Big East coaches pick UConn and Syracuse as cofavorites for regular-season title

NEW YORK - While people on Wednesday milled about the New York Athletic Club wondering about the life expectancy of the Big East, there actually was some basketball being discussed, particularly the selection of Connecticut, the defending national champion, and Syracuse as cofavorites for the regular-season title.

In the voting of head coaches in the conference, Connecticut picked up seven first-place votes and Syracuse garnered five. Louisville, with three first-place votes, was selected to finish third while Pittsburgh, which got the other first, came in fourth.

Villanova finished No. 8 among the 16 teams.

"I like it when they're picking us at the top of the conference," Wildcats coach Jay Wright said. "There's more respect and a little bit of fear. I like that. But that's not happening. I can't argue with it because that's probably where we belong."

Pitt guard Ashton Gibbs was named preseason Big East player of the year, and UConn center Andre Drummond, a 6-foot-11, 277-pound freshman, took preseason rookie of the year honors. Point guard Maalik Wayns of Villanova was named to the preseason second team, where he was joined by Syracuse's Scoop Jardine, a Neumann-Goretti graduate.

UConn lost all-everything guard Kemba Walker, the catalyst to its incredible 11-0 postseason run in the Big East and NCAA tournaments, but returns three starters and added the highly regarded Drummond.

The top returning scorer for UConn is sophomore guard Jeremy Lamb, a first-team all-conference pick in the preseason.

Syracuse lost just one starter, Neumann-Goretti grad Rick Jackson, and added another Philadelphia-area player in freshman Rakeem Christmas, a former star at Academy of the New Church. Christmas joins Jardine and Burlington Life Academy grad Dion Waiters as Philadelphia players on the Orange roster.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said Jardine "had a good year last year, and I think he can get better. He can play even better, and I think he will."

Notes. Boeheim and Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon met with Eastern reporters for the first time since their universities announced their move to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Boeheim preferred to avoid nearly every question about it, saying at one point: "I'm here to play in the Big East. I'm not worried about anything else."

Dixon said he didn't think Pitt's decision to switch conferences would hurt relations with his (for now) fellow Big East member schools. "If there's strong relationships beforehand, they're going to continue based on trust and character and understanding," he said.