NYC Metro Sports  

The Big East Basketball Conference is enjoying one if its best years ever, and definitely the strongest since the reformation of the conference to 16 teams. It has always been known as a conference that plays a physical style of basketball that cannot be matched at any level. This year it's been taken to another atmosphere. Lets take a look at the big men that shape the conference.

Dejuan Blair- He is the strongest big man possible in the nation. He overpowered Luke Harangody last week and the scary thing is he is only a sophomore. He is one of the best Offensive rebounders I have seen in a while. Pitt is not a great shooting team, but when you have Blair on the inside grabbing boards you can afford to take some risky shots.

Luke Harangody- He is a very awkward looking player, but he gets the job done down low. He is the core of ND and its fair to say when he struggles down goes ND. His wide body though gives him an edge against most other big men in the conference. Although when he plays another dominating opponent down low he struggles at times.

Samardo Samuels- He dominated the New York/New Jersey high school basketball region  while playing under Danny Hurley. He could’ve went to any school in the country and chose Rick Pitino and Louisville. They had just lost 3 big men and needed Samuels in order to compete on a national level. Samuels uses his strength on the inside to average 13 ppg and 5 rpg. He is a freshman in an NBA ready body and it will be interesting to see how he plays out the rest of the season heading into the NCAA Tournament.

Hasheem Thabeet/ Jeff Adrien- It would not have been right to leave Adrien out of this talk. When you are talking about big men in basketball he is the classic undersized power forward. He has a physical style of play that not many can match. He hustles his tail off in order to compete with the bigger guys in the league but has become smooth enough on the offensive end to become one of the most well rounded players in the conference. Thabeet is clearly a game changing player because of what he brings on the defensive end. When he is standing in the paint it becomes very difficult to penetrate to the hoop. Thabeet will cause players to be very cautious when trying to get points on the inside. UConn is one of the most well rounded teams in college ball. These two players will be the reason that UConn should go very deep into the NCAA Tournament.

Arinze Onuaku- He has the ability to be just as good as any big man in the country. At times he also shows that he can be very dominating but the problem is that he is on a team with such strong perimeter play with the likes of Flynn, Rautins, Devendorf, and Harris. Cuse has become a team that loves the outside shot and running and gunning when they can. So they don’t like to setup in a half court offense that is going to pound it inside to Onuaku. This may be the reason that they have been very inconsistent in Big East Play.

Dante Cunningham- Villanova is a young team. I promise you that in the next two seasons they will be back in the top 10. Cunningham has really taken over as the feature player on this team. The problem is that he is a Senior so he will not get a chance to mature with the rest of the team, but he is Nova's dominating force on the inside. He is very interesting player because he doesn’t have the muscle down low that a lot of these guys have but he uses his body to maneuver himself into positions to make positive plays. Villanova will be an interesting team to watch out for as the season plays out. If they can mature together as a team they can be a scary team to watch.

Yancy Gates- Cincinnati has been a surprise team so far this year in the Big East. strong play from Gates has been a big part of that. He is the kind of player that you can almost pencil in for 10 and 5 every game. He is a quality division 1 big man, he isn’t going to dominate any certain game or match up but if you want to compete in this conference you need a productive big man and he brings that to The Bearcats.

Mac Koshwal- He is one of the few bright spots on a DePaul team that is going nowhere fast. He wont get major recognition because of DePaul’s poor play and location. Koshwal is averaging 13 and 10 in the best conference in all of basketball, so that alone tells you he is a solid performer.

Greg Monroe- When Georgetown landed Monroe they had added a McDonalds All American to their rebuilding squad. He has everything you want from a big man and is proving to be a solid performer as a freshman in The Big East. If he wants to leave this year he will be a top 10 pick, but I personally think he can use another year or two in college to mature on the court. This conference is the perfect preparation for the NBA because of the physical play. I expect Georgetown to turn it around this season and if that is the case you can guarantee that Monroe is going to play a huge part in that.

Geoff McDermott- It is scary how consistent McDermott has been over the years. He has pretty much averaged the same amount of points and rebounds throughout his 4 year career with Providence. Now there is a few things that factor into that. The team as a whole has improved year after year, and they have added talent to the program as well. You never want to see a guys numbers stay exactly the same over 4 years, but McDermott has been an extremely versatile player for Providence. This is finally the year for them to make a run into the NCAA Tournament and anything less then that is going to be a disappointment.

Sean Evans- Evans is not going to wow you with his numbers but the improvement that he has made since his freshman year is remarkable. He went from a reserve on a bad team, to a major factor down low on a much improved team. He is able to run with the guards but he has moves and size down low to compete with any big man in the league. St Johns expectations and athletes have obviously gone downhill over the years but Evans seems to be a guy that is capable of competing on a high level in this conference.

John Garcia- Garcia is the classic big body in the paint. He is not going to beat you with slick moves down low, or run the floor in transition but he is a very big guy down low and at times can put the ball in the bucket. Coach Gonzalez does a great job of keeping B level kids at home. He has recruited a lot of NYC and NJ players to stay at home and play for him in a short time. Seton Hall had went and brought in 3 local big guys out of New York in a two year span. Garcia, Brandon Walters and Mike Davis. All three are big bodies that just take up space in the paint, but Garcia ended up being the one that stood out and at times is a productive player on the court for a young Seton Hall squad.

Gregory Echenique- Rutgers, like Seton Hall, is doing a decent job of keeping local kids at home. Echenique played his high school ball with Samardo Samuels of Louisville and chose to stay at home and help rebuild Rutgers. He tends to get lost at times in the offense, but when your team is a one man squad revolving around McDonalds All American Mike Rosario, its hard to find a place to fit in as a freshman. He has tons of talent and will evolve into a upper level big man in the Big East over the next few years.

3 Teams that I did not mention were West Virginia, Marquette, and South Florida. These teams do not have a real big man on their squads. Marquette and West Virginia run offenses revolved around guard play. Although, West Virginia added a big time freshman in Devin Eubanks who has size at 6'9. Eubanks is not going to ever be a stay in the pain back you down player. He is much to versatile for that. He can do a little bit of everything and that is what Huggins loves about him. Marquette, at the moment, doesn’t need a big man to survive in the Big East because of their three headed monster at guard in James, McNeal, and Matthews. We will see how that works out when they start facing the balanced squads of the conference as the season unfolds. South Florida is in a difficult situation. The Big East has and will always revolve around the Tri State Area. Teams such as Pitt, Louisville, and West Virginia know that and have made huge strides in recruiting in the area. For teams like DePaul, South Florida, and other outsiders to get into the mix in this conference they are going to have to find a way to get involved in the region. Now you have the three local teams in St Johns, Seton Hall, and Rutgers working their tails off trying to keep kids at home because the power of New York Media plays into this whole thing. If you can become a national team then the local media will give you attention and once that happens the local kids will give you some interest. It is a cycle that had left the local teams out of the mix because of big name national coaches such as Pitino, Huggins, Calhoun, and Boeheim. The Big East is one of the toughest conferences to try and build a program but if you have success in this conference then you can make it anywhere.