As the men’s college basketball regular season comes to a close I think its time to re cap our local major conference, the Big East. For people who haven’t been following it, this article is a must read because it will help you in your March Madness pools. When the preseason pools came out a few months ago the Big East had eight teams in the top twenty-five, this was the most all time by any conference and every team thought they were a contender for the National Championship. Now that the regular season is coming to a close that is not the case but four of those eight are still in the mix. Those teams are Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Marquette. Connecticut is (15-2) in conference play, (27-2) overall and the #1 ranked team in the country. Their record is extremely impressive and it is because of their superstar roster of players. Every year Jim Calhoun puts together an unbelievable team even while having many of his players leave for the NBA at the end of every season. This is because he is one of the top recruiters in the country and many high school kids want to go to UCONN because is it such a storied program. Big man Hasheem Thabeet is unstoppable as of late and so has senior guard A.J. Price. Their team is so deep that they are almost impossible to beat, except for their slip up against Pittsburgh. The next team is Louisville, who are (14-2) in the Big East, (23-5) overall and #6 in the country. The Cardinals are coached by basketball legend and former New York Knicks coach Rick Pitino. Pitino is another great recruiter and this year is no exception, he has a great team that is definitely in contention to win the Big East tournament and possibly the National Championship. They have a great point guard in senior Andre McGee; he runs the entire offense and rarely turns the ball over. The next top Big East team is Pittsburgh; they are (13-3) in conference, (26-3) overall and ranked #3 nationally. The thing that impresses me the most about the Panthers is that they beat Connecticut. There was so much pressure on them to win that game and they pulled it off. The way they did it was by getting physical; they grabbed offense rebounds and forced turnovers. That is all about desire and they wanted to win more than UCONN. That was a great game and it showed fans that they could handle a big game atmosphere. Handling pressure is key especially during the later rounds of the NCAA tournament when the fan attendance gets to huge numbers. The final contender, however not likely, is the Marquette Golden Eagles. They have posted a record of (12-4) in the Big East, (23-6) overall and they are ranked #13 in the country. Their best player and leader is senior guard Wesley Matthews, he scored 19 points in their last game against Louisville. Marquette has posted a solid record but they do not have a good enough big man to compete against other top teams. As you can see, the tops teams such as Connecticut and Louisville have veteran coaches that know how to recruit. They also have outstanding senior guards that run their offense. With that said, the key to winning in college basketball is having a veteran coaches and players. UCONN and Louisville have this and it is putting them in a position to go far in March Madness. 
Daniel Weberman
NYchalktalk.com
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