STATS by Will & Jim: S2E12 - Big East Preview

>> The premium basket is under review. [MUSIC] >> Welcome back to Stats by Will and Jim, the College Basketball Podcast that focuses on the numbers. I'm your host Jim Routes joined. As always, by Will Warren, we are Stats the statistics tailored analysis talk show. That is the acronym for the show. That's why we use all caps. It just makes me feel better to have an actual acronym there. Will, we're talking Big East today and we just both breathed a big sigh of relief before we recorded, because 11 teams is the proper size for a league and it makes easier to analyze and it makes it much more logically scheduled. So a little quick tribute to the Big East. >> Yeah. Did you know that a conference could just have a normal schedule with a normal amount of teams anymore? Kind of amazing. I've been looking, it's really cool when you're doing the ACC and you're like, wait a minute, this team just straight up doesn't play somebody in their own conference. And then you go to the football schedule and it's like, oh, there's not going to play each other for seven years. Here in the Big East, it's normal. Nobody has a real scheduled advantage. There's no goofy, like, oh, we missed teams 13, 15, and 16, and our 18 team league this year. No, you got to play everybody, you got to play them everywhere. It's a perfect, perfect format. This is the ideal basketball league. Am I pumping up the Big East listenership a little bit? Of course I am, but they deserve it. >> As you should, yeah, having a double round robin in a power conference league right now, should be celebrated and we will continue to celebrate it as such as we go through the conference. We will go back and forth with statistics on Will's standings, all 11 teams. So everybody will get discussed, don't you worry. But before we do, we've got to get a little intro, table setting out of the way here. We are probably a part of basket under review, which we think is the very best basketball community going on the internet. It's all college hoops all the time. For only $10 a month, you get access to the website where we are now doing 32 leagues in 32 days. Every single conference is going to be coming out, previewed in depth, every single team. Myself, Will Warren, Kai McEwan, Matthew Winnick, and Tanra Grath with one pinch hit on the American East. So everything is going to be there for you if you're a fan of a power conference team. And you want to read up on the buy game squads. You're going to be playing against this year. You can find that at basket under review. You also get access to the discord that way, where you can discuss hoops all the time. Whatever it is you want to debate, if you want to just come in and talk about our previews and say, why they're bad or why they're good. And so our intelligence, it's big 10 day, as we're recording this, and I'm sure that I'm going to get a couple of darts thrown my way for my awards, for my standing. So that's just the way it goes. That's part of it, that's part of the community. It's fun to have that. So you're all welcome to join $10 a month to have that discussion. Also, please tune into the rest of the shows on the network, the burp, the basket under review pod, with even Brennan and take Frazier. We can under review with Matthew Winnick and Brian Rauf, scout team with Kevin Sweeney and Eric Fossett, support in any way you can. We appreciate it all. It goes towards having this independent college basketball website that covers anything and everything and tries to just be as much in love with college hoops. As you are, the listener, the Big East listener, so support however you can. All right, well, as mentioned, it is the Big East. That is our topic for today. So we got to start with the stat of the day. And I'm going back to the well a little bit on rebounding and turnover margins. So kind of teams that are looking to be great at shot volume. The Big East has 11 teams, as we've discussed, of the 79 power conference teams, how many Big East teams were in the top 40 of turnover and rebound differential last year? And then I'm going to make you name them as well. All right, St. John's. I'm pretty sure it was one. St. John's is correct. I think through this. So I'm just ignoring the back half of the conference, perhaps. And actually, no, I'm not. Seaton Hall. I think Seaton Hall is probably on this list. Well done. Seaton Hall is the number three ranked team in the Big East in that category. So I forgot they forced a ton of turnovers in conference play. Yep, and St. John's is number two. So you're missing one. And then you have to decide if there's only three, if there's more, if there's eight, whatever it is. Well, I can tell you one team that's known as the list is Provenants. [LAUGHS] I will guess it's Yukon, and I'm willing to be wrong here. Yukon is number one. You are correct. OK, good game. So Yukon won St. John's two, Seaton Hall three. There is a fourth. Took to quote Yoda. There is another. Fourth. Yeah, Big Star Wars guy here. Oh, yeah. I know who you are. That's what I can't. I'm not insulting you. I'm just quoting him. That's all. No, no, no. You're not insulting me at all. So I will say quick, nerd aside, I did finally get convinced to start watching some of the Star Trek series, like the old TV, like not the '60s one, but what is it, the new generation? The next generation? The next generation? TNG, I feel like I see that. Yeah, I got told to watch that in Deep Space 9. So those are the two I'm trying to wrap up by the end of the year. They're on Paramount Plus. So there's only like a couple ads per episode, which isn't so bad. I'm unaware of, maybe they'll sponsor us and we'll find out. But I'm unaware of they have the ad free option, like Hulu does, because I did pay up for that on Hulu, and unfortunately it's well worth it. Yes, it shames me how much I'm like up. Yep, the extra would double the price of the month to just speed through episodes, yes. Well, like you were on, I'm throwing up. You're still throwing, I know you're still throwing up. And I don't know, I don't think it's Phil and Ovo, but I'm going to guess Phil and Ovo. Is not Nova, there are four, and it was shocking to me that it was Butler, was the other team, not four. But I could not believe it. Yeah, I did not see that coming into-- Is this a dream in Jones, Steph? It must be, it must be a positive plus for him as we get into the team, is perhaps that will be a part of it, because yeah, straight in Jones is back at Butler, and the rebounding, it is a new coach. Oh, my coach, I really get it rebounding, I forgot. It's true, that's probably at least a partial explanation. That's still crazy. I would never have guessed Butler. I wouldn't have either. So the fact that they're inside the top 40, and then the rest of the Big E, the other 17s, were in the bottom half of the P5, and that statistic. Is it good or bad for Butler that they were really good in shot volume and still finish 7-13? Really good is probably stretching it there barely in the top half of the P5, but yes, the fact that they were still down at the bottom of the conference is it tells you why maybe we're going to be a little lower on the Bulldogs today, unfortunately. OK, before we go into the standings, we want to give a shout out to our lovely loyal sponsor at Homefield, it is football season. They have got their camp mist kickoff continuing throughout the season. I know it's kicked off. But they're still doing specials all throughout the season. You can get whatever you're looking for T-shirts, hoodies, crewnecks, retro style jackets, premium hats, the Homefield stadium polo. All of that is available at Homefield apparel. They design and research everything from the fit and the fabrics to their old vintage logos. So you've got standout gear that defines your game day. You can shop now, get the very best. Get 20% off with promo code Burr20. That's B-U-R20, for 20% off your first purchase. Highly encourage you to do that. Make sure to check out the Twitter. Go ahead and talk to them. If you don't have your school up there, they'll do everything they can to get your school into their system, get behind the scenes contracts negotiated so they can license your gear. They like hearing from fans. So do that. And then make sure to use promo code Burr20. Check out HomefieldApparel.com. It's the official outfitter of Baskin' Underview and of your game day. All right, well, as I said. I loved the three men we've Homefield read, where I felt the pain emanating over the Mizzou game. Oh, it really, it continues to hurt. I think, I can't remember if we said on the show, but Kai and I are going to be in attendance at the Florida Homecoming game this weekend. And we're hoping beyond hope that we might sneak game day. I think Iowa is going to get it no matter what once they beat Michigan. But had they lost and had we won at Mississippi State, perhaps the Tigers would have gotten it. But-- - Yeah, the Saturday football events. I can miss kickoff now. I think I'm good. - Yeah, you don't like Big New and Kickoff leading right up to-- - I don't like. So I, quick aside, and thank you to Homefield for their sponsorship. We love you. You should always message Homefield Conor on Twitter. Really had a hard time explaining to my wife that the way it comes out of Gus Johnson's mouth, it sounds like Big Newed Saturday. And she like could not, it was not computing. And I was like, you just got to listen. Instead during the Michigan Oklahoma game reasons, she was like, oh yeah, he's saying Big Newed Saturday. - Were you trying to use that as some sort of leverage? Like, hey, baby, it's Big Newed Saturday. Let's do this. (laughing) - No, no, no, no. And appropriate for this family-friendly podcast. But-- - Oh, sorry, listen to her. Sorry, listen to her. It's a hand-- - My hand is up. (laughing) - Anyway, we're talking Big East. We have got Will's standings here one through 11. - Big Newed East Saturday. - That's right, that's right. If you've got any shade to throw, it goes Will's direction. I just wanna make sure to put that out there. I will tell you where I have each team as we go. So it's not gonna be purely a Will's standing thing. But we'll each have a number. We'll go back and forth. We'll discuss the team's