Trying to figure out my Big East football preseason ballot, and there's
still a ton of football previews coming out from bloggers and pundits
and everyone in between. With recruiting done and the list of
underclassmen in the NBA Draft finalized, I'm also finding a few Big
East basketball predictions, but have yet to see one that has USF
picked to finish higher than 14th.

The NBE Basketball Report
has a preview up, with USF 14th, ahead of Rutgers and DePaul. "For the
first time since entering the league, the Bulls may have enough to be
competitive," they write. Casualhoya.com picks USF 14th, ahead of Providence and DePaul, but also thinks that Jesus Verdejo was the Bulls' best player last season.

Football previews? About.com
picks USF fourth in the Big East, but with an 8-4 record, which would
likely mean the Bulls beat either Florida State or Miami. Capperspicks.com picks USF to win the Big East -- can't say I've seen many preseason rankings that have West Virginia as low as fourth.

Sportsoverload.com
has positional rankings in the Big East, with Matt Grothe second behind
Cincy's Tony Pike, Mike Ford ninth (!) among running backs (Mo Plancher
is 13th), Jessie Hester fifth and A.J. Love 13th among receivers, and
USF with the league's No. 1 defense and special teams. Another blog, Pine Riders Anonymous, has USF's home game against West Virginia on Oct. 30 as the Big East's No. 1 can't-miss game.

--This week's Sporting News offers college football's top five schools
at each of eight key positions, and there's only one Big East unit that
makes the cut. Sorry to USF's defensive line, but it's Rutgers'
offensive line that gets the nod. Same issue has a mock NBA draft, with
six Big East players in the first round: Hasheem Thabeet third, Jonny
Flynn 10th, DeJuan Blair 11th, Earl Clark 18th, Sam Young 29th and
Terrence Williams 30th.