Scouting the Big East Non-Conference Matchups

[JasonS]

We're all about power today as all the bloggers chimed in today with their post-spring power rankings for each conference.

Few people know these leagues like our bloggers, who spent the spring touring various campuses and talking to coaches. So this gives us a good idea of what each Big East team might be up against in the nonconference schedule this year. Let's take a look, team-by-team:

Cincinnati

Oklahoma checks in at No. 2 in David Ubben's Big 12 power rankings and 12th in Mark Schlabach's new Top 25

NC State is No. 10 in Heather Dinich's ACC power rankings


Connecticut

Opening opponent Michigan is No. 7 in Adam Rittenberg's Big Ten power rankings

Vanderbilt is 12th and last in Chris Low's SEC power rankings


Louisville

Kentucky is 11th in the SEC power rankings

Oregon State comes in at No. 3 in Ted Miller's Pac-10 power rankings


Pittsburgh

Opening opponent Utah is No. 3 in Graham Watson's Non-AQ schools power rankings

Miami is third in the ACC rankings and 19th in Schlabach's Top 25


Rutgers

North Carolina checks in at sixth in the ACC rankings and 21st in Schlabach's Top 25


South Florida

Florida is second in the SEC rankings and eighth in Schlabach's Top 25

Miami is third in the ACC rankings and 19th in Schlabach's Top 25


Syracuse

Washington is sixth in the Pac-10 rankings

Boston College is seventh in the ACC rankings


West Virginia

LSU is fourth in the SEC rankings and 17th in Schlabach's Top 25

Maryland is eighth in the ACC rankings

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post...rence-matchups

[swg]

Pittsburgh

Opening opponent Utah is No. 3 in Graham Watson's Non-AQ schools power rankings

Miami is third in the ACC rankings and 19th in Schlabach's Top 25

Pitt plays Utah on the road, and also faces ND away. UConn, USF, WV, then Cincinnati to end the season. All but the WV game are on the road. It's a tough schedule for Pitt this year.

[Little Danny]

I don't want to hear the B10 homers complain UC and the rest of the Big East plays nobody. Based on pre-season rankings, OOC:

The Big-10 will only face 3 OOC ranked teams all year
The SEC will only face 5 to 8 ranked teams
Big-12 will face 7 to 9 ranked teams (however the hard matches are being played by the weak teams while the good teams face no-one)
pac-10 will face 6 to 7 ranked teams
Big East will face 7 to 11 ranked teams
ACC will face 11 to 16 ranked teams.

That's a lot for the BE when you consider they only have eight teams compared to 10, 11,12 from the other conferences.

[JasonS]

Originally Posted by Little Danny

I don't want to hear the B10 homers complain UC and the rest of the Big East plays nobody. Based on pre-season rankings, OOC:

The Big-10 will only face 3 OOC ranked teams all year
The SEC will only face 5 to 8 ranked teams
Big-12 will face 7 to 9 ranked teams (however the hard matches are being played by the weak teams while the good teams face no-one)
pac-10 will face 6 to 7 ranked teams
Big East will face 7 to 11 ranked teams
ACC will face 11 to 16 ranked teams.

That's a lot for the BE when you consider they only have eight teams compared to 10, 11,12 from the other conferences.

Good research. I was thinking about the potential for 4 or 5 super conferences. If this happens, it will be the end of good OOC matchups as we know it. The SEC teams already don't play anyone. Neither do the Big 10 or Big 12 teams (for the most part). The ACC teams seem to step up to the plate, as do the Big East teams. If these conferences already aren't playing anyone now (most common excuse: our conference is so hard) imagine what will happen if super conferences occur? It's going to make for some very boring Septembers and early Octobers.