Big East Takes Over Preseason Rankings

The Beasts in the Big East have been given a whole lot of love in the preseason rankings.  By Lauren Dellipoali 

(AP/Heather Ainsworth)

     The ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll released their preseason rankings this week, and the Big East dominated the rankings placing six teams in the top 25. Of these six teams, two placed in the top five, the defending champions Uconn coming in at four, and Syracuse right behind them at five.
     The other Big East teams representing the conference in the preseason rankings are Louisville, Pittsburgh, Marquette and Cincinnati respectively. Missing from this list Villanova, which is usually a Big East powerhouse. The Wildcats have been beasts in the Big East recently, but a terrible ending last season leaves Jay Wright to build up confidence in his team.
     Uconn and Syracuse will battle it out for the Big East crown, but do not be surprised to see other non-top 25 teams like ‘Nova, St. Johns and West Virginia upset some teams and gain themselves a spot in the top 25 sometime during the season.
     Preseason rankings are the ultimate guessing games. Injuries and unexpected poor or good play always ends up screwing up these rankings within the first week. Many said that without Kemba Walker Uconn would have no chance of repeating, yet they are number four, and many people’s favorite to win the Big East.
     So now that we know what Big East teams might be good this season, let’s get the games going so we can find out which ones are actually good.