BIG EAST Media Day report

The Greatest City in the World will host the annual BIG EAST Media day at Madison Square Garden this morning. Marquette coach Buzz Williams will be joined by his four seniors -- Dwight Burke, Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews -- at the event. The program begins at 9:30am CDT and fans can watch live by clicking here.

The BIG EAST pre-season coaches' poll is already out and UConn is saddled with the highest expectations in what promises to be the nation's best conference in 2008-2009.

1. UConn
2. Louisville
3. Pittsburgh
4. Notre Dame
5. Villanova
6. Marquette (read the official BIG EAST preview for MU right here)
7. Georgetown
8. Syracuse
9. West Virginia
10. Providence
11. Cincinnati
12. Rutgers
13. Seton Hall
14. St. John’s
15. DePaul
16. USF

PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Luke Harangody, Notre Dame

CO-ROOKIES OF THE YEAR

Greg Monroe, Georgetown
Samardo Samuels, Louisville

ALL BIG-EAST TEAM

Luke Harangody, Notre Dame
Deonta VAughn, Cincinnati
AJ Price, UConn
Hasheem Thabeet, UConn
DaJuan Summers, Georgetown
Terrence Williams, Louisville
Jerel McNeal, Marquette
Kyle McAlarney, Notre Dame
Sam Young, Pittsburgh
Jonny Flynn, Syracuse
Scottie Reynolds, Villanova

HONORABLE MENTION

Jeff Adrien, UConn
Earl Clark, Louisville
Dominic James, Marquette

In case you missed it, Rosiak ran through the BIG EAST media's pre-season picks on his blog last night. Check it out here.

In addition the BIG EAST also announced details of the conference-wide television schedule for the upcoming season. Per the news release, ESPN will produce 140 of the 144 regular-season conference games this season. The four remaining games will be carried by CBS Sports. 45 of those 144 contests will run on ESPN or ESPN2, and 70 of the 144 will be on national television.

........much more to come.