outlook. That is the format here. So Will, we'll kick it off with you. You've got the odd. numbered teams. That means you get number one, which is pretty much going to be number one. I think in any Big East preview, find out there the Yukon Huskies. Yeah, Yukon. Number here is 400. This is the number of online Yukon fans begging teacher to tell them they're a good boy. And all of their various fights they find themselves in. No, my actual number here is 48.6%. This is the field goal percentage allowed at the rim last year in Seton Hall's lineups with Najai Hines at center. I'm still struggling to understand why Hines was not like a locked-in starter. So he ended up with 18, 19 minutes of game. Never seemed to lock down the starting center job full-time. I think he did start some, but maybe there's some NIL promises, whatever it might be. He did have some fouling issues. He is kind of on offense. He's whatever. But as a rim protector, I do think he has purely unmatched in the Big East. I'm not sure there's a single other player on any other roster. Say for maybe Luzzy Swigo, Swigo. Yeah, just because he's seven-four. But even then, I would say pound-for-pound Hines is quite a bit better at rim protection. So I did some digging. The closest statistical comparison amongst Hurley players is freshman/softmore Isaiah Whaley, which is something very interesting to watch unfold, because Whaley became a pretty big player on this post-COVID Yukon team's right prior to when they really took off. I love Hines on this roster. You had, I believe, had him as like, what was it like a top 15, top 20 available transfer? Yeah, I also, I ranked him as like a top 25 player in the country. I am so all aboard the Hines Choo Choo Train. So you just keep going, say all the positive Hines things. I'd spilled right here. Yeah, I think I've probably nauseated every Big East fan in the discord with my Hines love, so it's nice that it comes from a different source. That's more credibility that you talk about. That's one. Yeah, exactly. Anything else. Yeah, so with Hines, like, I'm curious to hear what you think of his offense, because if you just purely look at efficiency, it's definitely not bad. I mean, 123-0 rating on 18% uses last year, 60% from two, 63% at the rim, obviously largely assisted. But not really a self-creator by any means, which you don't have to be yet. And I would say in this offense, you're probably largely hoping he doesn't have to create much at all. If he's on the court, you kind of want him to be the fourth at very best, likely fifth option. So I'm assuming he's going to be mostly like Lobs, Dunks, maybe some post work, because I can't really picture a Yukon team without post players. So I don't quite know what it's going to look like. I think there will be some growing pains offensively in particular, but the defenses for sure are going to be there from night one. It really does help that Yukon, as always, is going to have a really strong like guard and wing defense group this year. Like I am all in a community. I think that's such a good ad for them. And obviously Silas is Silas. I don't think we need to explain much further there. But if you have, it's always what I talk about the guard wing and big defense, Yukon's going to have it. So it's going to be another great defense. I think the offense will come along in time. And I would be kind of surprised minutes depending if Heinz is not the biggest DPO TY at your send. Oh, I like that. I think he should get there as well. I look at some of the bigs that they've had and other schools like the cutting and foul rate is the biggest thing for him, I think, because he did get in foul trouble decent amount. Now it was only 5.2 fouls per 40. There are some guys you see as freshmen that are like seven or eight fouls and they just cannot stay on the court per 40. But I think Heinz can be solid about that. Now the defensive scheme does funnel a lot to him. That is sort of the sometimes bugaboo with the foul rate for Yukon bigs. They get a lot of drivers coming their way. But I think Heinz is going to be outstanding there. That's your question of him on offense. I think Yukon's system does a great job of the post-ups are a lot more like catch on a seal and finish. It's not just catch with a guy on your back and have to make like multiple moves to get some sort of look at the basket. And that was what Heinz is really good at at Seaton Hall. Like he's not going to catch and drop step, pump fake, hezzy, tween on the block. He's going to catch, use like a shoulder into your chest and finish or turn and finish right away. And I think the Yukon offense sets up well for that. I'm curious how the offense looks with no Luke Murray. You talked about it a little bit with the BC preview last week on the ACC. Does that cut into their efficiency a little bit the way Ben Johnson leaving the Detroit Lions did? I buy that. I think Hurley understands things and learned a lot from Murray. But the game planning, game to game, I think might not be quite as sharp just because I think Murray is incredible with his prep and is just so meticulous with it. But I see no way this defense is bad. You mentioned Demory at the point of attack. He's incredible. Jaden Ross is outstanding on the wing. I think Braylon Mollens is underrated defensively. He's a very feisty kind of wiry strong guy. And then Heinz as the back the the back line rim protector anchor. It's going to be really tough to score against them, especially as they take on Hurley's personality of just being like a lunatic physical tough nothing easy. So yeah, I'm I'm all aboard Yukon number one. I think maybe the the offensive questions are would be on the highest stage. What could catch up to them a little bit. But there's enough there for them to be a top three team in the country to me. They're so they're tour of it cranking right now is 38th offense fourth defense and actually sounds about right to me. I might have the offense a tad higher just because they do take largely very good shots like their shot selection is among p5s not like unmatched but very very high up for what I would look for. So probably I definitely think that puts them top 10 higher than what Torvix got him. Curious to see if you feel that they'll end up with the same or higher seed as they did last year because they were two. I think they'll get a one this year. I think they'll be the clear top team in the big east because I don't have anybody else in the big east and I don't like the top 15. So I with them to me being top three, I think they win the league and that helps them get to number one seed. Evan me has got him ninth on offense and fifth on defense. I would agree with you that I think it'd be more like 25th 30th offense and there's a chance to me. I think there's a chance they're the number one defense like it's it's hard to bet on a team being number one. But I think they've got at least the upside with the pieces and and early on the sideline to be that good. Totally doable. So I would go to seed myself. I just think part of the issue for them is that the big east quality is unfortunately not on the level of like big 10 big 12 SEC. But if I mean as long as you have like a good villain over a good uh St. John's research at Mark cut and some other you know interesting pieces like I think Providence is going to be way better this year. We both think Xavier's going to be much improved. Like there is a chance they can as opposed to last year generate enough quality wins in conference play to get to the one line. Yep. And they obviously as usual we just can assume they're going to rampage through non-conplay. Yep. And they're playing a lunatic schedule like they're playing everyone everywhere like really really good games. I think they have like five terrible buy games and then seven awesome top-end games. So they've got chances for four to four to the max. Yep. That's it. That's that is what there's got to we've got we've got to come up with a name for that like quadrant maxing or something. That's that's what the two true outcomes. Yeah, I like that. That is this kind of their goal with scheduling. Uh okay. Number two is St. John's. My number for them will it is not a super statistical analysis number. It is four. That is number of starting power forwards they might not have on the roster or might not have available because Boba Karsana is dealing with eligibility coming over from the international ranks. Donnie Freeman is already out for the season with an injury and then Keisha on Hall and Reed Bailey are both in five for five limbo. So all those guys I think if you only had one of them they would be their starting power for but there's a chance that they end up with zero of them and that could end up being the whole on the roster. I think everybody's relatively high on Quinellis assuming he gets cleared as well a Euro league point guard. Ian Jackson at least has familiarity with Patino. He's been there. Tunde Yesafoo has the the scoring upside both those guys love to shoot and then it you know depends on what you think of Rubin Prey and he had a decent off season with with Portugal this year and had a good end to the season last year obviously the Duke game was big with him knocking down four or three's I don't think Duke was expecting that but you got to figure out the four spot you got to see who gets eligible there it is Rick Patino but I don't look at this and see the same kind of defensive personnel that he's had the last couple of years and I don't know if the offense is suddenly going to be great unless you get somebody like Keeshawn Hall in there as another big-time scorer to play alongside Ellis who loves to pass so I just I don't know what they end up doing at the four unless they get those pieces will because I don't think Maronka is all that good stoic of itch is not ready and the bench gets really thin really fast they took some guys that I don't think have any chance of being big East contributors and that's an issue but if they get some of those players eligible then you get closer to the top end talent and I think that speaks to the the Evan Mia's Evan Mia Kawa's website gap of there either 11th with everybody or 34th without some of those eligible guys. I kind of wonder if the truth is in between