Cincinnati News, DePaul Recruiting, Rutgers News, Seton Hall Recruiting

2010-2011 PRESEASON BIG EAST POWER POLL; VERSION 1.1

Today we start our first look, in four parts, of the 2010-2011 college basketball season as it pertains to the Big East. We polled several of our regular contributors and writers at the NBE Basketball Report for their opinions on the Big East for 2010-2011. For the purpose of this exercise we took a look at the Big East ‘as is’ in it’s current state. This means, anyone declaring for the NBA Draft and who has not pulled their name out of the draft is considered IN the NBA Draft. At this time, the following players are in the NBA Draft:

– Devin Ebanks (WVU)
– Jeremy Hazell (SHU)
– Wes Johnson (SU)
– Dominique Jones (USF)
– Mac Koshwal (DPU)
– Greg Monroe (GU)
– Herb Pope (SHU)
– Jeff Robinson (SHU)
– Samardo Samuels (UL)
– Lance Stephenson (UC)

Today we provide capsule previews of the teams that are currently slotted in spots 16th through 13th in our first Big East Power Poll for 2010-2011:

16) RUTGERS

2009-2010 Record: 5-13 Big East, 15-17 overall
Head Coach: N/A

Graduating Seniors:
– Hamady N’Diaye (9 ppg, 7 rpg, 4.5 bpg)

Other Post-Season Departures:
– Mike Rosario (16.7 ppg) – transfer to Florida
– Patrick Jackson (2.4 ppg) – transfer to TBD

Returning Players:
– Jonathan Mitchell (12 ppg, 6 rpg) – Senior Forward
– Dane Miller (9 ppg, 6 rpg) – Soph Forward
– Mike Coborn (6.6 ppg, 3 apg) – Senior Guard
– James Beatty (5 ppg, 4 apg) – Senior Guard
– Austin Johnson (2 ppg) – Sophomore Forward
– Brian Okam (1 ppg) – Sophomore Center

Incoming Players:
– Gilvydas Biruta (6’8 PF) – Newark (NJ) St. Benedict’s
– Austin Carroll (6’3 SG) – Wolfeboro (NH) Brewster Academy

Notes: The Fred Hill era ended in an ugly mess this month and leaves the program with little direction at this time. The search for a new head coach is underway with former Scarlet Knight Eddie Jordan among the leading candidates. With a current roster of just eight scholarship players it looks to be another long season ahead for RU basketball fans.
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15) DEPAUL

2009-2010 Record: 1-17 Big East, 8-23 overall
Head Coach: Oliver Purnell

Graduating Seniors:
– Will Walker (16 ppg)

Other Post-Season Departures:
– Mac Koshwal (16 ppg, 10 rpg) – NBA Draft

Returning Players:
– Mike Stovall (7 ppg) – Senior Guard/Forward
– Eric Wallace (6 ppg ) – Junior Forward
– Jeremiah Kelly (6 ppg, 3 apg) – Junior Guard
– Devin Hill (5 ppg, 3 rpg) – Junior Forward
– Mike Bizoukas (4 ppg, 2 apg) – Junior Guard
– Tony Freeland (3 ppg) – Sophomore Forward
– Krys Faber (2 ppg) – Junior Center
– Mario Stula (2 ppg) – Junior Guard/Forward
– Kene Obi (1 rpg) – Junior Center

Incoming Players:
– Moses Morgan (6’5 G/F) – Las Vegas (NV) Palo Verde
– Walter Pitchford (6’10 C/BF) – Chicago (IL)
– Brandon Young (6’4 G) – Washington (DC) Friendship Collegiate

Notes: Oliver Purnell makes the move from Clemson of the ACC to the Big East and takes over the Blue Demons program. With three signed recruits and nine returning players Purnell has a pretty full roster and not a lot of room to make some immediate upgrades which are needed for the Blue Demons to compete in the conference. Not much offensive firepower on the roster and it looks to be another year of very few conference wins for the Lincoln Park school.
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14) SETON HALL

