Big East Men's Championship: Host Cardinals Flying High

The Louisville Cardinals, which are hosting this year’s Big East Championships, are the prohibitive favorites to take the title for the second straight year. Because of the nature of Louisville’s expected dominance within this conference, we’ll approach the Big East men a little differently. We’ll take a team-by-team look (amongst teams probable to score individuals) at which swimmers to watch on each team, in addition to a few notable battles.

Louisville Cardinals

Any conversation about this Louisville team has to begin with their breaststrokers. They have three swimmers under 55 in the 100 breaststroke, and four at 2:00 or better in the 200. The best among these is Carlos Almeida, who is second in the nation in the 100 breaststroke at 53.36 and seventh in the 200 breaststroke, which was his better event last year, at 1:56.86. He can win a number of events at this meet if he chooses to, but he is the defending champ in the 200 breaststroke and the 200 and 400 IM’s. He will likely swim this schedule again, given Louisville’s depth in the 100 breaststroke–they have the 4 fastest times in that event this year.

Notre Dame

The diving competition was completed last weekend, and Notre Dame took a big lead with 127 points thanks to Eric Lex and Nathan Geary in the 1-meter and 3-meter, respectively. Looking forward, their best shot at a Big East Championship is Frankie Dyer. The versatile freshman freestyler is the future of the Irish program. He’ll have some tough decisions to make in terms of event schedule at Big East’s. He can score a medal in any of the freestyle events, but his best chances at an NCAA berth are probably the 200 free (1:37.10) and 500 free (4:24.04). They also have an incredibly deep backstroke group, led by Petar Petrovic. He is currently seeded third in the 100 back at 49.20.

UConn

Connecticut has the top sprint-pair in the league in Karim Zayed (44.56) and Kyungsoo Yoon (44.94). Led by those two, the Huskies are the favorites in the men’s 400 free relay, and could be dangerous in the 200 free relay as well. Zayed also is the Big East’s top seed in the 200 free (1:36.28) which ranks him 15th in the nation. Jeremy Ramshaw is also very good in the IM’s.

West Virginia

Jared Christie-Goldthorpe is a dual threat in the 200 free and the 200 back. In the latter, he swam a 1:45.86 in November. He has been well off that time in his few swims since, but has a long way to come down, and is the big favorite to win the event. The Mountaineers also have a the conference’s best butterflier in Taylor Camp: the top seed in the 100 (48.64) and third seed in the 200 fly (1:48.18).

Seton Hall

Seton Hall senior Kevin Webster is the best swimmer in school history. He is the holder of 5 individual school records, and is a member of three record-setting relays. The Pirates call on him to do a little bit of everything for them, and last year he was the conference champ in the 200 back. Webster might be the most versatile swimmer in the conference, and this year his primary focus will be the 400 IM, where he has a season-best of 3:54.14.

Pittsburgh

Pitt is sitting in second after the diving, about 30 points behind Notre Dame. That is important, as those two will be fighting for second in the conference. The Pitt Panthers are heavy in foreign swimmers, and have raided an extremely good one out of Poland in sophomore Adam Maczewski. His 47.67 against Virginia in the 100 back is the best in the conference and a school record, and also ranks him 11th in the country. He is undefeated in dual-meet action this year, and that streak should continue here. He seems like a good bet as an NCAA A or B finalist as well.

Cincinnati

Senior Nate Williams is the defending Big East runner-up in the mile, and he’s going to need to do at least that again to keep Cincinnati from a big slide. Besides the graduated Josh Schneider, who was the NCAA champ in the 50 free, they also lost a lot of other swimmers, like 200 breaststroke runner-up Jeremy Peter.

Villanova

Sophomore Scott Thiede is the Wildcats’ best chance to win in an individual event. His 4:35.65 500 free ranks him 17th in the conference, though he will likely be closer to top 12 after taking out swimmers who won’t be entered in this event. The Wildcats also have top-6 potential in both sprint relays.

Georgetown

Victor Lopez-Cantera was 11th in the 200 fly at the Big East Championships last year for the Hoyas, and this year he will be looking to make a lot of noise in the A-final. He’s a 1:51.30 best in the 200 fly this season, and based on what he’s done in years past, he’ll probably be a 1:49-low at Big East’s.

Syracuse

Pitt isn’t the only team in the Big East to have grabbed some serious talent out of Poland. Syracuse’s Kuba Kotynia was an NCAA qualifier last year in both breaststroke distances, and he is the only swimmer that has a chance at breaking up the Louisville monopoly in those events. His better event is the 200, where he’ll be seeded second in 1:58.24. Unfortunately for Syracuse, he’s about where their strength ends, and they are unlikely to compete in more than one or two relays.

Outlook

Louisville should win this meet going away. Because of the large deficit in diving, they might not overtake Notre Dame until Day 3 of the meet, but there’s no need for them to panic. Notre Dame, with it’s huge diving lead, will hang on for second, with Pitt third. After that, things are a bit of a cluster, but here’s our best guess on how it will shake out.

1. #19 Louisville Cardinals
2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
3. Pittsburgh Panthers
4. West Virginia Mountaineers
5. Connecticut Huskies
6. Cincinnati Bearcats
7. Georgetown Hoyas
8. Seton Hall Pirates
9. Villanova Wildcats
10. Providence Friars
11. Syracuse Orange