there where they're like 22nd 23rd. They're a five or six seed I wonder if that's the most likely outcome here what the scary thing to me is not even the four, but specifically the concept of Keesha on Hall being your four Is there not to be truly mean, but sorry, I'm going to be mean is there a more empty stats player in the last like four years of P five basketball? I'm sure Auburn fans would say no, there is not and you see that like fans might agree I mean when we were at the NIT last year at least I was for the semis I got to talk to Justin Ferguson who does a great job covering Auburn athletics at the Auburn Observer and he said in his 10 plus years of covering Auburn he had never seen a player more disliked by his own teammates than Keesha on Hall And when you consider who has come through Auburn basketball in the last decade, that is a statement Yeah, didn't they have a player started fistfight on a plane with their own teammates? Yeah, Keesha on Hall being head out for at least at least like Congrats, Jakai Howard, you you've been exceeded. Yeah, congrats, Katie Johnson the It's just it's a struggle for me to Look at this roster and project much of anything like yes, if who I think is awesome That's a hell of an ad in Jackson, you're two in the system. I'm good with I think I'm pro pray I'm gonna say I think that his limited numbers look pretty good He's not gonna hit four threes in the game again and all likelihood, but as a center I do think he's got some serious room to roam I like Ellis and really like if you just name the top six or so in this team I'd be good with it So I actually think on a tournament setting when you really only need six to eight guys You're gonna be okay. I don't think that's an issue But these long 32 plus games stretch of the season It's unlikely you will make it through without somebody getting banged up eventually. It's unlike you unlikely You won't need a bench contribution here. They're so yes like Moronka scares me still you're stoic of itch still youk of itch Stoic I think stoic of itch. That's what I'm going with laser He will see what he is left-airists boy You better hope for a leap because statistically it ain't pretty Avery Brown just like I don't understand why you're relying on him like There's some other interesting pieces like him and as Possibly could be good Read Bailey. I don't think it's bad. I think he'd be a useful like seventh-ish man Yeah, but that would also imply that you've got more depth than this team does They really need court rulings in their favor, which I am going to wager. Just frankly, they'll get I Will also say they need really good injury luck which they have Now you can tell me if I'm wrong. They have not had like a major injury the last year or two right? I don't recall one St. John's fans may be screaming at us if they did But I don't believe they have and you can already say like they've had bad injury luck with Freeman being rolled out for any killies, but that's out of season like in season It's again, we're we're not St. John's fans, so we were probably just missing the force for the trees here But they I can't immediately think of an injury they've had in the middle of the last two seasons So you could be running long an injury luck here too So I mean like what if yesafoo is out for a few games. What if he injects and misses a few like It's a thin Thin roster and while I think the top end of this totally needs that Evan ranking of like possibly top 10 in America The low end of it. I mean like they're gonna have some games where you're like Jesus. They lost to them in Big East play so it's it feels like a really up and down team where like the truth is in the middle like I think forward to Six seed somewhere in there, but they're gonna have some games where they look like it to and some games where they look like a tin Yep, I agree. I mean last year they were number 11 defensively nationally, but that's with Dylan Mitchell terrorizing people Zubi edu 4 at center maybe pray gives them an approximation of Zubi at center defensively, but there's nobody on this roster that's anywhere close to Dylan Mitchell defensively I don't think Sauna can get there if he's eligible and God knows if they're playing Kishon Hall It's not just the chemistry. It's not just being disliked by your team It is the other lack of defensive effort and maybe Rick Patino gets that from Zero up to 1.5 on the level scale of 10 Effort wise, but even then I just Kishon Hall wants to get Kishon Hall buckets So it's still gonna be a limitation for them. Yeah Okay to number three will you are I won't put the stat in your mouth, but you talked mr. 7 for Luigi It is his squad to Villanova Wildcats Yes, this is not a Ouija stat though. I am really high on him at Villanova This is a Kwame Evans stat one is my number here This is the number of Big E's player since 2007 To match what Evans did at Oregon last year 20% or higher defensive rebounding rate 5% or higher block percentage 30 or more made threes in a box plus minus a five or better only Big E's player Who's done that in the last 20 years is Jack Nunch or is it Nunchia can't remember? Nunchia one of my one of my doppelgangers shot up Jack Jack Nunchia at Xavier did that in 22 The only other player to do that in the last 20 years in the Big E's I would say Evans was probably the bright spot in a totally lost organ season Really really good player on both ends of the court I think he slides in effortlessly in what Kevin Willard wants to do this could be a truly nasty front court between him and Big Luigi and that's you know not even mentioning the rest of the starting lineup Which I like you know, Elijah Crawford, I think is a really good transfer from UIC getting Tyler Perkins back is awesome Devon Royal from OSU Really interested to see what he is in a non jake dealer team. I think he's pretty good But I will see how good but Evans to me is a sure thing. I think he's going to be awesome in the Big East. I love this fit He plays angry, which I think matches really well with Having Kevin Willard as your coach. Sorry to Kevin if he's listening But you just look really upset on the sidelines basically all of the time. So I'm really excited for this villain of a front court The back court is a questionable fit But I think front court wise these guys are going to wreck shop a lot of the time Yep, there's a great article on basketball and review by Joe Jackson It's just called the interesting case for Kwame Evans Jr And it's a really deep dive from a guy that is incredible at doing deep dives About his impact as a player on each end of the court some statistical hurdles that he clears like we'll mention Really really good player and I think just kind of got stuck on an Oregon team that put all its and I all money into Nate Biddle and Jackson Shellstad and dealt with injuries to both of them particularly Shellstad And it just didn't really have any other options to be competitive in the Big 10 But coming into a better infrastructure. I totally agree I'm starting to talk myself in the idea that Villanova could be better defensively than even St. John's Just personal wise and Willard's had some really good defenses in the past It would not be outside of the realm of possibility I mean he had number seven number 14 at Maryland He had top 25 defense number 10 twice at seat and hall So I think it's possible they get up there with their size positionally Concerns for them for me would be shot creation Elijah Crawford was the guy for UIC last year But he's not a big time perimeter shooter. He more lived in the lane was kind of a physical bully ball type In the MVC and that is not Athletically, it's not the biggest and he washed out at BYU So I'm curious how he does going back up to the power five level competing against better athletes better defenders on the ball So can they figure out the shot creation stuff maybe playing through royal as like a booty ball three at some for some stretches That's just the concern, but they've got some really good shooters off the bench in Simmons And what the Cornell transfers names escaping me. It's not Nord. It's the other one Oh Jake vegan Vegan thank you. Yes big time shooter. So they've got some spacers off the bench that can help I just want to see how they create those shots to go with what I think is going to be an excellent defense Yeah, I think they're going to play through royal a lot It was pretty telling in blue ribbon that Willard is like I could play him anywhere from the two through five and as thinking oh well That just means he's gonna play a lot of shit through him. So I think He's gonna get a lot of attitude. Don't play for the two Yeah, don't don't do that. I am very excited that buddy Simmons dad is going to be a Villanova fan this year Do you recall the Bonnie's game? I think the very first one last year where the only fan you could hear in the crowd was buddy Simmons father going absolutely bonkers every time his son scored I wouldn't have remembered that but you kind of like jogged in memory And it sounds somewhat familiar because what they were one of the first games of the season two and like I think it was Second game of the season it was in that field of 68 marathon. It was either first second game But that sounds right then yes It was something Simmons or somebody on Bonnie was shooting free throws and the guy was just screaming free throws free throws So I can't wait for him to be on a presumably FS one a good bit this year Yep, definitely. We'll have some John Fanta games with buddy Simmons I think he should just go interview his dad That sounds great. Get up from the play by play dad It's probably first row. I can't be that hard. That's true. That's true. How? How many? Well, let's just take a quick guess here given what we know about our, our buddy, Kev. How many of these players are going to want to play for him next year? Ooh. Uh, I'll say he brings back like two of them. I don't know. Yeah. Let's say two. There's definitely some, and everybody's going to have eligibility, right? Like there's almost none of them are because of, I think, vegan in the Towson guy, but I believe everybody else will. Okay. All right. Yeah. They'll make it work. All right. Next up number four. Well, I will, I'll give away. I have this