Nova is the #1 team in the nation

[Markedman]

Still not convinced they are that good but then again nobody is really that good this year. I think Iowa, Oklahoma and Maryland might be the top 3 teams......
http://sportspolls.usatoday.com/ncaa/basketball-men/polls/coaches-poll/

[MU/Panther]

Let's hope they are #1 in the AP poll!

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Right now, I don't think there's really any debate that Villanova deserves to be #1. Not sure they are the best team, but when you look at their body of work, their quality of losses, and the caliber of play they have shown since conference play began, I'm not sure you can really argue anyone convincingly against them.

[Markedman]

Also #1 in AP....another big step for the Big East in its new form....http://collegebasketball.ap.org/poll

[Goose85]

Nova and X are both in top 5 and play each other one more time.
If both take care of business that should lead to some very good seeds come tourney time.

CBS has #1 seed Xavier, #2 seed Nova, #6 seed Providence, #8 seed Seton Hall, and #10 seed Butler.

A pretty good year if the Big East can get half the league in the tourney.


http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

Nova and X are both in top 5 and play each other one more time.
If both take care of business that should lead to some very good seeds come tourney time.

CBS has #1 seed Xavier, #2 seed Nova, #6 seed Providence, #8 seed Seton Hall, and #10 seed Butler.

A pretty good year if the Big East can get half the league in the tourney.


http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology

the real key won't be the seeds, it is going to be can any of them get to the elite 8 or final 4, until we start getting teams in the national championship discussion occasionally it won't matter.

[warriorfan4life]

the real key won't be the seeds, it is going to be can any of them get to the elite 8 or final 4, until we start getting teams in the national championship discussion occasionally it won't matter.

Nova and X have great opportunities to make deep runs, but again it has to happen.

[CaribouJim]

I was figuring PC as no worse than a 5 seed - moot point right now.

[unclejohn]

Having the top team in the country, even if it is just for a week, is great for the conference. Yes, getting far in the tournament sure helps and the BE did not do that last year. But then again, most years before the league split, the BE's post-season performance was underwhelming, but it stayed in the discussions about top teams and top conferences. I do not think anybody can argue that the Big East is a major league and is here to stay. (Of course, rodent fans will argue about it anyway.)

[Goose85]

Nova has DePaul and St. John's this week.
Nova then has Temple and Butler the following week.

Villanova really has a good chance to hang in there at #1 until their Feb 24 midweek game at Xavier.
It would be really nice for the conference to have the top ranked team for a few weeks.

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

Having the top team in the country, even if it is just for a week, is great for the conference. Yes, getting far in the tournament sure helps and the BE did not do that last year. But then again, most years before the league split, the BE's post-season performance was underwhelming, but it stayed in the discussions about top teams and top conferences. I do not think anybody can argue that the Big East is a major league and is here to stay. (Of course, rodent fans will argue about it anyway.)

Not so sure about that, from 2000 - 2013 (the last year of the old Big East), the Big East won 4 national championships in that 14 year span, or once every 3.5 years. That is really solid given there was 6 power conferences. Now obviously the new Big East is too young to make a definitive statement about their post season play, and perhaps X or Nova will win one this year and make it all a moot point, but so far in our two seasons we have really laid an egg come tournament time. I am hoping we can erase that this season.

[IrwinFletcher]

Nova has DePaul and St. John's this week.
Nova then has Temple and Butler the following week.

Villanova really has a good chance to hang in there at #1 until their Feb 24 midweek game at Xavier.
It would be really nice for the conference to have the top ranked team for a few weeks.

And, after that X game, Nova comes to the Bradley Center. So even if they are to lose at X, they would technically still be #1 coming in to play us. Doesn't happen often.

[mufan2003]

With Villanova getting a #1 seed last year, I am more concerned with the conference getting 5 or 6 teams in and less concerned about seeding. Villanova was a #1 seed last year, so the conference has already accomplished the milestone of being good enough to warrant a #1 seed. BE probably has 5 in right now (Nova, Xavier, Providence, Seton Hall and Butler) Can Georgetown, Creighton or MU make a run to make it 6? I would love for MU to be able to knock off Nova on Feb 27. Wishful thinking, but I am also cautiously optimistic that MU can be 7-7 after the game @ DePaul. Not over yet.

[CaribouJim]

And, after that X game, Nova comes to the Bradley Center. So even if they are to lose at X, they would technically still be #1 coming in to play us. Doesn't happen often.

Which would be really cool - I have 10 tickets for that game. Kentucky the last #1 MU beat right?

