They are really terrible; a rebuilding year in the Big East is a really good year for most leagues...

Pitt, G-Town(very underrated dangerous team),Marquette,Notre Dame are all pretty good and will likely be represented in the Elite Eight with a team or two...

You have a bias against the Big East that won't allow you to see it for what it is, remember when everyone was bagging on the SEC last year, well that worked out okay for them in the end...

Xavier wouldn't make the Tournament in the Big East and that's no joke...

Xavier has never had a period when there was no recruiting for 2-3 years, this team is bad, I knew it was going to be bad for the next couple of years, I am a fan and still watch the games even though it pains me, you won't see me jumping ship like all of these whiney losers who can't get over the fact that Huggins isn't here anymore. I am glad he's gone, I think they will be better off for him leaving.

I'll tell you one thing though, they are really bad this year, but there is a college superstar on this team in Deonta Vaughn, he's one of the best freshman that UC has ever had, he'll be here for 4 years and by his senior year, they will be back and all of you will be talking about Deonta Vaughn. I have never seen such court awareness from a freshman, especially on a bad team.

Make no mistake, this should have been a good year for X, but they are soft and NIT bound...

I saw Dwayne Wade play in person when he was with Marquette, I had really good seats and he was unreal, there were other future NBA players on the floor and he just schooled them. That was one of the best displays of talent I have seen in person...

Chuck...would NEVER think of comparing those two. Got to see BK a couple times at the old Capital Center in Landover when the Bullets played there. Man, could he shoot or what??

I wont deny that Pitt isnt an excellent team this year, they are. But they have had some pretty fine teams this decade and I dont remember them (with the exception of one year) making any noise in this tournament.

The rest of the Big East is very mediocre and thus far very disappointing.

And since when did Georgetown/Louisville become a "rivalry"?

ESPN pumped up this past week as rivalry week. Sorry, Georgetown/Louisville is no rivalry.

Baseline to baseline as fast as anybody his size. Was having his best season when he blew out his knee. Was still a good player when he came back but not quite what he was when he was with the Knicks. Post ups, fade away, could take you right or left. Remember when he went on that spree of 50 point games? Or the series against Detroit when they were first getting good? He and Isiah put up some scoring duel. Too bad all the kids now think Isiah is just a horrible GM. That guy could play, fun to watch.

Hey man if ESPN says its a rivalry then its a rivalry! Even if the had played like one time before! LOL

Chuck...how good were those duels that Larry and Dominique used to put on when the C's played the Hawks. Bird had that night in the old Omni where the Hawks used to play....made EVERYTHING he through up that night. I remember him getting fouled, falling out of bounds in front of the Hawks bench and when the shot goes up, all the players on the Hawks start leaning on each other, half standing up...and when the ball falls through the net..they are going nuts..high fiving each other..and all this from a guy that was on the OTHER TEAM. Like you told TB...Bird could have averaged 45 a night if he really wanted to.


Man, I miss the old school NBA:(

Yeah the Hawks-Celts aint much a a rivalry anymore!!
You know its hard to even find a team to root against anymore. East is pathetic and hard to root for/against most teams in the west.

I haven't watch a full NBA game since Hitler was a private...

Then you missed the best defensive NBA team of all-time. The 1999 San Antonio Spurs. But I guess people dont watch the NBA for defense. Especially this year since the new rules make it almost impossible for anyone but Bruce Bowen to guard someone outside. The outside/in players like Wade,Carmello and LeBron are almost impossible to stop. You cant touch anyone on the outside, but if someone trys to post up, muggings are allowed. (Actually it has always been somewhat this way, but they are calling it very tough away from the basket. Scoring was too low, cant make this soccer, the scoring Gods must be pleased)

Tony Parker is an all-star and shoots around 54%, the rules aide him.

P...I respect your basketball knowledge a great deal. But the NBA game has become diluted with just too many marginal players for me to enjoy anymore. Its a ME game in the ME generation...no concept of team basketball. Half court game and ball movement have become a lost art.

