From Connecticut’s victory over Notre Dame earlier tonight, a few questions arise:

1. Was this an impressive UConn victory (its sixth over a ranked opponent — the most in the country), or did they just get lucky because McAlarney couldn’t make anything?
2. Should Gavin Edwards be starting in place of Hasheem Thabeet?
3. What exactly happens when Thabeet goes up for a shot? Why does the ball always inevitably pop out of his hands?
4. Who has the worse looking shot — Luke Harongody or AJ Price?
5. Was College Gameday crazy today at ND because it was a recruiting day for football, or is basketball really that big there?
6. How bitter do the guys over at Black and Green sound?

Answers in sentence form, please. Coach O will do the grading…

Categories: Commentary, Connecticut, donald, Notre Dame
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We don’t have quite the marquee match-ups that we had last weekend, but nonetheless, this should be another very entertaining weekend of Big East Hoops.

Today, I see Villanova winning their game in Tampa over USF.
Marquette will ease past DePaul and continue their impressive start.
St. John’s will take care of Rutgers.
In the game of the day, Notre Dame will upset UConn and continue their home winning streak.
Then tomorrow, Gtown will rebound after their loss and defeat Seton Hall.
In a close game, Pitt will emerge victorious in Morgantown over their rivals.
Finally, look for Syracuse to pull it out against Louisville. This will be the best game of the weekend.

Categories: Commentary
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With an 11-3 record, I’m moving on to weekend three of Big East hoops. LAst week I thought I had it called with Rutgers over Syracuse, but alas, the Orange pulled it out. This week is easily the best slate of games yet. ND-Cuse, PC-Marquette and of course, L’ville-Pitt. And now, I continue my search for a perfect weekend.

Cincinnati should be able to handle DePaul in Chicago. The Bearcats are the better team, but this game will be close considering where it’s being played.

Marquette’s undefeated in Big East play so far. But that streak will come to an end in Providence. Friars by 10.

West Virginia will coast past USF in Morgantown.

Notre Dame will pull the upset over the Orange in the dome in the best game of the weekend. This game may go to overtime. If not, expect it to come down to the last 30 seconds.

Villanova will be St. John’s in a close game.

UConn will beat Seton Hall by 15-20. Although the Huskies have not been very convincing of late, they continue to win, and keep pace with the leaders.

Finally, give me Pitt over Louisville. This game may be a blowout. Keep in mind, a Pittsburgh blowout is about 15 points. There’s no way I can see the Cards going into Peterson and winning.

And of course, all of us at Big East Hoops will be rooting for a Hoyas victory in Durham on Saturday.

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Last weekend I finished up 5-1, so let’s hope we can equal that or do a little better this weekend. Almost all of the games will be on Saturday, as we have a great afternoon of Big East Hoops.

I think Notre Dame will take care of Seton hall at home.
Georgetown will also coast past Providence.
DePaul will defeat USF.
UConn will go on the road to defeat Cincinnati in a low scoring affair.
Louisville will go on the road, brake out of their funk and defeat Villanova.
Marquette will pull away in the last 5 minutes to defeat West Virginia in the game of the week.
Rutgers will take down Syracuse at the RAC in my upset special.
And on Sunday afternoon, Pitt will cruise past St. John’s at home.

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Having watched the first week of league play very closely I am convinced that this is indeed going to be a very unpredictable year. Some observations:

UConn can be exposed as vulnerable by a zone defense. The  Huskies plainly don’t shoot very well from long range. They have no clue how to attack a zone, only passing around the perimeter and not hitting the man in the middle. The Georgetown loss was not devastating and the Rutgers win not as impressive as it might seem. The Hoyas used team offense and defense to confuse the Huskies. In the rout of Rutgers, the bench was not used even as UConn had a 30+ point lead with 3 mintes left. Why players are still sitting with warmups on with a 30 point lead is a mystery to me. UConn is weak in the middle, regardless of what the coach says praising his 7’3″ giant who constantly is outmuscled and outplayed by physical centers.

Pitt is strong, very strong. The Panthers dismantled a good Hoya team by beating up on them down low. Granted, Monroe is a freshman and will be a very good player, but Blair took him to the cleaners and Pitt looks to be a tough out.

Georgetown will be a contender. When a team plays the offense the Hoyas play, a bad night by one player will not be as crushing as it would to some other teams. The Hoyas are fun to watch, they could teach other teams how to move with and without the ball.

Notre Dame has been exposed by St. John’s. How the veteran Irish could lose a close game down the stretch to a very young Red Storm club has to be a concern to Mike Brey. The Johnnies outrebounded and outhustled the Irish. A couple of teams have shown that putting the clamps on McAlarney and not letting him get open looks is the formula for beating ND. Harangody cannot be stopped and if McAlarney is able to find his stroke the Irish will be a tough foe. The defense also leaves a lot to be desired. The Irish have to outscore opponents.

Syracuse will be  in the mix. Onuaku has improved tremendously and Johnnie Flynn is the real deal. Rautins may be the key to success for the Orange as well as making sure Devendorf stays out of bar fights with girls.

Villanova needs more strength down low. The Cats are a great perimeter team but might suffer against big physical teams.

Marquette has the same problem as Nova. Guard play is great, bigs are a question mark. Matthews has become a dominant guard.

Something is wrong with Louisville. The Cards have trouble scoring points. They allow leads to evaporate. I think there might be a leadership problem here. Someone has to step up when things start to go bad. That hasn’t happened.

Watch out for West Virginia. Huggins has the Neers playing tough basketball. If Ruoff is having a bad night, WVU will struggle. But one thing is for sure, the Mountaineers will fight for 40 minutes a game.

Cincinnati, Providence, St John’s and Seton Hall seem to be improved over last year. Rutgers, DePaul and USF are plainly not good.

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