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It seems if you are in the Big East, you are either streaking (Marquette, Notre Dame, Louisville, Pitt) or you are sliding (Cincinnati, UConn, West Virginia, Seton Hall.) All in all, it makes for a competitive conference with several teams still having plenty of work to do on their NCAA Tournament resume. Be sure to check back every Friday for my latest Big East Power Rankings.
Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly did suffer one major setback today, as 5-star wide receiver Deontay Greenberry, Mr. Football in the state of California, verbally committed to ND 8 months ago. Today, he changed his mind and instead signed with Houston.
However, there’s still a lot left in this class. ESPNU ranks the Irish class #9, Scout #15.
The nation’s No. 1 quarterback prospect and state of Indiana Mr. Football Gunner Kiel’s circus act style recruitment saw him committed to the Hoosiers and LSU before enrolling at Notre Dame in January. 5-Star cornerback Tee Shepard is the best overall prospect in this class, and he’s Greenberry’s cousin, so Deontay was expected to follow him to South Bend.
Offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley out of Nevada is another national recruit who could have a big future in South Bend.
Call it Ewing Theory Part Deux. When leading scorer and rebounder Luke Harangody when down with injury in 2010 midseason, Notre Dame Coach Mike Brey rallied his college basketball team out of a losing streak and into a solid NCAA Tournament berth with a few adjustments.
The major adjustment was shifting to the burn offense, which although extremely boring to watch, limits possessions and equalizes talent disparities. When his star player Tim Abromaitis went down for the season with an ACL after he played just two games, Brey had adjustments to make again.
I wrote off the Irish, as did everyone else. Yet here they are with a 6-3 Big East record, and a fantastic tournament resume. How was Brey done it?
It is kind of hard to believe that Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament is only six weeks away. It is becoming time when college basketball teams are separating themselves as either tourney contenders or pretenders. Here is The Sports Bank‘s latest Bracketology? I have more than held my own the past couple of years against ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and with my extreme college hoops nerdom, plan to do so again this year. Check back every week for an update.
UPDATED: 1/30/12
“Down Goes Frazier! Down Goes Frazier!” Syracuse suffers their first loss of the season at the hands of Notre Dame but still sits atop my latest Big East Basketball Power Rankings. Meanwhile, Pitt wins their first game of the season while the Seton Hall slide continues. Be sure to check back every Friday for my latest rankings.
With conference play underway, we begin to get a better feel for how college basketball teams stack up in our Bracketology? I have more than held my own the past couple of years against ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and with my extreme college hoops nerdom, plan to do so again this year. Check back every week for an update.
UPDATED: 1/23/12
With what happened tonight in South Bend, I felt it necessary to re-run yesterday’s story about Notre Dame knocking off so many #1 ranked teams. It seems very prescient now on my part, almost predicative . Though I did say in the article I don’t think it was going to happen.
Jack Cooley (yes, the new Luke Harangody looking guy) had 17 points and 10 rebounds against a Syracuse team missing its shot-blocking, rebounding center Fab Melo as the Irish knocked off the Orange 67-58 on Saturday.
Fans stormed the court after the ND upset victory, something you got to do when you beat #1. It was the eighth time Notre Dame has beaten a No. 1 team—that ties for fourth-most all-time, with North Carolina having the most with 12.
Unbeaten Syracuse maintains their hold on the top spot in my latest Big East Basketball Power Rankings. As has been the case early in this season, the pecking order after the Orange remains up for grabs as we have our fourth #2 team in the past four weeks. Be sure to check back every Friday for my latest rankings.
The biggest news of the day, at least in the college football world, is Notre Dame landing #2 quarterback, #20 overall in the class of 2012 according to ESPNU recruit Gunner Kiel- who de-committed from both LSU and the Hoosiers to get here.
Today, recruits are more about getting playing time now, and less about redshirting and waiting in the wings. With Dayne Crist gone to Kansas, and the flux of the Tommy Rees vs. Andrew Hendrix situation, Kiel’s decision says a lot about the QB situation in South Bend. Coach Brian Kelly may love Tommy Rees, and there is future potential in both Andrew Hendrix and Everett Golson, but apparently Kiel feels he can get the QB1 gig in reasonably short time.
Let’s look at who else is going to the Golden Dome with Kiel today.
Gunner Kiel, the Columbus, Indiana native rated as the #1 quarterback and #18 overall recruit in the class of 2012 has finally found his place in college football. He originally committed to the Indiana Hoosiers and new coach Kevin Wilson (where his older brother Dusty Kiel is currently part of the QB rotation). Then he changed his mind and de-committed, later giving an oral commitment to LSU on December 27th.
Then he changed his mind about going to the Tigers, and decided to commit to Notre Dame. He was officially announced as Fighting Irish midyear enrollee today.
Wondering who would be the Fighting Irish signal caller in 2012 between Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix? Now you have another element in play.
As Paul M. Banks pointed out in his most recent Big Ten Power Rankings, “power rankings are only fun when the hierarchy is rather grey and things are up in the air.” That properly describes the Big East this season as outside of Syracuse, there is no clear cut second best team in the conference. Here are my latest Big East Basketball Power Rankings including the last place team being one I never thought I would ever put in the cellar.
Today Notre Dame extended the contract of Head Coach Brian Kelly for an additional two years. It means Kelly’s contract will run through the 2016 season.
