Pitt and West Virginia basketball rank fourth and seventh, respectively, in the Syracuse Post-Standard's Big East writers poll. Syracuse narrowly edges Connecticut for the top spot, and those two teams are followed by Louisville. Those four teams towered above the rest, with only a couple ballots featuring any other team in the top four.
↵↵↵"It was really difficult for me to pick the No. 1 team this year simply because the margin between Connecticut and Syracuse is so slim,’’ ESPN college basketball writer Dana O’Neil, who put the Huskies at the top of her ballot, said. "To me, both look like Final Four teams. Connecticut edged out Syracuse only because of the experience that lineup gained through last year's national title run. "
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Pitt's Ashton Gibbs is named to the All-Big East team, along with Kris Joseph of Syracuse, Jeremy Lamb of UConn, Tim Abromaitis of Notre Dame and Darius Johnson-Odom of Marquette. WVU's Kevin Jones also received votes in that category. Gibbs is named the likely player of the year. Also, Khem Birch receives a vote the likely rookie of the year, although that category is dominated by UConn's Andre Drummond.
↵The voters in the poll were from hometown papers throughout the Big East. Ray Fittipaldo from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was among them.
↵For more on the Big East, check out Big East Coast Bias.