team number two. I'm, I'm buying the surge, buying the, the bounce back from our cat team that struggled really badly out of the gates last year. They were atrocious in the non-conference, but my number for them is 41st. And you can kind of pick and choose the right date you want to do for filtering Bart Torvik's rankings. But for them, uh, I did starting January 17th, which was the first, pretty much the first day they got a starting lineup set of James Stevens and par him to go with Ben Gold and Chase Ross who are both gone, but that trio starting together for the rest of the season. From then on, they were 41st in, in Bart Torvik. They were actually very competitive. Now they didn't put up some great Big East win loss record, but very competitive with good teams. They ended up beating Yukon towards the end of the season when Yukon, like, wanted to win that game for outright Big East title. It wasn't like that game was meaningless for, for the Huskies. Big, big win there. Nigel James in league play was outrageously good. Over 19 points for game four rebounds, five and a half assists on 49% shooting from the field, 39% from three. He was excellent. And that's just as a freshman. I think you could see that plus even another gear. I love what they did in the portal with fruit and minisale coming in as complimentary guys. I'm just buying it. Well, I think if you look at them as the 87 best team last year, then predicting, which is what they were in Kenpom, sorry, 83rd, then predicting them second sounds crazy. But I'm kind of going off what the version of them was towards the end of the season with those young guys taking the helm. And I think second is doable. I would agree. I think it's definitely doable. So I sorted since MLK Day, which is when I remember them playing and beating Providence. They were top 25 defensively, which is really strong final nine games, top 15, shot 59% from two over their final 13 games in a not abject defensive conference whatsoever. A pretty good Big East defensively. One thing I need to see these guys fix, they were awful on the boards last year like historically terrible. Over the final 13 games minus 10.5 remaining margin pro 100 over the final nine games. I've got them at minus 12.2. They were six from the bottom in defensive rebounding percentage over the final nine games last year, which that can't happen again. I agree though that they should be quite a bit better. I think fruit as an ad is going to help a lot with rebounding. He's just better down low than gold was more physical. Parham should be a little better on that front. Not that rebounding is ever really going to be advantageous with how Marquette builds their rosters and how they decide to play defensive offense. It's just not their thing like they punt it on rebounds a lot in both the two seed seasons. I don't think that it's going to suddenly become a strength of theirs. But they more than make up for it by how many turnovers they force and how well they typically do with offensive ball security. I believe that they will come out okay in this regard. Fruit I think is really the big swing piece for me in helping that though. All you need to be is not terrible defensive rebounding wise. So they can just be around to average. That's fine because they're going to put on offensive rebounds no matter what. If fruit can secure the boards on that end of the court, I feel a lot better about this team. And it would certainly raise their ceiling for me. Yep. And I think there was a world where Shaka looked at this and said, oh, I put my faith in Kaden Hamilton and Parham as my front court. And Josh Clark has the young developmental big. And he did not. He said, I need to go get a big man. I need to use the portal. Goes and gets fruit. And I think that's going to be a really, really big needle mover for them. I mentioned it with Yukon. So I'll mention it here. They kind of lose their offensive ace. The guy that was credited for building those offenses under Shaka smart Nevada Smith is now the head coach at Cienna. Can they maintain some of the offensive stuff? That was always a bugaboo for Shaka Texas. They had some clunky offensive fits. So can they make it work here? At least it helps that he has an all American candidate point guard, some shooters on the wing that would theoretically make it work, but just something to monitor there that could limit the ceiling. The, so I guess is he eligible? I'm assuming Colin Porter. I don't know who is and who I really don't think we're going to know until like the day of the games, like the the ins and outs of the games. Even after the games are played at this point. Yeah. Yeah. Like I think there will be people that like are eligible. And then their injunction gets stayed in late November. And it's like, all right, now we no longer have them for the rest of the season. This is awesome. All college sports was missing. What a court drama. Yeah. They should need it. Actually, good tie in here. Why? So we have true TV now, who obviously does like now in season games too, but the NCAA tournament could court TV if that still exists. And I'm assuming it does possibly start broadcasting games just with like a live judge analysis of who's on the court. Oh, I thought you were going to say can they broadcast the court cases? That too. That's one of the court of basketball fans would watch. I think yes. I think Federman for sure would. That boy, he'll watch anything. But if they, this is actually a great, you know, as we edge more towards a reality show era of the United States, having court cases, but scheduled 30 minutes before tip off would be really good. So I'm thinking here, you'll have like Colin Porter or whoever in the court. And it's 30 minutes for a tip off of Marquette Butler. And the judge is like rolling on his eligibility. And he's like, you know, what I, you know, was whatever the legal term is, I stayed the injunction. Definitely don't know what that means, but I'm just stating words. And then Porter rips off the suit. He's got like the warm ups on underneath sprints out of the locker room onto the court. That'd be great television. Oh, that turns out the courtroom was the Marquette media room underneath Ficer forum. And it's like, oh, wow, he's playing. He's okay. Yeah. I like this idea. That's great. I'm afraid this actually might happen. You've given somebody content idea. They need, they need to, they need to make it happen. All right. We'll keep moving. Well, we're almost halfway through the big east here. Number five. So back to you, an odd numbered team. All right. This is Creighton. There's a lot of different directions. You could go with the Creighton Blue Jays this year. New coach in Alan Hus. New era, really, I mean, this is going to be the first year without Greg McDermott since I think 2010, something like that 2009. It's been a long while. First and definitely the first time they're going to have a new coach since they're in the Missouri Valley. So that's going to be wild. Yeah, wild thing. So new era in Omaha, but the exciting thing to me, number is 266. That is the number of career made threes for West Enis between Lincoln Memorial and South Florida. I don't believe he's going to get near the all-time leader board, though now in the five or five era, he may, if he hits 100 or more each season. A good chunk of these are also at D2. So your mileage is going to vary on how much the stat really holds. But there's a real chance the most prolific shooter in the big east, this year resides in Creighton's roster. I love Venus. He was awesome at South Florida last year. Never met a three. It doesn't like. And I think he's going to fit right into what Hus wants to do. Those Hus high point teams really thrived with great guard play and guys who could get both create their own shot and have shots created for them from deep. The best shooter in the big east resided in Creighton's roster really feels right. A great fit for what Hus wants to do. And for man of a certain age, aka us, Creighton having a sharp shooter is just how it's meant to be. Yeah, it's not quite Ethan Ragi. I wish it was Ethan Ragi. I wish they just had permanent eligibility with Rocky Bombs all day. But yes, the the rain making Creighton players of lore of your like Mitch Ballack, etc. Good to have another one back there. This is an interesting roster to me, because I feel like it lacks a little bit of the top end quality, like who is going to be the true all American guy. Is it going to be Enis? What does he do besides shoot? Not a ton. He's a contributor, but it was for an uptempo South Florida team. So some of the per game stats are a little higher. But man, there's a ton of quality on the roster, like guys that can play Big East minutes with a healthy Jackson McAndrew back. I believe he is definitely a Big East caliber guy could really break out. I've given him the the light comparisons to Steve Novak in the past as like the 610 shooter in the Big East. Oswin I think can be better with better defenders around him. I think he was in a tough spot in the Providence defense last year. But I like the the whole combo forward group of McAndrew, Jason Green, Hudson Greer, Isaac Trout. All those guys are playable. I like the guard bench depth with Kaden Edwards, Control Harman, BJ Davis is a Big East caliber player. Like you You can go. 10 deep before they even get Brody Robinson and Fred King from five for five. And that was a strength of those high point teams that Hus had playing depth, you know, wearing teams down with waves of players. Maybe it's a little harder to do in the Big East, but as much as, you know, I don't see them like cracking the top two, they're they're going to be really consistent night to night and they're obviously going to have an incredible home court advantage with being like the western most outpost of the Big East and having that incredible crowd every single night. The five for five guys interest me because at face value given who they bring back, that would give create in a 10 man rotation. And I've never known creating to go above about eight, even in their more depth filled years. So would be kind of an odd fit for me for King and Robinson, especially King with a, what to me is not like a loaded front court, but a front court with a