If you can remember back to the middle of October, you probably recall that the Big East preseason projections, courtesy of the coaches’ expectations, show only a faint resemblance to the standings on this day. Most notably, three teams — Syracuse, Marquette and Pittsburgh — have far outperformed their respective sixth-, ninth- and 12th-place projections.

It’s hard to blame the coaches for placing each team where they did. In fact, I even thought Syracuse was picked too high (not a shining moment for me). All three teams lost at least four key pieces from top-20 teams. The Orange lost its top three players in terms of minutes and usage — Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris — plus rotation big Kris Ongenaet. Pittsburgh lost its top three players in terms of minutes and usage — Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and Levance Fields — plus another starting forward, Tyrell Biggs. Marquette lost three of its top four players in terms of minutes and usage — Jerel McNeal, Wesley Matthews and Dominic James — plus its tallest player and sixth-highest minutes man, Dwight Burke.

There are several ways a team can rebuild from that, but these three went beyond rebuilding. Despite the personnel losses, Syracuse is the best team in the conference a year after slotting in somewhere in the fifth to seventh range. Pittsburgh has merely slipped from the league’s best team — according to efficiency margin in conference last season — to its fourth or fifth. Marquette has gone from the same fifth-to-seventh mire that the Orange found itself in last year to fourth or fifth with the Panthers. And this is in a league that is probably better top to bottom than it was last season. Read More »