Sports Poets Society

The Big Picture The Bluejays were in an expected retooling mode last year after the magnificent Doug McDermott era ended . They continued their emphasis on strong perimeter play last season (5 players made at least 43 3-pointers ) and were much more competitive than their 14-19 record indicates. The Bluejays suffered four one-point losses and lost five more games between two and four points . Coach Greg McDermott has only one true returning starter , but he’s got many other experienced choices for his starting lineup. He can plug in a pair of quality transfers who figure to contribute immediately along with a group that includes 5 freshmen and a junior college hopeful . Who’s Back: Forward Toby Hegner , a 6-10 sophomore, averaged 6.7 points and 3.4 rebounds while starting 28 games as a rookie .  Junior guard Isaiah Zierden , a sharp perimeter shooter , averaged 9.5 points until going down with a knee injury in February.  Guard James Milliken finished strong last...

The Big Picture Last year, the Pirates got through the first half of their BIG EAST schedule with a 5-4 record, but they slipped in the second half and settled with a 6-12 league mark and a 16-15 record overall . Last season’s heralded freshman recruiting class is back with a year of seasoning under its belt and coach Kevin Willard expects two graduate transfers to provide some immediate experienced help as Seton Hall attempts to move up in the standings. Who’s Back Angel Delgado and Isaiah Whitehead were part of the top-level recruiting class and both enjoyed strong seasons. Delgado, a 6-9 forward, was named BIG EAST Rookie of the Year after averaging 9.8 points and 5.0 rebounds. He won the BIG EAST rebounding crown by averaging 10.7 boards in league games. Whitehead, the BIG EAST Preseason Rookie of the Year , overcame a foot injury in the middle of the season and averaged 12.0 points and 3.9 rebounds . Khadeen Carrington was in the guard rotation last year and ave...

http://www.coxhub.com/articles/ranking-the-big-east-teams-in-two-sentences-or-less By Daniel James — 12/29/15 2:07 PM The names on the front don't change, but the names on the back certainly do, and with the way things have shaken out in the OOC, there's even more to consider than what was thought in the original preseason predictions. But while anyone could spend eons talking about the in's and out's of each team, how many can do this ranking with a minimalist style? Here's how I'm ranking the Big East teams, in two sentences or less. 1. Xavier:  Way underrated in the preseason , which is scary because they were not that underrated to begin with. Five guys averaging double digits, a deep (DEEP) bench, and a top-level coach has me very scared of the Musketeers. 2. Villanova:  A solid team that, despite a few early losses, is terrifying-good when their game is clicking , and still better than most when it's not. I don't need to go ...

GEORGETOWN Georgetown hasn't lost 3 games to one opponent in a single season in 10 years, and Xavier may have to stop D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera to end that run. A day after almost single-handedly putting the NO. 23 Hoyas in the Big East semifinals , Smith-Rivera looks to lead them to their first conference title game in five years Friday night against the Musketeers at Madison Square Garden. Second-seeded Georgetown (21-9; BE 12-6) has lost 3 of 3 against Xavier (20-12) since they became conference rivals last season.   The Hoyas dropped both meetings this season by an average of 15.0 points while shooting 37.8%, including 22.9 from 3-point range. The last team to beat them 3 times in a season was Connecticut in 2004-05 . Smith-Rivera will likely play a large role in avoiding such a dubious feat. The junior guard is averaging 20.7 points while hitting 46.5 percent of his 3s over the last 6 games and was particularly outstanding in Thursday's 60-55 win ...

VILLANOVA Villanova used another hot shooting performance from the perimeter to advance and pull closer to some historic achievements. The fourth-ranked Wildcats can establish their longest-ever winning streak and set a single-season school record for victories Friday night against Providence in a Big East Tournament semifinal at Madison Square Garden. Villanova (30-2) opened postseason play with an 84-49 (+35) blowout of Marquette in Thursday's quarterfinal, its biggest Big East Tournament victory ever . Its 30 wins match the school record set by the 2008-09 Final Four team , while the 13-game winning streak is the squad's second this season. The Wildcats are trying to buck a trend of disappointing conference tournament performances . Villanova hasn't won 2 such games since 2004 when it defeated Providence to reach the semifinals , where it lost to Connecticut . In 2009, the Wildcats won 1 game before bowing out early and the 2006 squad that reach...

