2007-2008 Power Poll

BIG EAST BLOGGERS POWER POLL & CONFERENCE NOTEBOOK

Back for our third season is our Big East Bloggers Weekly Power Poll. This is already the 12th weekly edition of the season already. On November 8th we released our Preseason Poll and our weekly poll will be published each and every Monday going forward on the season. This week we were delayed because of the holiday, hopefully next week you can find this on our normal Monday slot.

The pollsters will also submit votes as well for a Big East player of the week and Big East freshman of the week.

Here are the 20 contributors on today’s poll:

Big East Basketball Report Blog
Troy Nunes is a Magician
The Score’s NCAA Basketball Blog ‘NEW’
Marquette Basketball Cracked Sidewalks
Card Chronicle
CuseAdelphia
Black & Green ND Basketball Blog
HoyaSaxa.com
HoyaHoops.com
CourtVisions College Hoops Blog
Freshjive, founder of BlueDemonNation
SPK, frequent contributor to Piratecrew.com
Black Padres.com
Villanova by the Numbers
The Bracket Blog @ Bracketography
RAC ‘Em up
East Coast Bias
Super, Scintillating & Sarcastic
Bryce’s Brackets and Observations
WV Mountaineer Sports

As always, if you have a site related to college basketball or the Big East, send us an e-mail (nbeblog@hotmail.com) with a link and you will be added to the list of contributors to the polls in the future.

Click below to see the poll results!

This Week’s Power Poll Results for 2/4/2008 (1st Place Votes in Parentheses):

1) Georgetown (19): 319 points.
2) Notre Dame: 280 points.
3) Connecticut: 270 points.
4) Marquette (1): 265 points.
5) Louisville: 259 points.
6) Pittsburgh: 206 points.
7) West Virginia: 203 points..
Syracuse: 186 points.
9) Seton Hall: 153 points.
10) Cincinnati: 145 points.
11) Villanova: 113 points.
12) Providence: 100 points.
13) DePaul: 97 points.
14) Rutgers: 56 points.
15) St. John’s: 45 points.
16) South Florida: 23 points.

Player of the Week: Luke Harangody.. Harangody, a sophomore at Notre Dame, continues to make his case for the Big East Conference’s Player of the Year with a monster week. The 6’8 bull averaged 30 PPG and 14 rebounds in wins over Providence College and DePaul last week!

Freshman of the Week: DeJuan Blair. The Pittsburgh big man recorded double-doubles in a win over Villanova and a loss at Connecticut.

LAST WEEK’S BIG EAST RESULTS:

Monday, January 28:
Louisville 67 Connecticut 69

Tuesday, January 29:
South Florida 54 Marquette 62

Wednesday, January 30:
Cincinati 62 West Virginia 39
Villanova 57 Pittsburgh 69
Georgetown 74 St. John’s 42
Syracuse 60 DePaul 55
Seton Hall 84 Rutgers 71 (OT)

Thursday, January 31:
Providence 74 Notre Dame 81 (OT)

Saturday, February 2:
Marquette 75 Cincinnati 60
Seton Hall 61 Georgetown 73
Syracuse 87 Villanova 73
Pittsburgh 53 Connecticut 60
Rutgers 50 Louisville 87
DePaul 80 Notre Dame 89
West Virginia 77 Providence 65
St. John’s 72 South Florida 58

Home teams were just 8-8 last week, winning on the road is becoming more common!

UConn Perseveres Jim Calhoun is angry with the media, his AD and some of his players. UConn must be winning! The Huskies have won five in a row and, as always, Jim Calhoun relishes in a win over Pittsburgh, a team he uses to judge his team’s toughness against. Connecticut has overcome several distractions in the last two weeks, but the maturation process of AJ Price and the rest of the players may go a long way in making this team very tough down the stretch.

Syracuse Comes Through The Orange have also done their part to make this week’s rivalry showdown with Connecticut a big one. Syracuse has rebounded with three straight wins despite being short-handed, going on the road to win their last two against DePaul and Villanova.

Rivalry Week Although the Big East has been somewhat cobbled together to form the current 16-team alignment, there are still some big rivalries that will be highlighted during one of ESPN’s theme weeks. Louisville and Marquette kick it off as a former C-USA rivalry heats back up on Monday. Villanova also meets St. Joseph’s out of conference for Philadelphia’s ‘Holy War’

Wednesday, Connecticut and Syracuse face each other and on Thursday the Backyard Brawl hits the hardwood with Pittsburgh and West Virginia.

The weekend has Notre Dame and Marquette meeting and one of the new Big East rivalries closes the action on ESPN’s Primetime telecast of Georgetown and Louisville.

Spotlight Team This is a big week for Seton Hall. Their style of play could really give Notre Dame a tough time and then they face a reeling Villanova team on the road. If the Pirates can pick up two wins, the NCAA talk will heat up and the chances of a berth becomes much more realistic.

Coach on a Hot Seat Tim Welsh and the Friars were pointing towards this season as the year things would be different. Instead, a preseason injury to Sharaud Curry has sidetracked his club and the natives were very restless after a recent loss to West Virginia. With a home against DePaul and a trip to St. John’s, PC must start winning this week!

THIS WEEK’S BIG EAST GAMES:

Monday, February 4:
Louisville @ Marquette

Tuesday, February 5:
South Florida @ Georgetown
DePaul @ Providence

Wednesday, February 6:
Connecticut @ Syracuse
Notre Dame @ Seton Hall
St. John’s @ Rutgers

Thursday, February 7:
West Virginia @ Pittsburgh

Saturday, February 9:
Providence @ St. John’s
Marquette @ Notre Dame
South Florida @ DePaul
Cincinnati @ Rutgers
Seton Hall @ Villanova
Georgetown @ Louisville

Last Week’s Power Poll for 1/28/2008 (1st Place votes in parenthesis):

1) Georgetown (23): 368 points.
2) Louisville: 324 points.
3) Notre Dame: 304 points.
4) Connecticut: 280 points.
5) Marquette: 279 points.
6) West Virginia: 273 points.
7) Pittsburgh: 258 points.
Villanova: 174 points.
9) Seton Hall: 163 points.
10) Cincinnati: 159 points.
11) Syracuse : 157 points.
12) DePaul: 128 points.
13) Providence: 113 points.
14) Rutgers: 72 points.
15) South Florida: 44 points.
16) St. John’s: 32 points.

Player of the Week: Brian Laing, Seton Hall

Freshman of the Week: Mike Coburn, Rutgers

The following contributors voted in previous polls, but missed the cut-off date to submit votes this week. Hopefully they will be back in action next week!

I95 Ballerz.com
Storming the Floor
The Big EZ Show
March Madness All Season Blog
HoyaProspectus
Let’s Go Nova
PittBlather.com
Chris Dokish, contributor to Big East Basketball Report and Pittsburgh Sports Report
BigEastCountry.com