[Markedman]

If they are still #1 should be a great environment for national Marquette day ........and more importantly....Markus Howard!s official visit.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

They should definitely still be #1 next week with DePaul and St John's on the schedule. The week after that, they are on the road at Temple and have Butler at home. Temple already has a 4-0 record against the top of the AAC, going 2-0 against Cincy, beating UConn on the road, and knocking off then undefeated SMU at home. That'll be tough. Butler gave Nova a game earlier this year, but is 0-5 against the Cats since joining the Big East.

They do play Xavier before coming to Milwaukee, but the rankings will already be out, so the only real stumbling block looks like that trip across town to Temple.

[CaribouJim]

I was kind of surprised that 'Nova's #1 ranking in the AP poll was their very first. The Tribune had a neat list of the 57 schools that have achieved at least one week as #1 in the AP poll.

Below are some highlights:

- DePaul, yes DePaul, leads the Big East w/ 15 (all in '80-'81)...Georgetown w/12...St. John's w/8...Seton Hall w/6 (all in '53)...Marquette w/3 ('71 - '78)...'Nova of course w/1.

- Some anomalies: 'Ville w/only 2...MSU w/ "only" 11 although Izzo typically has one of the more challenging NC schedule - more concerned about being peaking in March and not fretting over losses in Nov/Dec so long as it is pointing in the right them direction come NCAA time.

- Some others of interest: UW w/1 in '07...ND with 5 ('74 - '79)

Some other old timers may want to confirm that my memory is correct - was at the Arena for a game '78 on what I assumed was a Monday night where they announced that MU was #1 in the new poll and Arkansas maybe took over #1 shortly after MU lost to Loyola at the Amphitheatre in Chicago sometime around the iconic SI cover of Sidney Moncrief getting ready to execute a monstrous dunk - thought Arkansas was right behind MU at the time - could be wrong though.

The crowd went nuts when they made the announcement.

As far as the Loyola loss - I was there and we drove right back to Milwaukee and headed right to the Gym to drown our sorrows and lo and behold, Butch Lee and Bernard Toone were doing the same - they certainly didn't seem too stressed out - they were wearing those tanned leather winter coats that all the player got after the '77 championship (I assume from some Alum benefactor?).

[MUMac]

I was kind of surprised that 'Nova's #1 ranking in the AP poll was their very first. The Tribune had a neat list of the 57 schools that have achieved at least one week as #1 in the AP poll.

Below are some highlights:

- DePaul, yes DePaul, leads the Big East w/ 15 (all in '80-'81)...Georgetown w/12...St. John's w/8...Seton Hall w/6 (all in '53)...Marquette w/3 ('71 - '78)...'Nova of course w/1.

- Some anomalies: 'Ville w/only 2...MSU w/ "only" 11 although Izzo typically has one of the more challenging NC schedule - more concerned about being peaking in March and not fretting over losses in Nov/Dec so long as it is pointing in the right them direction come NCAA time.

- Some others of interest: UW w/1 in '07...ND with 5 ('74 - '79)

Some other old timers may want to confirm that my memory is correct - was at the Arena for a game '78 on what I assumed was a Monday night where they announced that MU was #1 in the new poll and Arkansas maybe took over #1 shortly after MU lost to Loyola at the Amphitheatre in Chicago sometime around the iconic SI cover of Sidney Moncrief getting ready to execute a monstrous dunk - thought Arkansas was right behind MU at the time - could be wrong though.

The crowd went nuts when they made the announcement.

As far as the Loyola loss - I was there and we drove right back to Milwaukee and headed right to the Gym to drown our sorrows and lo and behold, Butch Lee and Bernard Toone were doing the same - they certainly didn't seem too stressed out - they were wearing those tanned leather winter coats that all the player got after the '77 championship (I assume from some Alum benefactor?).

Don't know how it was handled back then or what the rules were, but in today's era that would be paid for by the shoe company contract. You get a "gift" for different levels of achievement.

[CaribouJim]

Don't know how it was handled back then or what the rules were, but in today's era that would be paid for by the shoe company contract. You get a "gift" for different levels of achievement.

Really? Didn't know that - thanks.

At the time those coats looked really cool, but Butch could have been wearing a burlap sack and looked cool - not sure they would look too cool today though.

[Gato78]

Butch wore an army jacket before he got the winter coat--and looked very cool with that. Shoe companies aside, how did those MU players all end up with new, identical bikes?

[CaribouJim]

Butch wore an army jacket before he got the winter coat--and looked very cool with that. Shoe companies aside, how did those MU players all end up with new, identical bikes?

Coincidence.