By Andrew Krumme
I noticed two things as I watched the Cards take on Villanova Thursday night. First and foremost, I was honored to watch quite possibly two of the slickest and best-dressed coaches in all of college sports. The combined worth of the wardrobes of both Rick Pitino and Wildcats Head Coach Jay Wright is probably enough to pay my rent for six months.
Not only that, but in two years of covering games at U of L, I have never heard the Freedom Hall crowd roar so loudly, and that includes last year’s battle with Kentucky.
The frightening thing about the noise emanating from almost 20,000 Cardinal fans was that it did not faze the Villanova players as they handled the Cards for a nine-point victory. Unfortunately, no matter how much of a home court advantage Louisville will have this year, it still may not be enough to match the amount of talent in the Big East this year. The talent level on the court in the Villanova game grabbed my attention more than anything else – and I wasn’t the only one who noticed.
More than a dozen NBA scouts were in attendance for the contest, including Joe Dumars of the Pistons, Randy Embry for the Heat, and representatives from the Knicks, Nets, Mavericks and Jazz. Outside of the Duke-Texas game earlier this year, this game may have featured the most NBA talent on the floor at any one time this season.
Villanova’s Allan Ray, Randy Foye and Jason Fraser all have the tools to play at the next level. I am sure that some scouts even showed up just to get a glimpse of the Wildcats’ Curtis Sumpter, who is recovering from a knee injury, sitting on the bench. On Louisville’s side, Taquan Dean, David Padgett and Juan Palacios are three sure-fire prospects that had some NBA personnel foaming at the mouth.
Looking at the Big East as a Louisville fan or just as an avid follower of college hoops, it is scary to see how many great players are in the league. Top to bottom, almost every team has at least one great player who is sure to go on to the next level. In the next two years, the Big East could have as many as 30 players drafted for the NBA, which would be quite a feat considering only 60 people are drafted each year.
UConn, which comes to town on Jan. 21, has six players with NBA aspirations. Many expect sophomore Rudy Gay to be the next number-one pick in the draft. Gay is described by ESPN online analyst Chad Ford as “somewhere between Grant Hill and Shareef Abdur-Rahim.”
Josh Boone, Denham Brown, Rashad Anderson and Hilton Armstrong are four more guys for Jim Calhoun, who, according to http://www.nbadraft.net, are slated to go in the upcoming draft. And UConn point guard Marcus Williams is another name that NBA executives are looking forward to seeing in the 2007 draft.
This list goes on and on. Syracuse has Demetris Nichols, Terrance Roberts, Gerry McNamara and Eric Devendorf. Georgetown has two intriguing talents in Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert. Steve Novak, Carl Krauser, Eric Hicks and Devan Downey, Torin Francis, Sammy Mejia, Kevin Pittsnogle, Mike Gansey and Kyle Lowry all will no doubt be playing in the league. A number of players riding the pine for some of these schools are even on NBA scouts’ short lists for the upcoming drafts.
The quantity of talent is great for the Big East, but it also means a tough road ahead for the Cards. Pitino and company will no longer have the luxury of an “easy” conference game against teams like Houston and Southern Miss. They will be playing perennial powerhouses like Syracuse, UConn and Villanova night in and night out, and there will be no room for error. The days of cruising through the C-USA schedule with just a couple of hitches are over.
