Category Archives: Big East News

pcbb1917.com’s Preseason Big East Awards, Rankings and All-Conference Teams

Big East Media Day is upon us and the Providence season begins exactly one month from today against Harvard. The league’s media day is being held at Madison Square Garden today with opening remarks from Commissioner Val Ackerman scheduled for 9:30am. The Friars are sending Ed Cooley, Kris Dunn, Junior Lomomba, Ben Bentil and Jalen Lindsey down to NYC for the event. Follow all the action on Twitter by using the hashtag #BEmediaday

I want to put a disclaimer here and say that these are not my predictions. I’m giving you my honest opinion on what I believe SHOULD be the case. Let’s dive right in with Preseason Player of the Year.

Big East Preseason Player of the Year

Continue reading pcbb1917.com’s Preseason Big East Awards, Rankings and All-Conference Teams

2015-16 Big East Season to Open on December 30th and 31st; TV Marathon Moved to January 2nd

The first two years of the newly configured Big East opened the league season with a marathon tip off on New Year’s Eve. That will change a bit in year 3 as the college football playoff has monopolized New Year’s Eve and the Big East and Fox Sports 1 smartly don’t want to try to compete. While some teams will in fact open their Big East schedules on December 31st, the Fox Sports 1 marathon of games won’t take place until January 2nd. That means some teams will have a very tight turnaround between league games 1 and 2, including the Friars. There are also some games being played on December 30th.

Continue reading 2015-16 Big East Season to Open on December 30th and 31st; TV Marathon Moved to January 2nd

Matchups and Dates Announced for Inaugural Gavitt Tipoff Games

The Big East and Big Ten conferences announced the matchups and dates for the inaugural Gavitt Tipoff Games on Wednesday. The conferences sent out a joint press release to make the announcement.

Providence will play Illinois at home, which is fitting considering the Friars play on Dave Gavitt Court at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. “Our family is excited about the Big Ten and BIG EAST launching this new series, which honors the memory of Dave Gavitt and his passion for college basketball,” said Dan Gavitt, NCAA Vice President of Men’s Basketball Championships. “He would be most pleased that the student-athletes, coaches and supporters of these historic college basketball programs can look forward to annual competition at the highest level to help open the college season with a bang. We are thankful to the two great conferences for recognizing the Gavitt legacy with the intra-conference games featuring new and old rivalries and intriguing match-ups.”

Here are the matchups and dates for the 2015 Gavitt Tipoff Games:

Continue reading Matchups and Dates Announced for Inaugural Gavitt Tipoff Games

The Unique Camaraderie of the Big East

With the offseason upon us I wrote a feature article for BigEastCoastBias.com on the unique camaraderie among the Big East’s coaches and fans.

You can read the entire article by clicking here. Below is an excerpt:

Continue reading The Unique Camaraderie of the Big East

Kris Dunn Named to Big East All-Tournament Team

Despite a disappointing last-second loss to Villanova in the semi finals of the Big East Tournament Kris Dunn put on a show this week at Madison Square Garden. Dunn averaged 19.5 points, 10.0 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals in Providence’s two Big East Tournament games this week. That performance was good enough to land Dunn on the All-Tournament team.

Joining Dunn on the All-Tournament Team are Darrun Hilliard (Villanova), Dylan Ennis (Villanova), Jalen Reynolds (Xavier) and D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera (Georgetown). Villanova’s Josh Hart was awarded the Dave Gavitt Trophy as the Big East Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

image

Follow me on Twitter @pcbb1917

Providence’s Dunn, Villanova’s Arcidiacono Share Big East Player of the Year Award

Ed Cooley has stated from day one in Providence that Friartown is a family. Well apparently there’s plenty of sharing that happens in the Friartown family as Kris Dunn was named the Big East’s Co-Defensive Player of the Year on Monday by the league’s coaches and on Wednesday the Big East announced that Dunn would share the Big East Player of the Year Award with Villanova’s Ryan Arcidiacono.

Continue reading Providence’s Dunn, Villanova’s Arcidiacono Share Big East Player of the Year Award

Kenpom’s Big East Tournament log5 Prediction

Ken Pomeroy does a log5 analysis prior to each conference’s tournament. For those unfamiliar with what log5 is, here’s a quick and dirty explanation. log5 is a formula that was created by famed baseball writer and statistician Bill James. James’ formula uses team A’s winning percentage and team B’s winning percentage to come up with the probability that team A wins. Kenpom’s version uses his Pythagorean Rating in place of winning perentage. I’ll give you the precise formula and an example at the end of the article for those truly interested in that stuff.

Here is Kenpom’s log5 for the Big East Tournament:

Continue reading Kenpom’s Big East Tournament log5 Prediction