St John's

QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's All-BIG EAST senior swingman Anthony Mason Jr. will miss the rest of the 2008-09 season, head men's basketball coach Norm Roberts announced on Friday night. Mason Jr. will undergo surgery to repair a torn peroneal tendon in his right foot.

"We are all disappointed and feel for Anthony," said Roberts. "This is an unfortunate situation, but it is part of the game. We believe that Mase will come back from this, a stronger player and a stronger person."

Raphielle Johnson's Metro preview & weekly Metro rankings & updates are a staple of fans in NYC's tri-state region. To get things going, here is Raphielle's 23 team NYC Metro preseason ranking and all-Metro teams. Individual team previews will up shortly!

 

Preseason Metro Ranking

The 2008-09 Big East season should bring as much excitement as any.  Commonly regarded as the toughest conference in college basketball, it has the potential to put 9+ teams into the NCAA tournament come March.

 

At the backbone of a great team comes a great coach, and the Big East has plenty of great coaches.  But which coaches are the best?  Let's just say that a well-padded résumé is not enough to give a coach top honors in this conference.

 

Big East Player Grades

 

 

Conference Rank: 1st

 

This is the second of six annual statistical projections of BCS conference starters. The lineups are based on the Starting Fives series of articles released two weeks ago, along with a couple of changes due to recent developments.

 

 

BIG EAST FIVE-YEAR STANDINGS

 

This ranking tries to answer a simple question: Who has been the best team in the Big East over the last five years?

 

Bill Carmody (Northwestern)

Matt Doherty (SMU)

Bobby Gonzalez (Seton Hall)

Leonard Hamilton (FSU)

Norm Roberts (St. John's)