2009-2010 Record: 9-9 Big East, 19-13 overall (1st round loss in NIT)
Head Coach: Kevin Willard

Graduating Seniors:
– Eugene Harvey (8.5 ppg, 4.6 apg)
– John Garcia (3.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg)

Other Post-Season Departures:
– Jeremy Hazell (20 ppg) – NBA Draft
– Jeff Robinson (12 ppg, 6 rpg ) – NBA Draft
– Herb Pope (11 ppg, 11 rpg) – NBA Draft
– Robert Mitchell (8 ppg, 4 rpg) – Dismissed

Returning Players:
– Jordan Theodore (9 ppg, 3.5 apg) – Sophomore Guard
– Jamel Jackson (5 ppg) – Senior Guard
– Keon Lawrence (4 ppg) – Senior Guard
– Ferrokahn Hall (2 ppg) – Sophomore Forward
– Melvyn Oliver (2 ppg, 2 rpg) – Sophomore Center

Incoming Players:
– Fuquan Edwin (6’5 F) – Paterson (NJ) Catholic

Notes: Much like Fred Hill at Rutgers, Bobby Gonzalez saw his tenure at SHU end quickly following his fourth season at the helm of the Pirates. Never seemed to be a dull moment with ‘Gonzo’ at the helm but the SHU administration will hope for a much calmer tenure with Kevin Willard taking over the reigns of the program. The Pirate roster is a very fluid entity at the moment with three players (Hazell, Pope and Robinson) declaring for the NBA draft but leaving the option to return to school open. The also have three verbal commitments from recruits (forwards Eugene McCrory, Jami Hanner and Anali Okoloji) that have not signed letters of intent as roster issues and acacemic requirements are still being worked out. As it currently stands five of last year’s top six scorers have moved on and that slides SHU down in the lower quarter of the Big East. If players return to school and withdraw from the draft they will move up accordingly in our next update.
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13) CINCINNATI

2009-2010 Record: 7-11 Big East, 19-16 overall (2nd round loss in NIT)
Head Coach: Mick Cronin

Graduating Seniors:
– Deonta Vaughn (12 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.5 apg)
– Steven Toyloy (3.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg)

Other Post-Season Departures:
– Lance Stephenson (12 ppg, 5 rpg) – NBE Draft

Returning Players:
– Yancy Gates (10 ppg, 6 rpg) – Junior Center/Forward
– Rashad Bishop (8 ppg, 4 rpg) – Senior Guard/Forward
– Ibrahima Thomas (6 ppg, 5 rpg) – Senior Center
– Cashmere Wright (5 ppg, 2 apg) – Sophomore Guard
– Dion Dixon (5 ppg, 2 rpg) – Junior Guard
– Jaquon Parker (4 ppg, 3 rpg) – Sophomore Guard
– Darnell Wilks (3 ppg, 2 rpg) – Senior Forward
– Larry Davis (3 ppg) – Senior Guard
– Anthony McClain (1 ppg, 1 rpg) – Senior Center

Incoming Players:
– Sean Kilpatrick (6’5 G) – Redshirt freshman
– Kelvin Gaines (6’10 C)
– Justin Jackson (6’8 PF)

Notes: The backcourt duo of Deonta Vaughn and Lance Stephenson never seemed to mesh for UC and coach Mick Cronin last season and now both will try their hand at professional ball. Vaughn has graduated and Stephenson has entered the NBA Draft after one season and there is no turning back as he has signed with an agent. The Bearcats are left with a varied list of returning players, led by Yancy Gates, but inconsistency has plagued the powerful local product as well as much of the roster under Cronin’s guidance. There is also the questionable status of Rashad Bishop who finished last season on an indefinite suspension and nothing concrete has been reported about his future. A very inexperienced backcourt leads to the biggest question mark and is usually the recipe for trouble in the Big East.

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