Starting Five: Jared Swopshire Edition

1. As it turns out, there is life after John Shurna in Evanston. When Shurna, the sharpshooting small forward who lead the Wildcats in scoring each of the last three seasons, graduated this past spring, Northwestern seemed to have missed its best chance to earn the program's first ever NCAA Tourney bid. Enter Louisville-castoff Jared Swopshire. Swopshire is no Shurna. He's not going to match Shurna's 20 points per game, but he does give head coach Bill Carmody a shooter with length and, more importantly, a third option to go along with guard Reggie Hearn and swingman Drew Crawford.. Swopshire, who provided Louisville's Final Four team with valuable minutes just a season ago, is currently averaging 10.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per contest in just over 25 minutes of playing time. While the Wildcats have yet to beat a team of note, their 4-0 record includes margins of victory of 30, 13, 27, and 19. The Big Ten looks to be the nation's most competitive conference for a second year in a row, and the top six teams (Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) all look really strong. However, the bottom four programs (Purdue, Iowa, Penn State, and Nebraska) are going to struggle. That leaves Northwestern and an Illinois team that, despite topping Butler for the Maui Invitational title, has major question marks. While there are plenty of reasons to think the Wildcats will fall short in their quest, they are at least in the discussion. A lot of the optimism surrounding the program has to do with Swopshire. I, for one, am rooting for the kid. The Louisville program has described Swopshire's departure with a year of eligibility remaining as being a mutual decision that will provide Swop the opportunity to see more minutes. Regardless of spin, Swopshire was discarded by Rick Pitino, despite being a quality player and student. Fortunately, what is one program's trash is another program's treasure. And, perhaps appropriately, it may be the Cardinals, who look like shooting may be their only weakness, that end up regretting showing Swop the door (or at least encouraging him to walk through it).

2. After Georgetown took Indiana to overtime before falling short in its upset bid, the Captain commented that the Hoyas may have reached that level where you just go ahead and slot them into your preseason Top 25 based on coaching alone. I had the same thought a night before as they beat up on UCLA. It would be hard for me to describe just how much I like John Thompson III. I think he is one of the brightest minds in coaching. If I was a blue chip recruit, Georgetown would be on my short list based, in large part, on my infatuation with JT3. He was also RBP's Big East Coach of the Year for the 2011-12 campaign. That being said, Georgetown has been left out of RBP's Preseason Top 25 for three seasons running. Prior to the 2010-11 season, I was worried about Greg Monroe's departure and did not believe Austin Freeman and Chris Wright could carry the team. Then, before the 2011-12 season, I was convinced Georgetown was heading for a rebuilding year without Freeman and Wright. As it turned out, Jason Clark, Henry Sims, and Hollis Thompson were ready to fill the void, and the Hoyas did not miss a beat. This year I believed the Hoyas would be at a loss to replace Clark, Sims, and Thompson. I also doubted the hype surrounding sophomore forward Otto Porter. Four games into the new season, the Hoyas appear to have proven me wrong yet again. Porter looks like the best player in the Big East. Greg Whittington is averaging 12.8 points and 8.5 boards per outing. And Markel Starks is looking about as explosive as you can look in JT3's modified Princeton offense. Throw in a really productive supporting cast, and this team looks like a top ten-type team – which should not surprise anyone, since the Hoyas have been ranked in the AP top ten at some point in the season each of the past six years.

3. I am also regretting doubting Jamie Dixon and his Pittsburgh Panthers. After last year's disappointing 22-17 finish, I was a little gun shy of predicting much success for the Panthers. After watching Pitt battle a very talented Michigan squad in the NIT Season Tip-Off before coming up short in the game's final moments, I am convinced last year was merely an aberration. The Panthers are back to playing gritty, grimy basketball. With point guard Tray Woodall back to full health, this is a Top 25 team with good size and a lot of depth. Looking forward to watching more rock fights involving Dixon's squad.

4. Staying in the Keystone State, RBP would be remiss not to mention that Penn State senior guard Tim Frazier is out for the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon. As a junior, Frazier averaged 18.8 points, 6.2 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.4 steals per game for a pretty poor Penn State team. Despite his lackluster supporting cast, he almost bumped Minnesota's Trevor Mbakwe from RBP's preseason All-Big Ten squad this year. The Nittany Lions plan to apply for a medical redshirt, but we will all be missing out on the pleasure of watching one of the best guards in the country perform this year.

5. Speaking of injuries and general bad luck, things could not be going much worse for Providence. This was supposed to be the year Ed Cooley's Friars contended for a NCAA Tourney bid. Much of that enthusiasm was generated by Providence's stellar recruiting class, featuring Ricardo Ledo and Kris Dunn (Rivals' numbers 6 and 16-rated recruits from the 2012 class). Providence also returned senior point guard (and RBP preseason first team All-Big East performer) Vincent Council. And then the bad news hit. Ledo is academically ineligible and will not suit up for the Friars until next season. Dunn had surgery on his shoulder and will still be out until late December. Council is out 4-5 weeks with a hamstring injury. While the Friars have managed to get out to a 3-2 start, Ed Cooley's squad likely has a long year ahead of it.