As we are now more than halfway through the Big East schedule a few questions need to be answered. Do I have the answers? Probably not. But I watch games and continually ask myself questions…. questions with seemingly easy answers…. But in this league…. Not so fast my friend!

Can Syracuse continue to dominate if Melo is permanently on the shelf? I think that the Cuse can and will still be the top team in the Big East with or without Melo. The word is that he has an academic issue. Does this mean that he is ineligible for the rest of the semester? Or does he need to finish some requirements from the Fall term? The amazing performance of Notre Dame last week cannot be put totally on the shoulders of Melo. After all, the Orange did rebound with a win over Cincinnati, a much more talented team and a hot team right after the loss in South Bend. The reason SU lost at ND is that they shot 30% and were outrebounded and outworked by the gutty Irish. Melo does give Syracuse a force in the middle but isn’t the strength of the Orange in their depth? They will be okay and probably will lose again but not enough to open the door for another team to overtake them. However, keep your eye on the Marquette Golden Eagles, they are playing really well right now.

Has Pitt turned the corner with the victory over Providence? No, but it must feel good for them to know they can hold a lead and finish a game. Trey Woodall scoring 17 points doesn;t hurt either. Now Ashton Gibbs can go back to playing 2 guard and hopefully regain his outsdie shooting touch. But Pitt still commits too many turnovers and plays shoddy defense. I finally made the right choice on TribLive radio yesterday telling DD that I guarantee a Pitt victory. Then he reminded me that I made so many wrong predictions about Pitt recently and wondered if he could trust me. Course not, DD!!! I think Pitt will now begin to win a few games but we have to remember that it was Providence they beat at home.

How does Mike Brey do it? That is one I cannot figure out. He wins year after year with a roster that no coach in the league would trade for. Sorry Calhoun and Boeheim, Brey is the best coach in the Big East. He has his players scrapping and fighting every night. Sure they will lose games but they are fun to watch. Even though last night the game with Seton Hall was painful to watch… they made it to the under 16 timeout at 0-0… the Irish came out in the second half and took a double digit lead and never looked back. And don’t foul Brey’s team at the end of a game…. they drilled free throw after free throw in the final minutes. And remember, Syracuse never lead ND during the game. The Irish went wire to wire in that one.

How could WVU lose to St. John’s? That’s just the Big East. The Mountaineers go into MSG on a  roll and quickly go down 20 to the Johnnies. And they never really recovered. With the Player of the Year Kevin Jones heating up in the second half I thought WVU would take the lead and win in the end it was not to be. Harkless and Harrison kept West Viriginia at an arms length and took the victory. A game I’m sure the ‘Neers had penciled in as a W.

What’s with UConn? Napier and Lamb are tremendous players. But with no presence down low the Huskies continue to struggle scoring points. Alex Oriahki was a bull last year during the tourney run for UConn. He doesn’t seem to have the fire anymore and Drummond is a very talented freshman. And he’s looked like a freshman the last few games. The Huskies will win some games but when you  rely on guards to do all your scoring you are gonna have some bad shooting nights. Roscoe Smith and DeAndre Daniels are forgotten men on the UConn team and with Napier having to play 37-40 minutes a game the Huskies must have a double digit lead late in a game to avoid the fatigue factor.

Is Marquette for real? Without a doubt. Johnson-Odom and Crowder are all-league caliber players and the young guys are stepping up to give the Eagles a real shot at challenging Syracuse for the league regular season title. If Marquette can keep up their great play they will be there at the end.

Any surprises this year? Oh yeah! Pitt going 0-7…. USF becoming a force in the league with their defense…. Cincinnati using a suspension to start a run….. Seton Hall forgetting how good Herb Pope is and making him chase rebounds from 3 point misses…. Nova struggling to get above .500 in league play…. And we still have over a month to go before MSG!

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