).
A list of the top 2 regular-season scorers in the Big East from the past 2 seasons would look something like this.......ok, i looked it up and it would look EXACTLY like this:
-Quincy Douby (1st round NBA draft)
-Randy Foye (top-ten NBA pick)
-Ryan Gomes (2nd round NBA pick, 15ppg NBA scorer, and The General's BOY)
-Hakim Warrick (1st round NBA draft)
....so....who the hell are these 2 new guys?...because I'm fairly sure I haven't heard any pre-draft hype about Russell Carter & co. Could it be that the Big East is fading?
Over some beers with the General, Militant Dwarf, and Biff Nightingale we talked about the state of Big East basketball and came to the following conclusions:
-First, the obvious; the Big East lost alot of talent last year.....there was a HUH-YUGE void where previously star players such as Foye, Douby, Rudy "all the way" Gay, M. Williams, etc etc etc.....had been. I mean Kyle Lowry, the blackest man with a white name I have ever had the pleasure to watch, was the third banana on a good Villanova team. He was taken in the first round of the NBA draft. To recap, he was the 3RD SCORING OPTION ON HIS COLLEGE TEAM. and he was drafted in the 1st round. Uconn had SIX players drafted. Was the Big East stacked last year?---absolutely.
-Then we got to talking about the schools where the big players, the guys who are clearly going on to the NBA, typically come from.......and they suck this year.
Louisville- Bad team, overrated system, lack of athletes.......ever since Fransisco Garcia left these guys have been sub-mediocre.
West Virginia- Normally you wouldn't put W. Va. on any list, except the list of states whose residents routinely abuse household medicines, but this has been a great program the past 3-4 years.......that being said, the reason for the success can be traced back to the system: this is a team that stresses ball movement and unselfishness. Sadly those are not traits that NBA scouts are enamored with.
Connecticut- Bad team, and I'm pretty sure Hasheem Thabeet has a voodoo doll of the Husky mascot that he regularly jams pins into. Jeff Adrien is being asked to be their star player; I mean why shouldn't you ask a guy who can only hit the offensive boards and throw vicious elbows to be your top playmaker? That being said, I predict the following finish to the Uconn season: they string together a couple wins at the tail end of the season, make some noise in the Big East tourney, getting into the NCAA tourney as a 5 seed, then Jay Bilas launching a 5 day "you have to consider Uconn the dark-horse favorites for the title" campaign, followed by Uconn losing in the 1st round to U of North Dakota-Fargo. I have to say that I'm excited for that.
-Ok, so some of the big schools are having an off-year.....but why are senior swingmen from crappy teams the leading scorers in Big East ball? Wait, are they the leading scorers simply because the Big East sucks and they're hucking up shots like The General in his YMCA games against 8 year olds? What's going on with the GOOD teams in the Big East?
Pitt- Aaron Gray, the 7 foot white dude with huge moles (seriously, wait for the next camera zoom in; these moles are here and they mean business) doesn't really look for his own shot. He prefers to pass out of double teams and find the open shooter; definitely a solid call on a team that is loaded with excellent perimeter shooters.
Marquette- Dominic James is an NBA star in-the-making and if he isn't a 15ppg, 8apg player in the NBA within 4 years then I'll happily acknowledge the fact that General is not in fact a Mexican. Until then, deal with it. That being said, James is a PG and does a nice job moving the ball around; also needs to work on his shot behind the 3 point line in order to succeed at the next level.
Georgetown- I love this team for some weird reason (no, I'm not a George Michael fan) but there is no way they will ever field a top-scorer; they play in a system that stresses ball control and a stifling defense. SweaterVest (an original G'Town fan) will probably order me shot after reading this paragraph. Tell mom I loved her...
-So where does all this leave us?
I don't know. The 16 team Big East is clearly still one of the top b-ball conferences, but I don't have high expectations for this year. I could see us (Big East) going 2-7 in the NCAA tourney, complete with Uconn scoring 8 points in the 1st half of their first round game. There are very clearly 3 conferences (ACC, SEC, & Pac-10).....(seriously, the Pac-10) that are better than the Big East, and it could be argued that the Missouri Valley Conf. is better as well.
That being said, we'll be back next year. Now I'm going to borrow some money and have a tonya harding pulled on Hasheem Thabeet and/or introduce him to Tony Robertson & Johnnie Selvie.
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All good points, the Big East is the victim of it's own success, the way the league played last year, it produced a number of pro prospects and manye of these guys left. It would be nice if every team could just reload like years past, but it doesn't always happen like that. Sometimes teams need to go through some growing pain years. And you will notice that some prospects will choose to go somewhere where they know they will be on the court, smaller schools where they can have a chance to star and make a run in this day of PAIRITY in college sports. Uconn is clearly rebuilding and next year or the year after that, we should be looking at a team with solid potential to play well, will it happen? we will see. Hopefully Calhoun will maintain his health, so he can be alive to see it. Anyone else notice the leasions on his face that are possibly caused by stress/alcholism ? Can't be a good sign. Anyway, we should celebrate our stars, even if they aren't the kind of players we are used, at least they are not from BC, by the way, Craig Smith sucks and is still overwieght with fifty nutrition experts. Bottom line, there are 2 freaks of nature in college ball right now, everyone else is working to be the player they are. Let's just hope the next rare bird decides that snow and access to laptops that don't belong to him sounds good.
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