Since it’s never too early to wonder about which underclassmen will declare for the NBA draft, Greg Doyel offers some thoughts.
Aaron Gray: You can’t teach size, and Gray is 7-0, 270 pounds. He’s also more productive than the guy he backed up last season, Chris Taft. Gray is averaging 13.1 ppg and 10.5 rpg, and while he’s still a project who needs more games on the college level, the dearth of big men makes him a possible first-round pick. Turning pro this spring would be a shortsighted move, and probably a long-term mistake, for Gray.
He’s right on all counts. Anyone recall how high Chris Mihm, Michael Olowokandi, DeSagana Diop went in drafts (hint, all were in the top-10)? I don’t think Gray is going pro early. He still has too much to learn, and might be too raw even for the NBA draft with the way he has been missing some easy baskets. ESPN’s “top 100” (Insider Subs.) still doesn’t have him listed. At the very least, someone should point out how long it took Mark Blount to finally have a good season and cash in.
Grant Wahl at SI.com offers his “Magic 8-Ball” predictions of teams that could go deep or even win the NCAA. Pitt didn’t make the cut.
All credit to Jamie Dixon and his Panthers, who’ve been the anti-Louisville, continuing to thrive in Big East play despite a creampuff non-conference schedule. The inside guys have been better than expected, but if we have to choose between Villanova and Pitt we’re taking the Wildcats.
And yet Florida makes the list.
I fully expect the Big East to go to an 18 game schedule next year with all teams playing each other. The complaining is already getting louder.
It was inevitable that a prominent Big East coach would begin complaining about the ludicrous unbalanced schedule that inflicts unusual punishment on the perceived better teams in the league, because TV networks want the best matchups.
Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim and Syracuse are 15-3 and 3-1 in league play, but have home-and-home sets with Villanova, UConn and Cincinnati among a torturous 16-game conference schedule that also includes a trip to Pitt and home dates with West Virginia, Louisville and Rutgers.
Boeheim is the midst of a nightmarish five-game stretch that started nine days ago at Notre Dame, continued with an 8 p.m. game last Saturday at Cincinnati and, two nights later, a 9 p.m. game against Connecticut at the Carrier Dome. The Orange finish up with a 6 p.m. road game at Villanova Saturday night followed by another 7 p.m. Big Monday game at Pitt two nights later.
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“The way we’re scheduling is just not going to work. Jim Calhoun and I talked before the game about this. It just doesn’t make sense.”Boeheim has privately told friends he will be lucky if the Orange finishes 8-8 in the league, which could theoretically put Syracuse on the bubble on Selection Sunday because of its lack of quality non-conference wins and resistance toward playing road games in December.
Boeheim, whose team has three more 9 p.m. games this season, is right to be concerned about the expanding power of networks like ESPN.
The expansion of the Big East has paid some dividends. The Marquette Blog, Cracked Sidewalks, has opened a new blog to track Big East Stats. Specifically, the tempo-free stats. You’ve been reading them occasionally here, and especially if you’ve gone over to Ken Pomeroy’s site. An explanation of them can be found here. You can find the regular link in the Big East Blogs section.
