Big East Basketball Blogger Roundtable; Pitt Ranked Third / Gibbs Preseason POY

A few weeks ago, Cardiac Hill participated in a Big East blogger roundtable with a preseason look at the conference. Part Two of that roundtable is looking at the all-conference teams and awards.

Our links and picks after the jump.

Like the coaches, I went with Ashton Gibbs as the Player of the Year. I don't think Gibbs is a slam dunk, but at this point, he's the safe, logical pick. Gibbs was also selected as the roundtable's Player of the Year. My brief analysis on the Gibbs selection:

Cardiac Hill: Gibbs was lights out in 2010-11, hitting 49% of his three-pointers and averaging just under 17 ppg. He'll also get even more touches this season with the trio of Brad Wanamaker, Gary McGhee, and Gilbert Brown all graduated. Jeremy Lamb is the trendy pick, but Gibbs may be more of a sure thing.

Then there were the team rankings. Pitt wound up third in our poll, one spot higher than the coaches picked them. I personally picked them second on the Cardiac Hill ballot. I'm not truly convinced they're the second best team, but I'm not convinced they're not, either. The fact is that Pitt almost always finishes higher in the conference than expected. They're nearly unbeatable at home and reload every year. Until they falter, I don't have a problem slotting them a bit higher than most.