- Basketball Prospectus’ Dan Hanner unveiled his preseason basketball rankings using a brand new methodology: “Using 10 years of historical trends, I projected the performance of every D-I player, and then projected lineups for all 345 teams.” The results are… interesting. Louisville remains the top ranked Big East school, though they’re a bit lower than most of the polls have them ranked, at #10. Syracuse is right behind the Cardinals at #11. Pittsburgh ranks surprisingly high at #19, with Marquette, Notre Dame, and Georgetown falling in behind the Panthers at #21, #22, and #27, respectively. Rutgers ranks shockingly high at #43, and Cincinnati is listed all the way down at #52. The other Big East schools rank as follows: #58 Villanova, #69 Seton Hall, #71 South Florida, #76 St. John’s, #105 DePaul, #107 Connecticut, and #122 Providence.
- Seton Hall won its first exhibition, a game against D-II Wilmington University, 113-72. Brandon Mobley led the way for the Pirates, scoring 20 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Iowa transfer Kyle Smyth had a great game as well, going 4-8 from behind the arc en route to a 16-point, eight-assist, three-steal performance. Fuquan Edwin sat out due to a violation of team rules, although he is not expected to miss much more time.
- Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant is expected to be one of the team’s breakout performers this year, and to do it, South Bend Tribune‘s Tom Noie believes that the guard could stand to “be more selfish.” Grant is Notre Dame’s best playmaker, as evidenced by his team-leading five assists per game, but he can also score in multiple ways, and the Irish would like to see him get to the line more because of his acumen from the stripe (81.9% FT). In the past, Grant hasn’t needed to be “the guy,” but he seems to be taking to his new leadership role: “I like having the ball in my hands being able to make plays for myself and for others,” he said. “The more I have the ball in my hands, the more I can be good.”
- DePaul received its second commitment for the class of 2013 in center Forrest Robinson. Robinson is currently enrolled at South Plains Junior College after spending his first year in college at North Texas, where he averaged 1.6 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. According to Rivals, the 6’10” Robinson had offers from Arkansas, Houston, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, USC, and Utah before choosing North Texas, and most recently chose DePaul over Bradley, Mississippi State, Saint Louis, and Tennessee Tech.
- Syracuse isn’t just known for Jim Boeheim and the Orange basketball program; the school also has a pretty decent men’s lacrosse program. Point guard Michael Carter-Williams and forward C.J. Fair recently took to the lacrosse field to test their skills with the 11-time national champions and the results were mixed at best. College Crosse has a full breakdown of the latest edition of the Post-Standard‘s ‘Mike & C.J. Show’ here.
Dan Lyons (78 Posts)Writer at Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician and Rush the Court's Big East Microsite. Syracuse '12.