As you saw earlier this week, the collective Cracked Sidewalks team pegged MU as the third-best team in the Big East in our pre-season predictions. None of us would argue that Pitt and Georgetown are the class of the Big East, and we seem to agree that there's little difference between MU, Syracuse, UConn and Louisville. The difference between teams 3-6 is nominal, perhaps indistinguishable. Looks like MU gets the nod based on the Triple Threat. The schedule might also work in MU's favor just a bit -- MU closes with 5 of its last 8 conference games at the Bradley Center.
With the season opener against mighty Hillsdale looming on Friday night let's look into the crystal ball and declare this team's fate for the 2006-2007 season! Who will be Pollyanna?! Who will be Cassandra?!
Individually, the bloggers called on the spirits of Karnak The Magnificent, Jimmy The Greek, Nostradamus and the wacky psychic from The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh.......here for your consideration are the pre-season picks from members of the Cracked Sidewalks team:
OPPONENT | MARQUETTE HOOPS | MUWARRIOR92 | MU_HILLTOPPER | WARRIOR94 |
Hillsdale | W | W | W | W |
Idaho state(CBE) | W | W | W | W |
DMU or Maine(CBE) | W | W | W | W |
EMU | W | W | W | W |
CBE Semifinals (Texas Tech) | W | W | W | W |
CBE Semifinals (Duke) | L | L | L | L |
@ Valpo | W | W | W | W |
NW State (B&G Classic | W | W | W | W |
Princeton (B&G Classic) | W | W | W | W |
Delaware State | W | W | W | W |
Wisconsin | W | W | W | W |
UMBC | W | W | W | W |
Oakland | W | W | W | W |
Morgan State | W | W | W | W |
Savannah State | W | W | W | W |
@ Providence | L | L | L | L |
Syracuse | W | W | W | W |
@ UConn | L | L | L | L |
West Virginia | W | W | W | W |
@ Louisville | W | L | L | L |
@ Pittsburgh | L | L | L | L |
Seton Hall | W | W | W | W |
@ USF | W | W | W | W |
Providence | W | W | W | W |
Rutgers | W | W | W | W |
@ Georgetown | L | L | L | L |
@ DePaul | L | L | W | W |
Louisville | L | W | W | W |
Villanova | W | W | L | W |
@ Notre Dame | W | L | L | W |
Pittsburgh | W | W | W | L |
MSG for BET | -- | -- | -- | -- |
BIG EAST RECORD | 10-6 | 9-7 | 9-7 | 11-5 |
OVERALL RECORD | 24-7 | 23-8 | 23-8 | 25-6 |
5 comments:
Guys guys guys...c'mon...do you really think we'll struggle on the road that much? I'm calling for a 4-0 start to the Big East season, maybe 5-0, because Crean historically has Louisville's number at their gym. I also think we'll see a split with Pitt and the only way i could see Marquette losing to Valpo is if we beat Duke in the CBE Final and have a little CBE hangover or something. I could see MU potentially finishing anywhere from 11-5 to 13-3 in conference play.
Guys... make sure you enter your picks in the official preseason prediction contest over at MUScoop.
Good point on Valpo, JJ. that's a dumb pick and I think I'll change it.
Note that I do have MU winning at the 'Ville at least
I'm surprised about the consensus loss prediction in the Duke game. Even with a healthy Paulus, I think Marquette is the better team this season. Without him in the CBE game, I think it could be a double digit victory for Marquette. The backcourt could dominate Duke at both ends of the floor, and their frontcourt is not that dominant. Also, I'd lean more towards the 11-5 Big East record than 9-7, although I do agree that opening game against Providence will be a real doosy.
Crean historically, perhaps, but if not for a D-Wade-led miracle comeback, three of the last four trips wouldn't have boded well for the Warriors.
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