lot of guys who've played before and have played serious minutes. So for the upper end of the roster question, I think Jason Green is probably the best slash most obvious pick to have a big all big East leap. But then again, last year is in a pretty favorable situation. I only got to 10 and 6 per night. So we'll see the big question mark for me is Oswin. I am assuming without really reading into it too much that Hus is probably going to keep the same deep drop that a Creighton's employed in years past, which Oswin ran at Providence anyway. Certainly, Oswin's got to cut down on the fouls. But I think the system should help. It's going to feed everything to him anyway. And probably will be more favorable for Creighton that Oswin's back up is not going to be named Peter penis or whatever it was at Providence last year. What like, I'm sorry, but like one of the least physical bigs I've ever seen in a power five lead. So should be a much more favorable situation for him. Yeah, it's it's slightly alarming that there are two centers assuming King is eligible. We're on teams where their defense completely undermined the the offense that they had both Providence and Murray State were really, really struggling on defense. And you're bringing in the five man from both those teams. But the offense could be outstanding here. And and Hus is, I think, got both the background with McDerman and his two years in charge of high point shown that he can be a really good offensive mastermind. And I mean, King does have, as we'll mention, the experience of having backed up caught Brenner prior. So this is a return of Marfo of sorts to a to Creighton. But yeah, I mean, we'll see in the rolling. Who knows who we'll find out eventually. Yeah, I would say of swing pieces that come in five for five. I think Creighton's going to be pretty solid no matter what those guys aren't like moving the needle bad or good with or without that helps that. I'd rather have King than Robinson just because like I just, I mean, yes, Creighton has a more loaded front court than back court in terms of depth. But like BJ Davis and Enes are just going to play a ton of minutes regardless. So I don't know. Robinson kind of seems to perfluous to the whole thing to me. Okay, number six, we go the aforementioned Providence Friars. My numbers, it's kind of one number, but with those a theme here for, for, for Providence plus 39 plus 39 and plus 57. Those are the improvements on Kenpon preseason rankings by the three Brian Hodgson teams in his coaching career so far. So obviously be the highest expectations he's had. I don't think he's going to improve 57 spots from wherever Providence starts in the pre season since it'll be like 50th or something. But he has shown the ability to make his teams better every season. He's a really good recruiter. That was kind of what he was known for on the NATO staff. Brought in players really good at that. But the fact that his teams have seemingly outperformed the preseason and a local assessment every single time is telling. And I think that is a positive sign for Friar fans. It's not just an accumulator of talent. Winning the regular season and tournament in the American last year. I think spoke well to his ability to extract wins from a really impressive roster. Now this year, they have some questions. They have plenty of eligibility questions. The dink paint. I don't think it's going to get eligible because of the G League stuff. And having chosen the pro route before, they've got a couple of five, five guys and Derek Simpson and Joseph pinion. They might be trying for a different waiver for pinion, but generally speaking, there's three guys that could play that are eligibility questions. But man, I love the venture pool bird wing combination. I think they're going to be devastating defensively. And I just kind of learned to trust Hodgson that he brings in talent and makes it even better once he's there Hodgson rocks. Like this is even without the five or five guys, it's like a pretty stout and solid roster. And if you assume the way we do that he's just going to over achieve until proven otherwise, this is a tournament team full stop. They're going to make the tournament. You know, they're, I think at Torbick, like low 40s high 50s, something like that without looking. So they're on that tasty 12 barrier. But again, if you assume like we do that, they overachieve by 10-ish percent every year, nine or 10 seed come March wouldn't shock me at all. So I'm really excited about this roster for several reasons. But getting Miles Bird is so, so sick. I love watching him play. I know offensively he's kind of a nutcase sometimes. But that's also in a San Diego State system where he got asked to do a lot so that I don't think he's comfortable doing. And here, like he can be more off ball. He can kind of do his thing and he can invest full effort into defense. The reason, like my hold back on defensive numbers earlier of like just picking Heinz outright to when DPO T-Y, like while I favor it, Bird is going to have a real chance depending on how proven it finishes in this league. He is that good defensively. And I'm excited about that. I am really excited to see what Hodchen can get out of Aaron's and Paige. Because if you look at just like the per minute stats, this is potentially a top six player in the league. He was amazing in his minutes at Northwestern. But then you have to question how much of that is real and how much of that should you question because Chris Collins, who I think is a top 50 coach, was not willing to play Paige more than 23 minutes per game. And how much of that is a fit with Martin Nellie. There's various questions about that. But like even beyond that, Ryan Sable from Buffalo was awesome offensively last year. Ryan Meila, in terms of glue guys, just like guys who are happy playing the role and just happy playing for the school, really hard to beat having him around. Really slugged it out on a couple of underwhelming proven it seems last two years overperformed his recruiting profile. I think in terms of a guy who is willing to accept any role you give him, really hard to beat having that type of player on your roster. Vanterpole rocks from FAU. And if you can get even just one opinion or Simpson eligible, it sounds like we're expecting opinion to be more likely. Yeah, I'm in on Providence. I have them sixth, but in that sense, I would say I have all six of these teams in or near the top 40 nationally. Yeah, I think I buy that. They're 53rd and me 54th at Providence or at Bartorvich. So your memory did serve you well there. Yeah, the page question is, it's so strange because he's had great permanent stats everywhere and fallen out of the rotation every single season. Like, I know there's some injuries involved, but did not play the final four games at any of his previous three stops and was starting games at every single, maybe not every stop, but just slowly coaches seem to turn on him for reasons, maybe not showing up quite on the on the box score. Yeah, but the talent is there. And if it doesn't work out, I made big Jacob Banner be fan. The UNLV transfer. I think he's a very productive, another permanent guy that won't need to ball and collect the guards to the scoring. Is it possible that this is the put on a shirt versus empowering meme between Aaron's and Paige and Keishan Hall or hello, human resources? Yeah, yeah, pretty much I think it's definitely possible. That's it could be that I am just completely in the tank for the wrong guy here. I'm looking back is is Miles bird, the closest thing we have to college Matisse Thibal, just like he's incredible at blocking shots and getting steals. Now Thibal was on a whole other planet. His senior year in the Hopkins zone. He led the country and steal right in 53rd and block rate. That's really hard to do. But bird is close to that and one of the best defenders in the country. I might have a different one here. How about a plus? Jamai Meshach. Okay. Like not quite built like a tank engine the way Meshach is. But but but disruptive and can guard so many different positions. Yeah, I mean like either way I do think both are going to be quite strong. But yeah, this is who this is a scary potentially very scary defensive roster to have to go up against. Yep. Okay, back over to you for number seven. All right, number seven. I've got Xavier our beloved NSM. I apologize for having them this low. I do think that they are heavily improved from last year for the record. Nine is my number here. It's not JJ McCarthy who I will be buying the jersey of now that he's on the science. Um, the number of players. Don't waste your money. Don't do it. Oh, wait until he breaks out. Wait until he completes 50% of his passes, and you will have regrets. And so all the Minnesota Vikings fans, have you noticed that on Twitter? Like quick aside, the Vikings like JJ McCarthy dead enders who are like furious that they are starting Tyler Murray. Really? Yes, they wanted JJ starting. Yes, it's so funny. And they're like, well, we haven't had 250 yards in a game yet or whatever. Whatever. Okay, that's awesome. Did they watch JJ play? That's my question. I don't think they watch anything. The number of players on this team at nine eligibility permitting the average nine or more points for game in 22 or more minutes for game in their most recent college season. So last off season, Richard Tino took heat from us and from a lot of analytically minded people for building what we thought was a fairly non competitive year one big East roster really looking towards the future. At the time I remember rationalizing that by saying we thought he would be able to hang on to most of those players for additional year and trying to build towards 26 27 didn't happen. He did bring back possibly two starters in a Milicevich and maybe again, eligibility permitting board of the Canaan. But instead, this is a full roster flip with starters from Miami, Texas A&M, LSU and several other schools. I think that this roster will have a much higher floor by way of what they've brought in like chance Western P5 guy who was awesome at UAB last year. True Washington who I've been on the bandwagon for for three straight seasons. Uh, even Michael and Wilco who put up really big permanent