Pittsburgh coach Ben Howland started laughing, maybe because he knows the joke ultimately could be on him. Howland had just been asked about being the favorite to win the Big East this season. Instant giggles. Then he answered.

"I don't think preseason polls mean that much," he said. "But it's better than being picked sixth."

That was the prediction for the Panthers last season, No. 6 -- and not sixth in the league, either. Sixth in the seven-team West Division.

Big East Projections

Here are ESPN.com's Big East projections and previews of each team: EAST DIVISION 1. Connecticut 2. Boston College 3. St. John's 4. Villanova 5. Miami 6. Providence 7. Virginia Tech WEST DIVISION 1. Pittsburgh 2. Syracuse 3. Notre Dame 4. Georgetown 5. Rutgers 6. Seton Hall 7. West Virginia All-Big East Team G: Troy Bell Boston College, Senior G: Brandin Knight Pittsburgh, Senior G: Marcus Hatten St. John's, Senior F: Michael Sweetney Georgetown, Junior C: Emeka Okafor Connecticut, Soph Most Valuable Player Brandin Knight, Pittsburgh Newcomer of the Year Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse Freshman of the Year Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse

Rim shot. Cue the laugh track.

"It's kind of funny," says Panthers big man Ontario Lett.

Last season was thought to be a bad season to be picked low on the league ladder. The Big East was going to be down last year, all the experts seemed to think so. The league had lost eight of its top 11 scorers, seven of its top 10 rebounders, and on and on. What was the Big East record for fewest teams in the NCAA Tournament, anyway? Somebody look that up.

Um, you can stop looking. The Big East handled the massive lost of talent with aplomb, putting six teams in the NCAA Tournament -- double the record low of three, if you must know.

This season, the Big East looks to be an even bigger beast. Eight of the top 10 scorers are back. Most of the top rebounders. And on and on. Add to that a ridiculous crop of freshman that includes Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony, St. John's Elijah Ingram and Villanova's Jason Fraser, and this league could be as good as any in the country. What's the Big East record for most teams in teams in the NCAA Tournament, anyway? Somebody look that up.

Um, you can stop looking. Seven league teams made it into the Tournament in 1991, a record that could fall this season.

Maybe that's why Howland was howling at his Panthers being picked to win the league this year. Not that they can't win it, mind you.

"They're the best," says Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun.

Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. Either way, this isn't a bad season not to be the best team in the Big East. Heck, this isn't a bad season to be the No. 6 team in the league. That team, according to the preseason coaches' poll, is Villanova -- and two league coaches thought enough of the Wildcats to rank them No. 1 in the East Division, ahead of Connecticut and Boston College.

In all, six league teams received at least one first-place division vote in the coaches' poll, and that doesn't include Georgetown, which was shut out of No. 1 votes but still received enough points to rank second in the West Division and third overall, behind only Pittsburgh and Connecticut.

How strong is this league? Rutgers was picked fifth in the West, and might actually finish there -- and still get into the NCAA Tournament. The Scarlet Knights are not the big story of the league, at least not yet, but they are a story that cannot be ignored. Rutgers won 18 games last season in coach Gary Waters' first year on the job, and this season it introduces two freshmen, 6-foot-7 Cortez Davis and 6-1 Calvin Wooten, who chose the Scarlet Knights over Final Four teams (Maryland and Oklahoma, respectively).

At least nine Big East teams ought to feel good about their chances of landing an NCAA Tournament berth, and while that won't happen because of league infighting that will leave some pretty good teams with a pretty average overall win-loss record, this could be another season with seven Big East teams in the Tournament. Maybe eight. Who knows?

	Brandin Knight is part of Pittsburgh's wealth of talent and experience.

Pittsburgh has to get in. Connecticut, Boston College, St. John's and Georgetown look really good, too. That's five.

Syracuse and Villanova added unearthly recruiting classes to teams that won a combined 42 games last season. That's seven.

You want to discount Mike Brey and Notre Dame? Not us. That's eight.

And then there's Rutgers, a rising program that recently beat out Kentucky for the rights to Shagari Alleyne, a 7-foot-3 center from the Bronx who will be a freshman next season. This season, Rutgers has as much talent on the wings -- Jerome Coleman, Ricky Shields, Mike Sherrod, Davis, Wooten -- as anyone, and has a prototypical NBA talent in 6-10 Herve Lamizana, who will have to play inside for the sake of the team, but who has the skills of a small forward. Next season, when everybody but Coleman should return to a team that will have Alleyne in the middle? Holy cow, watch out.

In the meantime, watch how the Big East rises this season. Every team has a method all its own, with Pittsburgh at one end of the spectrum, Syracuse at the other, and Villanova in the middle.

The Panthers will bank on experience with the kind of returning talent a team in a conference like the Big East simply can't expect to have these days -- not with players transferring or turning pro like they do. Eight of the top nine from last season's 29-6 team are back, including all five starters in a lineup so deep that center Toree Morris might not start this season. Julius Page, Donatas Zavackas, Jaron Brown and Lett all have double-figure scoring potential -- they combined to average 41.1 points last season -- and the Panthers have five players who weigh 240 pounds or more, plus the 6-4, 229-pound Brown.

"Pittsburgh would win the bench press contest -- for Big East football," Brey says. "They have men on that team, older guys who have played together. It's a huge advantage in college basketball and in our league. They know they can dominate people."

And those men, those balanced scorers, are merely the supporting cast for All-America candidate Brandin Knight, a 6-1 point guard who was the co-Big East Player of the Year last season.

"He's the best point guard in the country," says Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. "He can beat you offensively. He can beat you defensively."

Boeheim will have a guy like that this season at Syracuse, where the Orangemen will be the anti-Panthers. If they win, it won't be with experience. It will be with young, raw talent -- some of the best young talent in the country. Only two starters are back from last season's team that won 23 games but didn't make the NCAA Tournament, but 6-10 Carmelo Anthony headlines a deep group of freshmen that could provide Boeheim with his starting small forward (Anthony), power forward (6-9 Matt Gorman) and point guard (6-3 Billy Edelin or 6-2 Gerry McNamara). Some say Anthony, who replaces high-scoring all-league forward Preston Shumpert, has the best NBA potential of any member of the high school class of 2002. He can score, defend and distribute.

"Yes," Boeheim says with understated glee, "he'll play right away."

So will Villanova, with a blend of Pittsburgh and Syracuse. Wildcats coach Jay Wright has proved he can recruit, but the freshman class he brings in this season amounts to overkill. Wright signed a point guard (6-2 Allan Ray), a shooting guard (6-3 Randy Foye), a wing (6-6 Curtis Sumter) and a big man (the 6-10 Fraser). And this class will join four returning starters -- guards Derrick Snowden and Gary Buchanan, and forwards Ricky Wright and Andrew Sullivan.

"Our staff has done a great job of putting together a strong and exciting foundation for our vision of Villanova basketball," Wright says. "Everyone at Villanova is thrilled."

They should be. And around the Big East this season, the feeling could be contagious.

Gregg Doyel covers college basketball for The Charlotte Observer and can be reached at gdoyel@charlotteobserver.com.