With two weeks to the day until the start of the Big East Tournament let’s take a look at the what the seed and matchups would be as of today. The first game of the tournament will be at 7pm on Wednesday, March 11th with another game that night at 9:30pm. All games will be televised on Fox Sports 1.
Here is where we stand through games on 2/24/2015:
Continue reading Big East Tournament Seed Watch 2/25/15
With Kevin McNamara’s announcement on Twitter that the Big East and Big Ten conferences have agreed to begin a challenge series in the 2015-16 season, it’s fantastic news for this new version of the Big East. Scheduling strong opponents outside the conference has become critically important for all member schools because of the defections of perennially highly ranked programs like Syracuse and Louisville among others from the in conference schedule. The Big Ten is arguably the 2nd best basketball conference in the country behind only the ACC.
Providence has been working on scheduling a Big Ten opponent for this upcoming season with Michigan being the one where negotiations seem closest to completion. Marquette plays in-state rival Wisconsin every season. Creighton and Nebraska do that same. Seton Hall and new Big Ten member, Rutgers, will be in year 2 of an 8 year series they agreed to in March 2013. Now all 10 members of the Big East will get to play a Big Ten opponent to start their season. It has been reported that each Big Ten team will play in the Dave Gavitt Tip Off at least 4 times with each Big East member playing in it at least 6 times over the course of the 8 year deal. The fact that this series will be named after the Hall of Famer, Dave Gavitt adds some special connection for Friar fans. It’s great to see that his greatness and legacy continue to carry further than just Friartown.
The games will be played in a 4 day period from Tuesday-Friday during the first week of each season in November. The Big Ten/ACC Challenge, an ESPN creation, will continue. In terms of television for these games, the coverage will be split among ESPN, Fox Sports 1 and the Big Ten Network with the home team determining which network the game will be aired on.
That takes care of the housekeeping. Now you know the details. But what does this new series mean for the Big East?
Continue reading Big East/Big Ten Challenge: What This Means for the Big East
It’s officially the offseason now. March Madness has come and gone. Connecticut is the national champion.
The focus for fans now turns heavily to recruiting, discussing potential starters/lineups for their team next season, how many minutes and points per game and rebounds per game, etc. a kid they have never seen play before will have and, finally, who they will be playing out of conference (OOC). For Providence, recruiting means filling out their remaining 2 spots for the 2014 class with a focus on 5th year transfers and junior college players who can contribute immediately next season. Potential starters/lineups likely can’t be determined for the Friars until they have another guard in hand for 2014 and at some point in the coming weeks, I’ll enter the fray on that discussion with my own thoughts on that topic. For now though, my focus is on the OOC schedule that PC has lined up for next season.
As I mentioned in my piece reviewing the Big East’s first season with the current configuration, one of the big keys for maintaining the strength of this updated version of the Big East is for teams to play a strong OOC schedule. The reality is that most years won’t provide the opportunity to play a top 25 ranked opponent every week like the prior version of this conference did many years. My guess is that most years there will be about 2-3 teams in the top 25 with the potential for a great year having 50% of the league ranked. The 2013-2014 season saw the Big East have an OOC strength of schedule ranked 7th in the country. They likely need to be top 5 every year in that category. Things are off to a solid start with Creighton reportedly having agreed to a home and home series with Oklahoma beginning in Omaha next season. Also, it was reported over the weekend that St. John’s and Duke will restart their series on January 31, 2015 at Madison Square Garden after a two year hiatus. The Johnnies also will head to the Carrier Dome this season to take on former conference rival Syracuse in December 2014.
Continue reading #pcbb On: Providence’s Out of Conference Schedule for 2014-2015
Jalen Lindsey and his #4 Huntington Prep (WV) squad will be looking to get to Madison Square Garden for the finals of the DICK’S Sporting Goods High School National Tournament. The opponent tonight is #1 Montverde Academy (FL). The game will be played at Christ the King High School in Middle Village, NY and will air on ESPN2. The tipoff has been scheduled for 4:53pm because the game before it ran long.
The winner of this game plays at Madison Square Garden Saturday at 12pm in the finals against #6 Oak Hill Academy (VA). The finals will air on ESPN.
Jalen Lindsey and his #4 seeded Huntington Prep (WV) squad will begin their journey today at 12pm to get to Madison Square Garden for the finals of the DICK’S Sporting Goods High School National Tournament. The opponent is #5 seed La Lumiere School (IN). The game will be played at Christ the King High School in Middle Village, NY and will air on ESPNU. An added bonus for Friars fans is that, in additon to Lindsey who will be heading to Providence this Summer, there are a bunch of other PC recruits playing in this game.
The winner of this game plays at Christ the King on Friday at 4:30pm on ESPN2 against the winner of #1 Montverde Academy (FL) and #8 Sagemont High School (FL). The finals will air be played at the World’s Most Famous Arena, MSG on Saturday at 12pm and will air on ESPN.
For a good preview of Huntington Prep coming into the DICK’S Sporting Goods High School National Tournament by StudentSports.com, click here.
Line opened with Providence as a 7 point underdog. Kenpom sees the final score as 79-72 in favor of the Blue Jays. I’ll have game notes and a preview going up around 2pm today.
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