Thursday, March 12, 2015 By Dana O'Neil - ESPN.com VILLANOVA, Pa. -- If successful college basketball teams were built like rivets or tinker toys, pieced together in a factory or constructed with the aid of detailed instructions, the pieces needed for assembly would include at least one of the following: • One-and-done player • Future NBA draft pick • All-American or player of the year candidate In other words, Villanova would be a reject . Because the Wildcats are everything that college basketball teams are not supposed to be . They are old. They have 2 seniors who actually play , and not just as convenient replacement players for an otherwise void senior day. They do not have a one-and-done candidate on their roster . Or a two-and-done. Or a three-and-done. There's not one player through which the team runs . Their top 6 scorers average within 5 points of one another. Nobody's name appears on a single player of the year list , All-A...

LaDontae Henton, Kris Dunn Hilliard, Henton and Dunn Named Unanimously To All-BIG EAST First Team March 8, 2015 NEW YORK - Villanova guard Darrun Hilliard and Providence forward LaDontae Henton and guard Kris Dunn were named unanimously to the 2014-15 All-BIG EAST First Team , the league announced. The conference's head coaches choose the all-conference teams. The coaches are not permitted to vote for their own players. The league announced the All-BIG EAST First and Second Teams, Honorable Mention and the BIG EAST All-Rookie Team. The BIG EAST Player of the Year will come from the All-BIG EAST First Team. The conference will announce Player of the Year, BIG EAST Coach of the Year, BIG EAST Rookie of the Year and the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Wednesday, March 11. The announcement will be made on the first day of the BIG EAST Championship Presented by New York Life at Madison Square Garden at 4:30 p.m. ET. The other league individual awards will be announced...

There was plenty of mourning before last season began over the supposed demise of the “old” Big East, but by the time the conference ended its annual March marquee party at Madison Square Garden, one school could not have enjoyed the new Big East any better . Providence was one of those programs that never recovered when expansion bloated the Big East to a 16-team monster in 2005 . That lineup paraded Top 25 teams into the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on a weekly basis, and the Friars never could gain much traction. The new, streamlined, football-be-damned conference could work quite well for Ed Cooley’s Friars , however. Providence emerged as the first Big East tournament champ of the old/new league after an upset of Doug McDermott and Creighton in the title game . Scoring point guard Bryce Cotton then dropped 36 points and 8 assists on a stunned North Carolina team before the Tar Heels found a way to escape with a 79-77 second-round NCAA tournament victory. The Big East title was ...

By TroyMauriello @TroyMauriello on Mar 11, 2015, 11:06a As the Big East Tournament kicks off tonight at The World's Most Famous Arena, no teams in the conference should be playing for their NCAA Tournament lives over the next four days. It seems as though six teams in the conference can be either partially or extremely confident that they will hear their names called on selection Sunday, while four teams have little to no chance at a tournament berth, given they do not win four straight games in four days. With the Villanova Wildcats on top and a cluster of teams all capable of making a run below them, it goes without saying that this should be a fun four days for the rising Big East. Let's take a look at who's rising and who's falling going into the tournament, which kicks off tonight. Trending Upward Villanova- As the fourth-ranked team in the nation, Villanova obviously comes in as the clear favorites to win the tournament, but it's hard to put into words ju...

By Chris Mcmanus   @CerasolisGhost on Mar 11, 2015, 4:34p Touted as little more than a superb rebounder with developing post skills and great upside coming out of The Patrick School (N.J.), Angel Delgado played second fiddle to McDonald's All-American guard Isaiah Whitehead coming into Seton Hall's 2014-15 season. 30 games later, Delgado has been named Big East Rookie of the Year, is the conference's best rebounder as a freshman and has been undeniably Seton Hall's most important player this season. Delgado is also in unchartered territory. He's only the second freshman in the Big East's 36 season history to lead the conference in rebounding (10.7 rpg in Big East play), following in the footsteps of Notre Dame's Troy Murphy, who pulled down 10.3 per game in 1998-99. Delgado is the first-ever Seton Hall player to lead the conference in boards and is just the second Seton Hall freshman to be named Rookie of the Year after the late Eddie Griffin was honor...

