Hoyas Team To Beat in a Big East Without a Beast

No Connecticut team with a starting lineup loaded with future first-round picks. No dominant Syracuse team equally capable of ripping your heart out with devastating defense and monster dunks. While this year’s Big East tournament will feature its share of strong squads, no one team has the kind of talent that makes opponents squirm and fans marvel.When the tourney tips off today, Georgetown will be the clear favorite. But the Hoyas earn that distinction not as much for their raw talent as for the way their talented players fit into an extraordinary system. Jeff Green may be the most underrated player in college basketball, a 6-foot-9-inch virtuoso who can beat you with a deft post-up move, a long-range bomb, a dribble drive, or a perfect bounce pass. Roy Hibbert also has the look of a future lottery pick. He’s gone from a clumsy post player with a limited repertoire to a 7-foot-2-inch force who’s learned how to score in multiple ways, while also backstopping a strong Georgetown defense.But what makes the Hoyas the tournament favorite is the way they mesh each individual player’s talents into the precision Princeton offense installed by coach John Thompson III. Being a onetrick pony in the NCAA tournament is a risky proposition. Teams that live and die by the threepointer can bow out early due to shooting slumps; teams that rely extensively on inside play can be neutralized by double teams. But when teams try to defend Georgetown, they need to worry just as much about a Jonathan Wallace backdoor cut as they do a Hibbert jump hook. Sophomore guard Jesse Sapp can beat opponents off the dribble, while freshman forward DaJuan Summers has bit of Jeff Green Jr. in him. As for Green himself? Only Syracuse’s 2–3 zone with multiple big men figures to offer a stiff challenge, should the tourney’s no. 1 and no. 5 seeds face each other in the semifinals.It’s that simple yet successful defense that makes the Orangemen the long shot underdogs to win the Big East tournament. Syracuse finished sixth in the conference this season, following the departure of last year’s best player and inspirational leader, Gerry McNamara. It was McNamara that led a gutsy run through last year’s Big East tourney, culminating with the Orangemen landing a much higher NCAA tournament seed. Yet McNamara’s departure also helped the Orange in a way. It made the team more balanced on offense, with several players capable of carrying the load at various times. Demetris Nichols led the team in scoring this year, averaging 18.8 points a game as he evolved into one of the conference’s best outside shooters. But Nichols isn’t a focal point on the same level that McNamara was last year.It’s Syracuse’s second-leading scorer, Eric Devendorf, who could ultimately decide how far Syracuse goes this week. Considered McNamara’s heir apparent, Devendorf has at times wilted under the weight of expectations this year. Witness a stretch in late January, when Devendorf went for 17, 23, and 18 points in games against Cincinnati, St. John’s, and Louisville, only to follow with an 0-for11, zero-point stinker in a loss to Notre Dame.The Orangemen’s final regularseason game showed what makes them such an enigma: Devendorf finally had the breakout game everyone was hoping to see, dropping 33 against Villanova. But Syracuse still lost by three. A firstround exit or a repeat of the 2006 Big East tourney championship are both very real possibilities.While this year’s tournament doesn’t quite have some of the star power of past seasons, a few game changers could still loom large. Villanova closed out the season with a three-game winning streak, led by freshman guard Scottie Reynolds. All Reynolds did in his last four games of the year was average 28 points a contest, including a 40-point explosion against UConn. If McNamara could take over last year’s tournament, what might a player who also owns a scary jumper — and better blow-by ability and defense to boot — do at Madison Square Garden?And if Reynolds has the look of a tourney favorite, imagine what MSG fans might do if Dominic James catches fire. James was Acie Law IV before Acie Law IV this season, taking the game in his own hands and deciding a handful of early-season games for Marquette. The comparisons to Dwyane Wade might be unfair, but this latest Golden Eagle lead guard wants to take the last shot, and is pretty good at hitting the 15 or 20 shots that come beforehand too.Pittsburgh’s Aaron Gray isn’t as exciting to watch as Reynolds, James, and the conference’s other explosive guards, nor will he have the ball in his hands as often. But when he does get the rock, he creates big match-up problems. Only Hibbert can check Gray one-onone (which might explain why Gray greeted Hibbert in the February 24 meeting between Pitt and Georgetown by telling his center counterpart, “I missed you, Big Roy”). When opponents double-team him, Grey is an excellent passer and smart decision maker who can create open shots for the Panthers’ cavalcade of perimeter threats, from Antonio Graves to Ronald Ramon, Mike Cook to Levance Fields.There could be an X-factor in play at MSG, though. After last season’s inspiring run through the Big East tourney, the Orange flamed out early in the big dance. McNamara burned himself out dazzling the New York crowds, only to succumb to fatigue and injuries the next weekend — he simply had nothing left. Knowing that bigger things await them, could the Hoyas or Panthers, two teams likely to land high NCAA tournament seeds no matter how they fare at the Garden, ease up a bit and give other teams a chance to steal their thunder? Could a team that’s an even bigger sleeper than Syracuse, even one that can only make the NCAAs by winning four straight games this week, cut down the MSG nets?Anything’s possible at the Big East tournament.Mr. Keri (jonahkeri@gmail.com) is a writer for ESPN.com’s Page 2 and a contributor to YESNetwork.com

Hoyas Team To Beat in a Big East Without a Beast

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