The biggest overachiver in the conference this year is
- Thread starter Halldan
- Start date
Holloway has done an amazing job. As has Holtmann. But I have to give the nod to Villanova. Sure they were picked higher than DePaul or the Pirates. But their record is far superior than either of the other schools and to me that made the difference.
Now, if Nova loses to Xavier at home Saturday (unlikely) and the other two schools win their last game then maybe I change my mind.
Now, if Nova loses to Xavier at home Saturday (unlikely) and the other two schools win their last game then maybe I change my mind.
i'd say Depaul is finally playing to the talent they have. Good for them, 25 plus years of being terrible is unfathomable.
No one saw SH coming. 19 league games and we have topped everyone's expectations. Did anyone really think .500 was possible?
Nova too, but Nova is Nova and that means you can never really be an over achiever. Expectations are just different. It shows you how badly the former coach performed under pressure.
So, I say our Pirates win that going away.
No one saw SH coming. 19 league games and we have topped everyone's expectations. Did anyone really think .500 was possible?
Nova too, but Nova is Nova and that means you can never really be an over achiever. Expectations are just different. It shows you how badly the former coach performed under pressure.
So, I say our Pirates win that going away.
Gotta be Nova.
Picked 7th and only lost one BE game outside of UConn and SJU.
BE is down but that is still a hell of a year.
Picked 7th and only lost one BE game outside of UConn and SJU.
BE is down but that is still a hell of a year.
Seton Hall in a landslide for me.
Nova is in consideration, but they have NIL and infrastructure. I actually thought Depaul would be knocking on the door of an NCAA bid. They have decent talent there, including some good returnees. I think I picked them 4th or 5th in the preseason.
We were 204th in kenpom last season (which is low major level), turned over an entire roster, and will finish around 50th.
Nova is in consideration, but they have NIL and infrastructure. I actually thought Depaul would be knocking on the door of an NCAA bid. They have decent talent there, including some good returnees. I think I picked them 4th or 5th in the preseason.
We were 204th in kenpom last season (which is low major level), turned over an entire roster, and will finish around 50th.
Has to be us, no question IMO. Not only did we vastly exceed the preseason coaches poll, but even if the incoming talent was underestimated by most (likely because of last year and the on-paper pedigree), simply winning 10 league games and 20 games overall in the face of last year's disaster is the biggest overachievement/turnaround.
Agreed.....
Based on where we were at the end of last season and the low..... really low.... expectations for this season... my pick is SHU.
Why Shaheen Holloway Should Be Big East Coach of the Year — And It Shouldn’t Be Close
If you really understand college basketball, then you understand context matters.
thecoachsedge.substack.com
I’ll say Seton Hall. After last year’s dumpster fire and mass exodus I had almost zero interest in college basketball and no expectations for ‘25-26. The offseason portal haul didn’t inspire much hope.
Maui sucked me right back in and from there I haven’t missed much. It wasn’t a great winter, and college basketball isn’t near as fun for me, but I digress, our Pirates definitely out performed my expectations.
Maui sucked me right back in and from there I haven’t missed much. It wasn’t a great winter, and college basketball isn’t near as fun for me, but I digress, our Pirates definitely out performed my expectations.
In the beginning of the season it was:
now we are all upset SHU is gonna miss the NCAA’s barring a miracle.
Context is key.
Holloway and SHU with the over achiever award
now we are all upset SHU is gonna miss the NCAA’s barring a miracle.
Context is key.
Holloway and SHU with the over achiever award
My son was a broadcaster for NBC for a period of eleven years.He told me
that in interviewing coaches he made a mental note to remind himself that the coach knew a helluva lot more about the sport than him.It did not take away from his ability to ask tough qiuestions .Shaheen is not perfect, but there are comments about his knowledge of the game that are way off the mark.I think this team has overperformed ,and they play with his tenacious spirit.How you define the criteria for COY year determines who wins the award.If the criteria is who got the most with the least talent I would vote for Shaheen
that in interviewing coaches he made a mental note to remind himself that the coach knew a helluva lot more about the sport than him.It did not take away from his ability to ask tough qiuestions .Shaheen is not perfect, but there are comments about his knowledge of the game that are way off the mark.I think this team has overperformed ,and they play with his tenacious spirit.How you define the criteria for COY year determines who wins the award.If the criteria is who got the most with the least talent I would vote for Shaheen
I would also like to see what Pitino,Hurly and Willard would do with our roster.
I don't want this to sound like sour grapes, but it's important to put things into context. Nova spent $12M on this roster (per our Athletic Dept). Congratulations to Willard and Nova on a successful season, but your payroll is roughly double most the competition. This isn't rocket science - they swept all the teams that paid less than them and got swept by the teams that paid same or more than them. Give Sha an another $6M dollars to his budget and see what happens.
Willard is a very good coach and I'm happy for him, but leading a $12M roster to victories over $5M-$7M rosters doesn't impress me.
Willard is a very good coach and I'm happy for him, but leading a $12M roster to victories over $5M-$7M rosters doesn't impress me.
I have to say that you need to take into account the payroll. Nova is north of $10 million. Sheer turnaround belongs to us.
There you go. So much ******** on NIL out there.
There is nothing BUT BS on NIL. Is there one one fact about how much a player is being paid?
That is what they had available or what they actually spent on their current roster? I could buy that is what they have available for next month's portal but those numbers seem high for Nova's current roster. $9M makes sense for their current roster
If Villanova’s roster cost $12 million, their GM should be fired immediately. Honestly, $9 million seems steep for the team they are rolling out there.
Seton Hall is the biggest overachiever. Not only did they only spend $5-6M, much of their money wasn't available early so they spent as much on their 8 bench players as their starting 5.
Willard did a good job but EVERY SINGLE expert, website, publication, media, etc had the Pirates finishing last in the Big East. It was widely seen as the worst talent in the BE.
Willard did a good job but EVERY SINGLE expert, website, publication, media, etc had the Pirates finishing last in the Big East. It was widely seen as the worst talent in the BE.
I definitely believe they told you that but they do not have a good track record of being accurate or truthful when it comes to NIL/Revenue Share.
Most believe that The Athletic's anonymous survey of coaches (below) is fairly accurate.
That says the Average Big East budget is $8 Million, P4 average is almost $9M.
Average estimated roster costs
| ACC | $8.2 million |
| Big East | $8 million |
| Big Ten | $8.5 million |
| Big 12 | $8.6 million |
| SEC | $9.7 million |
| Mid-major plus | $2.3 million |
| Low- to mid-major | $525,000 |
I just respectfully really disagree. Sounds like B/S to make themselves feel better.
I’m surprised our athletic department didn’t say everyone in the Big East is $12m plus, so now all you super fans and supporters need to up your donation game more.
Hall Dan is the biggest BE overachieving person. He was supposed to be retired and taking it easy! No … he comes back and hits it out of the park everyday and he’s older than dirt!!
Based on my sources that seems about right for the Big East. I might bump it up a smidgen.