Holy Land fan poll - who finishes in 5th place?

[GumbyDamnit!]

St. John's got the same team back from last year and last years team finished in the middle of the pack. The players are older and wiser and they got Orlando Sanchez and Rasheed Jordon joining them this year and sharpshooter Max Hooper who's a dangerous 3 point shooter. Jakaar Sampson was the Big East Rookie of the year last year and many people think Sanchez is a better player and no doubt Jordon will win Big East Rookie again for St. John's. And then you factor in a more focused D'Angelo Harrison and God's Gift back and this team will dominate and 5th place is out of the question.

Hard to argue with many of your points but the problem is there is only one ball to play with and SJU has shown an inability to be a consistent TEAM under Lavin, no matter how deep the talent pool is. You can't look at your school in a vaccuum. Many of the other teams didn't lose much, if anything, and/or are also adding talent. Nova beat L'ville, Gtwn, Syracuse and Marq last year (so they obviously have talent) and the one guy they lost, many of us believe will be easily replaced by a more athletic big man with much more upside. Marq & Gtwn finished tied for 1st (8 spots ahead of SJU) and have lots of talent coming back. Creighton has it's 2 best players back (among others) and one of them happens to be a 2x AA. I think at 6 & 7 Providence and Xavier have the chance to be really, really good. So I get your frustration but the votes have to go somewhere.

But let's be honest 1 through 7 in this league could go any number of ways. I would not be surprised if Nova won the league. I would not be surprised if we came in 6th or 7th. I don't see any one team "dominating" anything. For the time being let's have a little fun with these crystal ball predictions and just wait and see how it all pans out in the end.

[redmen9194]

The Johnnies should be stacked this season. They lost a few wins last season due to Harrison's suspension at the end of the year but they should be deep and their offense will have improved. I think the top five is really up for grabs but I see it like this:

5.) Nova
4.) Creighton
3.) Johnnies
2.) Georgetown
1.) Marquette

I see these five with NCAA bids.

Let's get these games going already!

[ArmyVet]

I think this is between Nova and SJU.

[Friarfan2]

I think the 4-6 spots are going to be a battle between Marquette, St Johns and Providence. I think Creighton, Villanova and Georgetown have a leg up on the rest of the league this year.

[Westbrook36]

Nova will be closer to 1st place than 5th, but you guys go on and keep on sleepin on us.

[friars321]

I cant wait to watch these games, this season is going to be really interesting. St. Johns may have the most talent in the league but coaching, chemistry, teamwork are lacking. Marq + Gtown are the safest picks because they have the track record and enough talent with great coaches. Creighton has the best player in the league but the jump in competition could be challenging. Nova and Providence are bringing back really strong teams. 1-6 is going to be really tough to predict.

[handdownmandown]

Nova will be closer to 1st place than 5th, but you guys go on and keep on sleepin on us.

That means you're no worse than second, no? Pretty big statement.

[Westbrook36]

Nova will be closer to 1st place than 5th, but you guys go on and keep on sleepin on us.

That means you're no worse than second, no? Pretty big statement.

Or 3rd place which would be right in the middle. As to the pretty big statement remark, it's actually quite tame compared to the boasting/bashing some Johnnies, Creighton, Marquette, Providence, & Xavier fans on here have been doing so far.

[dmac80]

I could see several of the teams finishing 5th, I voted Creighton, just because I have to see them prove it in the Big East as opposed to their old home, which I know last year they dominated. St John's has the talent, but they also have to show it on the court. We'll see.

[dmac80]

In regards to St. John's, if one is talking about NBA type of athlete's then St. John's is your team. They're probably top 5 in the country in that regard, that doesn't make them great players though. Last year countless times I watched them play outstanding high level top 5 type of play ... for like 10 minutes, then unfortunately they'd follow that up with some of the dumbest 20 minute stretches you can image. Poor shot selection, turnovers, stupid fouls, poor rebounding, etc. They really are a Jekyll and Hyde team.

It just goes to show how far the game has come, pure athleticism is not enough, not even close. The men's game is so competitive that any top 100 team could beat one another on any given night (even if the favored team wins 9/10 or more, that 1 upset still happens), and sometimes that filters down even further than that.