numbers for LSU last year, willing to say like, hey, he just played on a bad team and, you know, defensively just wasn't up for it. That's okay. Like, I can write that off and be okay with what I'm saying ribbon mingas pretty good for A&M last year too much higher floor this year. But I wonder about the ceiling because this is largely a junior and senior roster of guys who've already peaked at other schools. So I am curious as to what Xavier might be this season and how much patino can squeeze out of the proverbial lemon. Yeah, I look at this roster and I think the starting lineup makes a ton of sense to me. The back court fits. You've got the jumbo playmaker and westerly like big point car ranger with size. True Washington's a two way bulldog who has familiarity with patino having played for him at New Mexico. And mingas, I know exactly what I'm getting. This is a man who wants to bomb from anywhere in the court big time, big time high volume shooter. Then up front, most savages the release of it. I can't remember what it is. It's like the stretch big man. Give you spacing on the court and Wilco is going to do all the work around the around the paint. A little more mid range heavy shot diet than you'd like to see, but maybe they they correct that a little bit for Xavier. So all that fits together. I think it works. It just gets really dice in me when you're getting to the backups. Like I don't know if cheetah kudus and a ligbe or big east level big men. That that is a stretch to me the back court. I'd love to have bored of each and because he's another ball handler behind the guards. Otherwise, it's just Kayla cows and nothing. And Pizzato was like badly inefficient for Evansville back when he was a freshman in Missouri Valley. So how much are you like you said extracting value from that group to go with the starting lineup that I'm a big fan of that I think comes down to or will be the swing factor in their season if they can find three contributors where it's four of each and in house and she to kudus emerges as they're you're good back up big. Okay, now we go a deep and we can go to war with that group. They just got to figure out who those guys are to compliment the starting lineup. That's embarrassing. That'll be another way to add to the mispronunciation list that I will say you remember hearing watching a game and was like I have to stick with that because I will I will get it wrong unless I harken back to that. Yeah, we need like a pronunciation guide to go the ongoing roster sheet just like some one of her various number nerds who pulls like because there are some colleges who do a really good job of putting the pronunciation on the roster page. There's a lot of them that you got to click through which is annoying the real winners are the ones that have the audio file, which is not everybody. Yeah, I will note not the most encouraging sign in blue ribbon that patino said they mentioned in the offseason so they're talking about, you know, making it back to the tournament first time. They only had one year fall off, but he said patino mentioned the importance of the offseason of the NCAA tournament one time and summer then packed it away in the proverbial closet. Not the most encouraging thing I've ever read in my life. I would perhaps like to see, you know, we want to be a foreseater or whatever, you know, like we want to have big goals that I'm sure like obviously they would like to make the final four. Yeah, that's, yeah, no dog thing, but to be like, you know, we mentioned it once and then there's an earlier thing in there of like the talent is there it's encouraging that I don't love these quotes. Yeah, there's another there's another coach in the big east that had some quotes in there. I didn't like we'll get to that later in the standings. There's only four teams left. So process of elimination, we can probably get to figure it out. But yeah, dream a little bigger. Come on. Yeah, all right, next up is number eight to Paul. I think, well, you've already secured your place on the front of the DePaul bandwagon, the fans, I'm in da Paula. That's right. You with your prediction of top 10 defensive ranking, you you you have earned their favor. My number for DePaul is 57.1%, which is the 92nd percentile of field go percentage allowed at the rim last year with DePaul. And a lot of that was and Jay Benson, and he is gone, but it could be even better this year. The shop blocking is loaded. Huge, huge front court, Macoon, Guat, Fabian, Flores, D.O.P. Ardustin, Wilson, Jacques coming over from Fresno State is big and outstanding rebounder. They're going to be enormous around the rim this year, especially if they are going to be playing Guat at the four a decent amount of the time. We have talked about the offensive potential issues paired with here, outstanding defensive prognostication for them, but they were great defensively last year, and they could be just as good. They've got a ton of positional size, Papula, cotton, meyucin, McClure, as guards and wings that are all six five or six six to go with that giant front court. I can't help, but by the defensive potential here, well, I just don't know if they'll be able to score, but hey, that still could lead to the best of policies in quite a while. They have some really intriguing games on this schedule, where I think we're going to find out somewhat early what they are. Credit to Holtman, it's an engaging schedule, an interesting one, especially for Chicago area, people who are perhaps employed by this free podcast, and people like me who wish they lived in Chicago. So November 5th, home South Florida, great game. I would go to that November 13th at Northwestern, and then a couple neutral site games in November. I'm sure this is part of a preseason tournament. I'm just not remembering the name of Purdue November 24 and Thanksgiving day Pittsburgh. So you got four top 100 opponents right away in November, and I think if you're going to be a good team, or we'll just say an improved team this year, you know, I think to Paul would love to be good. But right now the fans are just like, let's get to OK. Let's just be OK. Let's get to, so what is it? It's the top six top five that get the buy in the biggest tournament. I think it's the top five. So they're gold. They just want the buy. They want to finish fifth or higher. Yep. You need to win at least two of those. So you got to find two wins amongst USF Northwestern Purdue Pittsburgh, which I think is more than doable. Like if you can go to and to there, you're really in business, and that doesn't even mention, again, pretty engaging December, where you play home SMU and road St. Louis before Big East play Altman. I always think it says something about what a team like a team in this situation sees of their own roster based on how they're scheduling. And to me, this suggests to hold like Altman is suggesting like he thinks he's got a good team like a potential bubble level team. If you're going out, you're playing this level of opponent. Yep. It's funny because they've got the Yukon thing of their quad four games are all outside the top 300, at least in net last year. So he's, let's see if we can get some blowouts, mash them teams with our size. And then what can we steal in those big games? I'm playing at St. Louis is such an admirable thing. I feel like getting a P5 game at home for the bills is massive. And like you said, it shows some confidence from Altman to be willing to play that game, especially since if they get a return, it might not be a Joshua's team. A couple of other quick notes on this on this roster collectively shot 37% from three last year among this year's entrance to the team. So that's a really encouraging sign for what they want to do offensively. And two, I would like confirmation from you assuming without looking that Mizzou's not playing a game this day that you will be in attendance on February 10th for the Yukon to Paul game because that sounds physical as hell. Yeah, I don't even if Mizzou plays I should be in the house there get down the South Loop had had to win trust. I don't make the trip every single season, even though it's not a very long trip at all. there for that date for the record. Okay. All right. I'm signing a verbal contract with you will I will be I will be in attendance on February 10th. I'm honored You'll be at that and I'll be at like some slop like Something else Like and you you did say the the shooting on this roster I mean Papua and cotton were two of like the analytical darlings of the portal like guys that fill the stat sheet We're contributors to big winners at places that normally don't win I think those are just massive massive additions in the portal. I actually like a lot what holdman did there Okay, next up to number nine and we had to will for his staff Okay, number nine. I have Seton Hall Which is a bummer? I've wanted to put them higher, but I the stat is gonna explain why I don't have them higher 165th This is Shaheen Hall always average offensive ranking at Seton Hall thus far We are well aware all the way is fighting up pill in terms of big east money I would say maybe outside of Butler. They've got the worst monetary situation and Honestly, it probably is worse than Butler all things considered It's at least neck and neck so it makes me you know It's fair to wonder like can they ever dig themselves out of that even though Willard did but especially in the portal era because I mean you saw even when you find a really underrated gem like high and see just transfers to you come the next year so yep, it's tough and You know in an era of college sports where you know, I I'm just guessing the average AD basketball coach whatever has yet to figure out that soccer figured this out a hundred years ago with transfer fees that you could just reinvest those into whatever Maybe you know 20th. I'm gonna say 20 52 you will have a system that does this, but It makes me wonder and maybe has and I'm wrong, but If all the way would ever just hire an offensive coordinator to try and fix this because His teams ignore the three-point line more than any other P5 program almost including Arizona When you factor in Arizona's previous seasons routinely horrific at shooting and like yes They made some intriguing ads this