Kenyon wasn't a good Freshman, he had raw talent you could see that, but he didn't play very much, he would get in, block some shots and foul everyone in sight. Saterfield and Johnson were both good Freshman, but they played with Kenyon and Pete Mikeal. Logan rarely played as a Freshman, he was in the same class as Saterfield and Johnson. This kid Deonta Vaughn reminds me of Logan, but faster and sees the floor better. He has no one, he's on a bad team and everyone keys on him, if he had some players, he would be raved about. He's a good shooter, but I love the passes he makes. He already broke the scoring record for a Freshman at UC.

Kev it is very tought to get consistent ball movement in 24 seconds with the defenses that are allowed. Double teaming off the ball or covering an area were not allowed in the Bird days. A team had to play another team man to man. You could help on the man with the ball, but not off the ball. Pat Riley at LA brought this game to a screeching halt with his zone/man defense. It has been a war of rules since then, not players imo. I think the players in all 3 major team sports are after stats and the money that goes with it (the owners also). Baseball with Barry Bonds is a joke. He will play for one reason and it is not to win games. One reason I really liked Peyton Manning and the Colts winning the Super Bowl was that Peyton did exactly what was necessary to win, not to look good.

Basketball undergoes constant rule changes that very much affect a game that is so visible. If NBA teams were allowed to play a Syracuse 2-3 zone... holy crud, you would see some awfully looking selfish shots in 24 seconds. The fantastic athletes in the NBA are "not allowed" to play zones (3 sec defensive paint rule) for this very reason. The court would have to be made a lot bigger (and this has been discussed). Rule changes have occurred in football also, but they are not as visible as they are in basketball. 10 people are much easier to watch and criticize compared to 22 and about 1000 refs.

I also think other games, like the X-games which I personally cannot stand, have become popular because a lot of the kids that play these "sports" do it for the love of what they are doing. It has not become a money issue. Yet. They have very small followings and would be playing their sport for nothing.

TB will be happy to know Redick scored 16 points tonight. Dwight Howard had an incredible game winning shot, a slam right over an aging Tim Duncan with 0.2 seconds on the clock. Dwight Howard was made for Redick. TB should know this... Playing on a team with an monster inside. Oden's stock just went up again.

If JJ can get some help he'll be fine in he nba. As long as they run screens and pick for him, he'll score.

Looks like the bad Big East just beat another soft overrated West Coast team, hell even a bad Cincinnati team beat West Virginia, but I guess the leagues that you like and deem worthy all get deserved teams into the Big Dance....

Guys these teams are constantly changing. The season wears on and the young players start getting tired. Some of the more even-tempered teams start getting good, its very tough to see who exactly is emerging.

I think the Big East is a very tough conference. Lots of evenly matched teams with none in the category of Florida or UNC, but what conf. does have a teams like these? Maybe two in the Big 10 (Wisc./Ohio ST.), and then it falls off fairly rapidly. The Big 12 I see ATM as a very tough team, and maybe Kansas, but after that, very inconsistent. The Pac 10 looks to be reasonably deep with UCLA very good (even with the loss yesterday). And lots of good mid majors, none of which I would put in the category of any of the teams mentioned above.

It is going to be a great tournament. I know a lot of people will have Florida penciled in all the way to the finals but a little foul trouble to key players... they are not that deep. And UNC is very deep but very young, they can get a bit out of control. CANT WAIT FOR THE TOURNEY.

My team, Texas, is going nowhere. The worst defensive team I have seen in a long time, although Durant is fun to watch. Just found out he has a 7' 4" wingspan on a 6' 9" frame. I was trying to figure out how he could block so many shots barely jumping.

We gotta get some tournament contest like last year. I believe Gander ruled the day... we gotta beat that boy down this year.

Its Florida's world. Everybody else is just living in it. :D

GO GATORS!