By Sean Saint Jacques @SSaintj7 on Mar 11, 2015, 10:00a Many players in the Big East have a case to be the Player of the Year, but Providence’s LaDontae Henton has the strongest. Here are three reasons why the Lansing, Michigan native will win Player of the Year on Wednesday. 1) His scoring is off the charts If you look up the word, "scoring" the dictionary, there is a good chance that a picture of Henton dunking a basketball is waiting for you. Not really, but you get the picture. Henton leads the conference in points per game with 20.1 and also has averaged 6.3 rebounds during his senior season. It is not just recently that Henton has lead the conference in scoring. Henton has done it for almost the entire season and is the wire-to-wire scoring champion in conference play. Henton has played in all 31 of his team’s games to this point of the season. In those game, he has scored in double figures 28 times. In those same contests, Henton has scored 20 points or more 17 t...

By Matt Velazquez of the Journal Sentinel March 10, 2015 New York — Over the past four months Marquette has suffered through its worst season in more than a decade, finishing with a 12-18 record. But that doesn't matter anymore, at least not to coach Steve Wojciechowski. The Big East tournament is the great equalizer and even though his Golden Eagles are the ninth seed out of 10 teams playing at Madison Square Garden this week, he knows that all bets are off in conference tournament games. "Why not us? Seeds don't matter," Wojciechowski said. "I've been in situations where I have been coaching on teams who have been the No. 1 seed and we got our butts kicked. Seeds don't matter. (For) everybody it's a fresh start." Marquette will face Seton Hall (16-14) at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the tournament opener. The teams split their regular-season matchups, with the Pirates running away in the second half for an 80-70 win in Milwaukee and the Golden Eagles ...

UPDATED 2:10 PM EDT Mar 10, 2015 Two teams that endured a disappointing run through the Big East regular season square off Wednesday at Madison Square Garden in the opening round of the conference tournament. DePaul, the seventh seed, enters having lost seven straight games and has only one victory since Jan. 22. Tenth-seeded Creighton has lost three straight contests, although those defeats came by a total of six points.The last win for the Bluejays came on DePaul's home court on Feb. 24, when they posted a 75-62 triumph behind James Milliken's 18 points. That served as a measure of revenge for Creighton, which lost at home to the Blue Demons on Jan. 7. Forrest Robinson scored a career-high 20 points for the Blue Demons that night as they improved to 3-0 in the Big East, although it was essentially all downhill from there. TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1   ABOUT CREIGHTON (13-18):  Austin Chatman (18 points) and Milliken (17) each enjoyed a productive game against Xavi...

http://www.southorangejuice.com/2015/3/8/8170787/all-big-east-teams-sterling-gibbs-second-team-angel-delgado-rookie-team A trio of Seton Hall Pirates have been named on All-Big East teams. By Chris Mcmanus The Big East released their All-Conference teams this afternoon and three Pirates have received honors. Leading scorer Sterling Gibbs (16.7 ppg, 3.8 apg) was named to the All-Big East Second Team after finishing second in league play in scoring (17.5 ppg). Gibbs is the second Pirate in a row to be named to the Second Team after senior wing Fuquan Edwin last season; Jordan Theodore was named to the Second Team in 2011-12. A pair of Pirate freshmen in Angel Delgado (9.3 ppg, 9.9 rpg) and Isaiah Whitehead (12 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.5 apg) were recognized on the All-Rookie team with the former being a unanimous selection after leading the conference with 10.7 rpg in league play . Delgado is just the second freshman in Big East history to lead the conference in rebounding and i...

di ALESSIO BONAZZI , My NCAA Secondo anno per la nuova Big East che potrebbe terminare, ancora una volta, con la vittoria finale di Villanova. In una conference molto equilibrata, di livello superiore rispetto a quella passata, però non sarebbe una grande sorpresa vedere una fra Georgetown e Xavier battagliare fino all’ultimo per il titolo. Senza dimenticare, ovviamente, Butler e St. John’s, pronte a stupire tutti. Dovranno invece abbandonare i sogni di gloria, almeno per questa stagione, Creighton e Marquette , con De Paul impegnata a non ripetere, per la settima stagione consecutiva, l’ultimo posto in graduatoria.  LA FAVORITA - VILLANOVA WILDCATS   Da campioni in carica, i Wildcats sembrano pronti, almeno sulla carta, a ripetersi . Non c’è più Bell, perdita dura da digerire ma non impossibile da dimenticare, soprattutto con un Josh Hart che, dopo essere stato uno dei migliori sesti uomini dell’intera NCAA, nel corso di quest’annata potrebbe definitivamente es...