The Big East conference seems to be a two team race just like many of the other major conferences this season. The race for this season's title is between Georgetown and Louisville, who are both brimming with talent at all positions. Lets start with John Thompson's crew from suburban Maryland. The Hoyas return one of the best big men in the nation in senior C Roy Hibbert. Hibbert really established himself last season in the NCAA tournament with his tremendous play along side Jeff Green, who decided to move on early and now plays for the Seattle Sonics. Well, stepping into Green's PF spot is emerging talent DaJuan Summers. Summers is a sophomore and those two horses will be running along side clutch G Jonathan Wallace, steady G Jessie Sapp and that legacy player known as Patrick Ewing Jr (too bad he can't play like pops). The bench will have physical freak F Vernon Macklin, sophomore G Jeremiah Rivers, and freshmen guards Chris Wright and Austin Freeman.
Opposing them are Rick Pitino's Louisville Cardinals. The only early knock on this team is that none of them can play defense for the football team. At first glance at the roster you see a name step out: PG Edgar Sosa. As you may remember from last March, the then freshman Sosa lit up 2007 first round NBA draft pick Acie Law IV of Texas A&M for 32 points. Sosa is ready run and dish the ball to his fellow starters: G Jerry Smith, SF Terrance Williams, PF Juan Palacios, and C David Padgett. This starting is full of versatile guys who can mesh together to be absolutly dynamite this season. Pitino's deep and exciting bench has two New Jersey sophomores in F's Derrick Caracter and Earl Clark, as well as, PG Andre McGee, C Terrance Farley, and freshman F George Goode.
The proverbial outside looking in team in this conference is Marquette. The Golden Eagles (or is it Eagles?) boast a completly different threat than Georgetown and Louisville. Marquette's forte is in guard play. The trio of guards each have different games. You have Dominic James: the fearless dynamo with ice in his veins, Jerel McNeal: the in-your-face stopper with a Chi-Town attitude, and Wes Matthews: the all-around star who simply makes his teammates better. This group will be a top twenty talent but until it develops a decent inside game, those Eagles will always be second and third best. Youth will be served at Syracuse and Connecticut while each school's Jim will work against the inexperience to be winners. Cincinnati, Providence,and South Florida are all unknown while West Virginia, Notre Dame, and DePaul try to get back to their winning ways. Villanova and Pittsburgh are a year away but Seton Hall, St.Johns, and Rutgers still seem to be decades away. My predictions for the 2007-2008 Big East Conference.
Winner: Georgetown
Player of the Year: Roy Hibbert C Georgetown
Freshman of the Year: Donte Green F Syracuse
Most Improved Player: Sam Young F Pittsburgh
Surprise Team: Providence
All-Big East
C Roy Hibbert Georgetown
PF Donte Green Syracuse
SF Terrance Williams Louisville
SG Scottie Reynolds Villanova
PG Dominic James Marquette
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