Yea, I’m talking about DePaul, Notre Dame and Syracuse. But mostly DePaul.

A 2-0 start for the Blue Demons? That’s something very few saw coming, especially considering they’ve defeated Villanova and Providence, two decent teams. DePaul has had great balance so far including tremendous support from their bench, and it makes me wonder, how did DePaul ever lose to North Carolina A&T? Next up they’ll have Georgetown, and even if they fail to beat the Hoyas, their next three games after that will include St. John’s, Villanova and Rutgers, all possible victories. Before the year started, I figured DePaul would fail to make the Big East tournament, but you have to give them credit for their hot conference start. Here’s something to remember, in the last few years (since we expanded to 16) we’ve had many teams start 2-0 in conference, and every single one of those teams made the Big East tournament. In fact, the lowest seed a 2-0 team ever received was a #10 (last year Providence). It’ll be interesting to see if DePaul can keep this momentum up, especially with the Hoyas coming to Rosemont next.

As for Notre Dame, they have been nearly as impressive. After quality home wins against West Virginia and UConn, they get a week off before they go north to Marquette. Then they’ll have Cincinnati and Georgetown after that. The Irish have a significantly harder next few games than DePaul, but if Notre Dame can win two of those, they’ll be in tremendous shape for going after another bye, as they did last season. The matchup that I can’t wait to see is Harangody vs Hibbert. Should be very interesting.

Syracuse is 2-0 as well. However, their wins have come against St. John’s and USF in the dome. It’s interesting to me that all three 2-0 teams have played both games at home. Anyway, the Cuse should take them when they can get them, and they have Cincy, WVU and Rutgers as their next three. The Orange will actually have to play some very difficult games later on in the year, so I think a fast start is essential, especially with such a young team. So expect to see the Orange near the top of the table for most of January, and they’ll begin to fade in February.

Some teams have gotten off to some rocky starts and need to pick it up before they fall too far behind. Providence has had a bad start. Their next two games include Rutgers and USF. These are wins they need to have if they’re going to make the NCAAs. The good news for the Friars is that these two weak teams are coming up next. However, if they don’t pick up these games, the road is going to get difficult really fast for the Friars. So if you’re a PC fan, you need your team to win two this week, or you can pretty much forget about this year.

As for Pitt, they could use some lesser opponents while Fields remains injured. And here’s whose coming up next: USF, Seton Hall, Georgetown, Cincinnati, St. John’s and Rutgers. Other than Georgetown, all are winnable, even without their leader. After Rutgers, Pitt has a very difficult schedule, so hopefully for the Panthers, they can win all or most of those winnable games.

Categories: Commentary