offseason to try and fix that with cream Thomas with Meyer wall Devon Williams is an okay shooter is a big Rodney Brown is a solid shooter. So like there's some potential improvement there But until I actually see it on the court. I am not willing to believe that seat in hall is going to be a enjoyable whatsoever offense to watch they're going to be defense first again and frankly This is not as good a defensive roster as it was last year like I I don't know about you I'm just like not that excited to see Rodding Anderson the third Lead the defense so I am not and I think Xavier fans know how I feel about Rodding Anderson, so shout out to the discord fans that we've discussed back and forth Yeah, it's funny because when they made the run to the elite eight at St. Peter's a hollow way his p-cox People were making a big deal of the offense like look at the beautiful sets. They're running to get dug at her open three is and Then you looked at the numbers and was like oh this this offense has been abysmal all year and suddenly They're actually playing a little over their head against P5 competition But the the offensive futility has continued into Holloway's tenure at at seat in hall I know he's limited in roster building like you said, but Having an offense rank outside the top 300 is horrific at that level and two of them outside two more Outside the top 100 is is not good Maybe this is his best offense. He's got a ton of bites at the apple like you said. It's not Not a ton of high level talent same criticism I gave towards Creighton, but like Del Jones, Simmy and Wilshire Ronnie Brown Ronnie Anderson cream Thomas Trey Parker Mahalo Petrovich that's like seven guys to play the one in the two Maybe there's three guys there that emerge into useful big east offensive players that Holloway can tolerate their defense I don't think he will tolerate Mahalo Petrovich's defense. Just say that right off the bat But the interior defense should be good Devon Williams is a monster shop blocker. He's a little thin But the kind of backline defender that Holloway typically has going back to like Casey and Defoe and then Hines last year and Stefan Payne So the defense should be okay, and he gets him to play hard just to your point is they the attempt at patching over the offensive personnel actually lead to team results Can I read you a quote from Blue Ribbon really quick about shooting from Shaheen Holloway? So this is to earn a green light in the Satan Hall offensive system Guys have got to this is Holloway speaking guys have got to make make X number of shots a week from the wings and the guards They have to make three thousand threes a week outside of workouts and practice That's a lot No wonder they're friggin exhausted Yeah, they're playing def they're playing their ass off on defense and then They got to go make four hundred plus threes a day outside of workouts and practice To yeah, that's why they're three point of time for I just so low I would imagine yeah So um that actually explains a lot to me I so again, I like all the way a lot on paper this roster should be quite a bit more You know up for it offensively if they can make three thousand threes a week um which In your lifetime Would you say that you have I surely would you say you have made three thousand threes? Yeah, one thousand percent. Yes, definitely. I believe I have two But in a week I've never done it in a single week. I don't fully know How so if you were to go to the gym right now like you don't have any responsibilities How long in terms of hours and we're assuming you have a rebound or like some sort of system to feed you the ball How long would it take you to hit three thousand threes? Rebounder was the big question um Probably at least two and a half hours a day right? I don't know I can't I think it's more I have like Because you're thinking like you got to take breaks to drink gatorade or whatever It's like I know like if you're stationary and you're shooting it's not as much effort But it's still effort to like move around catch the ball shoot reset move around catch the ball shoot like And that's assuming you don't take it dribble you don't like do something to get comfortable Put it this way Will I played seven games of pop a shot on Saturday night my elbow was a little sore on Sunday So yeah, I think yeah, that's anything worse. I mean like 130 no knee issues Yeah, um no Okay, that I feel like I learned more from that quote more than four years of watching the offense Now I understand certainly it makes a lot of sense a lot of sense All right, I guess it's interesting in that like seat in the hall seat in the hall really does play the most like a swagger react team Then anybody else in the p5 has an ages which makes them a really fascinating team to watch But yeah, offensive efficiency wise. It's just not there Yep Okay, to number 10 we go which is Georgetown and This this one's gonna be a little bit bullying sorry Georgetown fans, but the number is two And that is the number of Patrick Ewing teams that have had a better Kenpom finished than any of Ed Cooley's so far in three years Ed Cooley has not cracked the top 70 of Kenpom Patrick Ewing did it twice Now did he follow up those two top 70 teams by going two and 37 in the biggest he sure did he sure did So yes the bar is clearable for Cooley, but it has been an ugly 10 year so far and if you look at this roster without The five for five big men that they've got waiting in the wings you would chuck who in Benson it could be ugly man Especially in the interior they are lacking in rebounding heft Make troll may shot can block shots, but I don't think he's a big East caliber center You're really relying on Jalen Lowe to stay healthy ask Kentucky fans how that went at point guard last year And then it's just kind of some okay pieces and they they got high on Cave on mole reddies end of the season last year. So maybe he ends up starting over El Marco Jackson who I'm not sure is very good. I don't think Kansas fans are sure is very good that one Players era game notwithstanding where he completely exploded Is that against Tennessee Yes, yeah, he went seven for seven from the line You know he has like four end ones and one that's a great offline story Well, I think I shared it in our internal writers chat about my experience watching that game on a Thanksgiving Eve with family Oh, that's right. Yes Probably the angriest I've ever been after Tennessee loss and it had nothing to do with the loss Yeah I just I don't know what happens if they don't get Benson anymore chuckwood their interior defense is going to be awful when they lost you with chuckwood last year they really really struggled and That's could potentially be the same problem if they don't get them eligible this year defense could be bad I don't know the guard creation is all that because especially if low shoulder bites back I'm just I'm a little concerned and and I cool had a quote blue ribbon about We just were way better than our record showed last year and when you finish 74th in Kenpom I think you need to do a little more of winning and figuring out the the ways to win than just saying like trust me We were better. I think that was only six or seventh in the Big East and Kenpom like rankings But outside the top 70 for a p5 program like Georgetown just isn't good enough Ed and I at some point you got to beat Patrick Cuing's best season Yeah, and like, so. So what is their big thing they're resting on now that they sweat provenants? I guess. Yeah. So they are the meme of the guy like celebrating flipping everyone off in spring champagne for finishing seventh and that basically tied for last last year. But they trust me. They were better than what the record said. So like, and with the low thing, look, we had to deal with this all last offseason from people who are like, no, he's actually a good shooter. No, he's not. I've given up on that completely. Yes. 46 for 178 the last two years from three. At 43% from two, actually 42% from two in his career is not a good offensive player. I'm sorry. Like he is a good passer for sure. But if you're asking him to score and based on this roster construction, I think they're asking him to score. That's a terrifying proposition. They really better hope that like victorious Miller is really good, for example, and that he could handle the scoring load instead because outside of that, I am looking at this back court and I do not see a good score among them. Yep. I'm cringing. I think it's are you pro Caleb Williams at all, basketball version? I think he's just a good complimentary spot up guy and he needs to be created for like I like Miller. I don't know that I want Miller to be the guy on my team. No, no, I think it's I think they're going to try to have it below and they're going to run into the same issues that Pitt did where it's just not efficient enough if your highest usage guy is shooting those kind of percentages from the field. And maybe Georgetown fans will clamor that he had the shoulder surgery and he's healthier. But I don't know that that's going to fix all of these things that ale them and like to be honest, like even if the five or five's come in looking at Pitt's roster where low was the quote unquote guy on it. Would you take that pit roster over this Georgetown one or would you say it's equal? Like I kind of feel like it's about equal if not a little bit better. Yeah, closer to equal, they just they need those guys because then they can win with defense. If they don't have those bigs, they can't win with defense and I don't think the offense is going to be good enough with the the back court they have leading the way. So yeah, yeah, they could, we're going to talk about it in a second, but they could, Georgetown could finish last if they don't have the five and five guys. Yeah, and like for it for Pitt, like the year where low is the guy they finished 72nd at Torvik, like, and that's not against the argument which was last year. Yes. With a slightly better roster than what I see here for G town. So yeah, I mean, you kind of want to have a little optimism that cool he's not DOA, but if they can't, so again, not knowing his buyout or anything offhand, what is the, what would be for a Georgetown fan, the bare minimum this year to gain