BIG EAST MEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA DAY

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NEW YORK CITY  Big East Conference coaches tabbed Villanova as a narrow choice over Connecticut to win the 2005-06 regular season championship, but nobody at the league's basketball Media Day Wednesday in Madison Square Garden was taking it too seriously.

Least of all, Villanova coach Jay Wright, who lost his best all-around player and biggest inside threat last week when 6-7 senior forward Chris Sumpter went down with a season-ending knee injury. Sumpter was the Wildcats' leading rebounder last season at 7.2 per game and also averaged 15.3 points.

"Hopefully, that's with an asterisk before Sumpter," Wright said of the No. 1 vote. "It's definitely an honor to know these coaches think that highly of our players and program. We walk away from here proud of the respect, but understanding we've got to prove ourselves all over again."

Villanova got nine first-place votes and 215 points, two more than UConn, which had the other seven first-place votes. The top five teams were tightly bunched, with Louisville (192), Syracuse (181) and West Virginia (175) following the first two.

Without Sumpter, Villanova returns four of its five starters from last year's 24-8 team that finished 11-5 in the Big East and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. UConn tied Boston College, which is now in the ACC, for the league's regular season title last season with an 11-3 record and lost only one starter.

U of L coach Rick Pitino seemed to feel that his team's third-place selection was a little high and offered his own opinion of the Big East's top clubs.

"The formula I always use for picking teams is whoever has the most talent in the junior and senior class wins the championships," Pitino said. "Obviously, I would not rate us very high because of that. I would rate Syracuse and West Virginia and Villanova and Connecticut in those categories. Certainly Notre Dame has some good seniors. That's how I rate teams  not on how they did last year.

"Cincinnati is going to be great, because they have four seniors. I think people are maybe underrating Cincinnati because they lost a legendary coach. But Andy Kennedy is a terrific coach and they have four seniors and it would not surprise me to see them win this conference."

To listen to some of the other coaches rave about the Big East's depth, hardly any champion would come as a surprise.

"There are no easy games in this league," Providence coach Tim Welsh said. "There are going to be tough games every night."

"The quality of teams in this league is outstanding," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "It's the best conference in the country. No one is even debating that anymore. We used to say it in recruiting and somebody would say, 'Well, maybe the ACC.' Nobody is questioning it anymore."

Louisville was the highest-rated team of the five newcomers moving over from Conference USA, with Cincinnati being picked ninth, DePaul 11th, Marquette 12th and South Florida 16th.

Cincinnati comes into the Big East with a new coach in Andy Kennedy, a former assistant who was elevated to the job on a temporary basis when long-time coach Bob Huggins resigned under a quit-or-be-fired edict from UC president Nancy Zimpher this summer.

"People have dropped us to No. 9 and I don't blame them," Kennedy said. "For God's sake, my next time out will be my first. But having said that, our kids come to Cincinnati to be a part of championships. We've had 25 or more wins nine of the last 10 years. They come expecting to win games. We understand the monumental task in front of us."

Wright warned the former C-USA teams that they will face a different animal in the Big East and they should get ready for some physical play.

"I think night in and night out the level of physical play you're going to be matched with will be something they'll have to adjust to," Wright said. "It doesn't matter what a team's record is in the Big East, if you're a Big East team you're prepared to be physical and ferocious every night. I don't know of any teams have a finesse style of play. It's almost like playing football, where you can physically get beat up. You're going to get physically challenged every night."

Prior to the coaches and player interviews, Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese delivered an impassioned defense of the league to the media gathering of about 175. Among other things, he disputed the criticism that the league is too unwieldy with 16 teams, defended the decision to allow just 12 teams to compete in the conference tournament in the Garden and said he believes the conference could set a record for having teams invited to the NCAA Tournament.

"And finally, the issue that's got to be addressed, and I hope we don't have to talk about it anymore, is the question of whether we're going to survive," Tranghese said. "Let me tell you the people who don't think we're going to survive. One, those who don't understand what this is all about; secondly, people who don't want us to survive, and there are a lot of them out there. The only way this thing won't survive is if these coaches can't coach and recruit or if I screw up.

"I told our presidents that if I screw up you ought to fire me because we have too many (things) going for us. First of all, we're here in New York. They can have all the other tournaments anywhere in the country, this is Madison Square Garden and New York. Nobody has that. We have unprecedented television exposure; we operate in urban America and we're in 26 percent of all the television households. It's a formula for success."

Big East Pre-season Coaches' Poll

1. Villanova (9) 215

2. Connecticut (7) 213

3. Louisville 192

4. Syracuse 192

5. West Virginia 175

6. Georgetown 152

7. Pittsburgh 130

8. Notre Dame 128

9. Cincinnati 127

10. St. John's 79

11. DePaul 76

12. Marquette 73

13. Providence 68

14. Rutgers 53

15. Seton Hall 35

16. South Florida 23

Pre-season Co-Players of the Year

Rudy Gay, Connecticut

Gerry McNamara, Syracuse

Pre-season All-Big East Team

Josh Boone, Connecticut, C, 6-10, Jr.

Rudy Gay, Connecticut, F, 6-9 So.

Taquan Dean, Louisville, G, 6-3, Sr.

Carl Krauser, Pittsburgh, G, 6-2, Sr.

Daryll Hill, St. John's, G, 6-0, Jr.

Gerry McNamara, Syracuse, G, 6-2, Sr.

Randy Foye, Villanova, G, 6-3, Sr.

Allan Ray, Villanova, G, 6-2, Sr.

x-Curtis Sumpter, Villanova, F, 6-7, Sr.

Kevin Pittsnogle, West Virginia, C, 6-11, Sr.

Honorable Mention  Eric Hicks, Cincinnati, F, 6-6, Sr.; Brandon Bowman, Georgetown, F, 6-8, Sr.; Jeff Green, Georgetown, F, 6-8, So.; Chris Quinn, Notre Dame, G, 6-2, Jr.