Big East Linkage: August 12

Big East Linkage is a news roundup feature on BECB. Feel free to send us any relevant links, stories or posts you think might be interesting to readers at bigeastcoastbias at gmail dot com.

New Rule: The NCAA's member institutions decided to make it more difficult to qualify for the postseason (which also includes football bowl games). Starting in 2014-2015 (with no probable penalties until 2015-2016), the minimum APR in order to be eligible to participate in the postseason will be 930 (supposedly a prediction of a 50% graduation rate). If this rule had already been in place last season, Syracuse and Connecticut would not have been able to play in the NCAA tournament. Louisville would not have been eligible for the Beef O'Brady's Bowl last season.

High Octane X-Factor?: Cardiac Hill wonders whether Wisconsin transfer RB Zach Brown will be the X-Factor in Todd Graham's High Octane Offense in 2011. Brown would like to be the guy, not the spell back for Ray Graham. There's no harm in that. If Brown was saying he just wanted to give Graham some rest, he probably wouldn't be the kind of back you want. He may have surprised the coaches by being a little faster than they expected, but that might be because Wisconsin backs are stereotyped as being plodding power guys. 

Beat the Greenies: Syracuse is travelling to New Orleans and a near empty Superdome to play Tulane in football this year on October 8. They will also be hosting Tulane in basketball on December 22. The Orange have only met the Green Wave once in basketball. The result was a 70-63 win in 2007. Let's do better than that this time, Syracuse. We want complete domination. Rutgers would also ask that you win that football game by a comfortable margin as last year the Greenies' 17-14 win at Rutgers was called "the biggest victory in the [Bob] Toledo era".

Will the Red Bull Offense Harm the Defense?: Dana Holgorsen's installation of the Red Bull Offense is complete at West Virginia. However, quick scoring and plenty of it means that the defense could be on the field more than they are accustomed to, especially if the offense falters. The Smoking Musket is discussing just this latter issue. It is a pertinent issue to discuss indeed. Holgorsen just found a third QB for practice purposes (he'd like 5 in an ideal situation). Holgorsen has recently reported continued inconsistency from the WRs which is needless to say, a huge problem for his style of offense.

Big East>Bahamas: Louisville's basketball team wrecked the Commonwealth Giants 115-54 in an exhibition game in the Bahamas in the third annual "Summer of Thunder" scrimmage series. Mike Marra and Chane Behanan tied for the scoring lead for Louisville with 16 points apiece. The Cardinals are playing the Real Deal Shockers tonight.