confidence going for it that there's still some amount of juice left in this? I think they got a, I'm not even to say 500 league. I think they got to win nine big east games to be like, okay, he's, he's out and they need those centers because they, generally they were much better with you with Chukku last year, so if you can get him back that, that is super helpful. And Benson was a big part of that top 25 defense at the Paul, but it's, it, we haven't seen a top 50 defense yet from Koolie at Georgetown and haven't seen a top 80 offense. So I'd actually go for the identity is. I think they got to be in bubble conversation on Selection Sunday. Wow. That's, that's a tall ask for what they have on the roster, I think, but to gain confidence going forward, I think by year four at bare minimum, you need to be in bubble convoes. Yeah. I really need to make the feel that I'm just trying to be charitable. Yeah. Got their last out large bid 2015. Yeah. It's wild. Was that the, uh, now I'm thinking of Maryland, I was thinking there's some really infuriating first round, uh, game involving somebody on the East Coast that area was Maryland. Oh, okay. All right. Well, it's, um, let's wrap it up here with the Butler Bull dogs and their brand new coach, Mr. Ronald Norred. At least they've got a beautiful arena. You really can't beat him, can you? I mean, like, honestly, that, that was such a gift to be able to shoot at Hinkle last final four Saturday. Yeah. Yeah. It was a real tree playing in there. CJ Moore's nose. That took a beating. It might textize it real quick and just ask him if he feels bad. Um, my number here is seven. That is the number of players on this roster who played a single college game last year. Three of those seven played starter minutes in a D one. This is year zero for Ronald Norred. So you have Jalen Jackson back, which is great. You have Drayton Jones back. You mentioned was really good rebounder, if nothing else, uh, that might be about it. Like Jordan LRB was solid at FGCU, nothing amazing, but like a solid complimentary starter. Trace and Anderson was interesting in his limited minutes for NDSU. You can make a case for Eduardo Klafke kind of figuring it out spots for Ole Miss last year. Um, and that kind of might be it like a seem jule of itch coming over from the ABA. I'm intrigued by it seemed to have really good numbers over there. The ABA is one of the better European leagues. I will note, um, it's just this really does feel like a total doover to me. Like this is starting over. They really have to meet by some not by a gigantic margin, but like by a decent margin. The least talented roster in the big east and it's going to be an uphill battle to get the most out of it. Like if I were to set the line right now, uh, this feels mean, but like four and a half over under for big east winds, feels about right? Yeah. I think that's entirely fair too. I'm, I'm, do you think this is a top 100 Torvik or Kenpom team? No. I, I think it's a worse roster than Xavier had last year and they finished 94th in Kenpom. And Richard Petino has had like good college teams and we've never seen Ronald Norden in college. I think it's probably not a top 100 team either. Your, your big transfer additions are from the A-Sun, the summit and the Socon, which I'm not sure those three combined to have like five good defenses. Now those guys are going to have to play against Yukon and St. John's and Villanova's defenses that we just praised over and over at the top of this episode. They're going to struggle the score. I, like you said, Jule of it just got to be good. I think they're hoping Samu Adler is like a six six. Give me the ball and I'll go shoot like self creation type guy from Finland. But yeah, that besides Jones and Jackson's coming off the injury, those two guys that are at least somewhat proven at least big East caliber players. You got a squint and you got to kind of hope and pray that that Noret is an elevator of talent hope that he's somebody like Luke Laux last year at Florida State. Like maybe it takes a little while to figure it out, but he's coming up from, from the NBA as an assistant to his alma mater. Perhaps that's the way to make it work. But I think this is going to be like you said, year zero, pretty ugly. Let him reset next year and try to figure it out then. Yeah, it's, it's a hard way. I mean, like it's a cool story. It's really good that he's there. There's some great. Remember some guys on the staff like Cody Kimball and John Debler, which that's exciting. Yeah. Again, playing a beautiful arena. I might be about it and that's OK. I mean, like if you can just, you got to do something to get the fans excited, I'll definitely say this home slate is going to do a good job of producing wins. So, I mean, like a schedule's bleak, right? Yeah, schedule is bleak. So yeah, like I'm looking at it, I think you'll know pretty early what this team is. Not in the first week, but by the end of November because you play Boise on the road, which is almost eternally it's tough to ask regardless of how good or bad you are. But especially this year, going there in year zero at elevation with totally new team as that could be ugly. Get pit at home. It's not, yeah. It's not even a great Boise team either. So like, if you, if you get blown out there, that's scary hours that, that actually could pretend in the same way that Xavier getting smoked by Santa Clara at home, pretended last year, even though Santa Clara ended up quite good. Yeah. I would agree. And like a really potentially nasty neutral game against Nebraska in November 22nd. Yeah, it could, it could be rough. Hey, at least for Butler fans, there's an excellent Joey Dwyer article about Ronald Norred on the site. So if you're looking for some optimism from basketball review, that is a, an article I'd recommend to you. You check it out. That is good. And I will say like given what we've seen in the biggest over the last few years, they're not going to have a shortage of potential marquee signature wins in your one for Mr. Norred. Like you get Marquette at home on December 23rd, Yukon at home and you receive Saint John's at home in January 3rd, three backed back games by the way. Villanova at home January 15th, they're going to have their shot pretty early on to pick one off. So if you can just get one, that's encouraging that gives you something build on going forward. Yeah. I think that's what they, they've got to be looking at this year as a, let's see what kind of encouragement you can get from his first year. Who of these younger transfers and international guys are keepers, it was LRB, Calderon. people we want to build around, is a jewel of itch and addler. That's what they have to figure out, because what's the highest you can see them finishing the Big East? For me, it's like ninth. Yeah, ninth, maybe eighth. I mean, like, you could get some close game luck and go like seven and one and those and get eighth, but yeah, I mean, I'd be shocked if they finished higher than 80th at Kenpon. Yeah, I think that's roughly where I'm at. Like I said, I don't really think they're top 100ish. So, okay, that is it for the Big East. Will any final thoughts on the conference as a whole before we start our Tuesdays? So I will still put them forth. The upper end of this conference is quite strong and quick predictions here. Number one is I'll say six teams make the tournament. I think that's a pretty solid year for them. I mean, you had over half your teams and you're doing pretty well as a conference. I'm debating if I'm gonna say seven or not. I'll go six. I'll go six. So if you get six, it is the most since 2022 for the record, which is, I mean, that's pretty good. Yeah, they've had some rough years, but I think the middle is much more solid. It's still kind of a tough bottom end, but the solid middle. So I'd say six. I will say four where home uniforms in the round of 64. Yukon, St. John's, Nova and Marquette. I would agree. I would agree. I think I have all those teams in my top like 22 or 25ish, 25, yeah. All right. And then one last one, the Bill Simmons crossoffs. Do you have any preseason in say tournament crossoffs from the league? Like you cannot picture the any you cannot picture a scenario safer a miracle conference tournament run where this team makes the tournament? Yeah, I guess I kind of gave it away with with Butler. I just I can't see it. I won't do it to Georgetown because I think if they get those two centers, their defense could end up being like top 40 and carrying them there. But if Butler, I unfortunately am crossing off. Yeah, I'm going to do a Butler crossoff. Can I cross off the seat and hall offense? Yes, you can cross off the seat. Just just from finishing, we'll say top 100 where we don't see the world where that happens. Yeah. All right. So Butler's our preseason crossoff. I'll leave Georgetown off to us for now, but they're they're hovering. They're like the chargers. They're they're hovering on the cross offline for me. Yeah, they're on crossoff alert. All right. That's it. That's the big east folks. Thank you for tuning in. Look at us managing still go 80 minutes on an 11 team conference. We'll go two minutes. We're more excited about it. There is the great thing about this league. You can get more excited about talking about Butler than you can about the 17th or 18th voice team in a league. Yes, that's very true. That's very true. And we don't you just don't have the exhaustion at the end of it. They're like, oh, we still got to crank out a couple thoughts on Penn State now. Okay. But speaking of Penn State, we'll probably back with either a big 10 or big 12 preview next week. So didn't you lion fans get excited? But I'll sign us off here. Thank you to Trilly Donovan for the platform to do this show. We love basket under review. Thank you to Corey Aldus, our producer behind the scenes to Sam Freyer for all of our graphics. Sam and his team. I should make sure to give his team some of there to Homefield apparel for sponsoring us. Make sure to use promo code Burr 20 and you'll listen to for tuning in. Make sure to spread the love for basket under review. We love being able to do all this stuff and any support is helpful for the site as a whole. 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