by Alex Schwartz

With a lot of teams comes a lot of talent. As the only BCS conference with more than 12 teams, the Big East will consistently be near the top of the conference recruiting rankings, and this year is no different so far.

The Big East has the most commitments from players ranked in the NBE Post-Summer Class of 2011 Top 150 by a fairly wide margin. Two of the top five Post-Early Signing Period Top 25 Classes in the country reside in the Big East. The conference does, though, lack a large amount of elite talent coming in, and that is why the SEC is the number one ranked conference after the early signing period.

Deep with talented commitments, the Big East features an impressive 13 of 16 teams with ranked commitments. Here is the breakdown of where things stand in the Big East thus far.

BIG EAST RECRUITING BREAKDOWN
Player rankings are based off NBE Post-Summer Class of 2011 Top 150
HM= Honorable Mention; NR= Not Ranked

Note: Khem Birch, the #7 ranked player in the NBE Post-Summer Class of 2012 Top 50, signed with Pitt as a member of the class of 2011. For these purposes, he will be considered a top 15 player in 2011 until his exact ranking in the class is determined

Number of Top 25 Classes:  6 (plus 2 HM)
Class With the Most Commits: St. John's with 8
Class With the Most Ranked Commits: St. John's with 6

Top Ranked Player: Khem Birch, Pitt
Best Unranked Player: Markus Kennedy, Villanova
Top Ranked Point Guard: Tyrone Johnson, Villanova
Top Ranked Shooting Guard: Wayne Blackshear, Louisville
Top Ranked Small Forward: JaKarr Sampson, St. John's
Top Ranked Power Forward: Khem Birch, Pitt
Top Ranked Center: Tyler Adams, Georgetown

Number of Top 10 Players: 0
Number of Top 25 Players: 4
Number of Top 50 Players: 10
Number of Top 100 Players: 26
Number of Top 150 Players: 34

Class Rankings
Rank. School (National Rank)

1. St. John's (2nd)
D'Angelo Harrison, SG, 6'2, Dulles (TX), #21
JaKarr Sampson, SF, 6'7, Brewster Academy (NH), #24
Norvel Pelle, PF, 6'9, Price (CA), #47
Maurice Harkless, SF, 6'7, South Kent (CT), #60
Amir Garrett, SF, 6'6, Findlay Prep (NV), #65
Sir'Dominic Pointer, SF, 6'5, Quality Education Academy (NC), #92
*Nurideen Lindsey, PG, 6'2, Redlands CC (OK)
Dwight Meikle, PF, 6'7, Quality Education Academy (NC), NR

2. Louisville (5th)
Wayne Blackshear, SG, 6'5, Morgan Park (IL), #12
Chane Behanan, PF, 6'7, Bowling Green (KY), #35
Zach Price, C, 6'9, Jeffersontown (KY), #51
Ryan Taylor, SF, 6'5, Western (KY), #78 (Note: Did not sign NLI, but remains verbally committed)
Angel Nunez, SF, 6'7, Notre Dame Prep (MA), NR

3. Syracuse (10th)
Rakeem Christmas, C, 6'9, Academy of the New Church (PA), #27
Michael Carter-Williams, SG, 6'5, St. Andrew's (RI), #30
Trevor Cooney, SG, 6'3, Sanford School (DE), #85

4. Rutgers (13th)
Jerome Seagears, PG, 6'1, Flora MacDonald Academy (NC), #77
Kadeem Jack, C, 6'8, CJEOTO Academy (NJ), #81
Greg Lewis, PF, 6'8, St. Frances Academy (MD), #82
Myles Mack, PG, 5'9, St. Anthony's (NJ), #88
Derrick Randall, PF, 6'8, South Kent (CT), #107
Mike Taylor, SG, 6'3, Boys & Girls (NY), NR
Malick Kone, SF, 6'6, Blue Ridge (VA), NR

5. Pitt (15th)
Khem Birch, PF, 6'9, Notre Dame Prep (MA), #7 in 2012 (Note: opted to go back to 2011 and sign)
John Johnson, PG, 6'1, Life Center Academy (NJ), #110
Jaylen Bond, PF, 6'7, Plymouth-Whitemarsh (PA), #129
Durand Johnson, SG, 6'6, Brewster Academy (NH), #147
Malcolm Gilbert, C, 6'11, Academy of the New Church (PA), NR

6. Georgetown (19th)
Mikael Hopkins, PF, 6'9, DeMatha (MD), #38
Tyler Adams, C, 6'9, Brandon (MS), #59
Jabril Trawick, SF, 6'5, Abington Friends (PA), NR

7. Cincinnati (HM)
Jeremiah Davis, PG, 6'2, Huntington Prep (WV), #106
Shaq Thomas, SF, 6'7, NIA Prep (NJ), #124
Jermaine Sanders, SG, 6'5, Rice (NY), #148
Ge'lawn Guyn, SG, 6'3, South Kent (CT), NR
Octavious Ellis, PF, 6'8, Whitehaven (TN), NR

8. Villanova (HM)
Tyrone Johnson, PG, 6'2, Montrose Christian (MD), #49
Achraf Yacoubou, SG, 6'3, Long Island Lutheran (NY), #123
Markus Kennedy, PF, 6'9, Brewster Academy (NH), NR
Darrun Hilliard, SG, 6'5, Liberty (PA), NR

9. West Virginia (NR)
Jabarie Hinds, PG, 5'11, Mount Vernon (NY), #89
Aaron Brown, SF, 6'5, Penn Wood (PA), NR
Tommie McCune, PF, 6'7, Saginaw (MI), NR
Keaton Miles, SF, 6'6, Lincoln (TX), NR
Pat Forsythe, C, 6'10, Brunswick (OH), NR

10. DePaul (NR)
Shane Larkin, PG, 5'11, Dr. Phillips (FL), #91
Macari Brooks, SG, 6'2, Rich South (IL), NR
Braeden Anderson, PF, 6'8, Wilbraham & Monson (MA), NR
Derrell Robertson, C, 6'9, Mendenhall (MS), NR
Jamie Crockett, SF, 6'4, Crete Monee (IL), NR

11. UConn (NR)
Ryan Boatright, PG, 5'10, Aurora East (IL), #62

12. Marquette (NR)
Derrick Wilson, PG, 6'1, Hotchkiss School (CT), #99
Juan Anderson, SF, 6'6, Castro Valley (CA), NR

13. Notre Dame (NR)
Patrick Connaughton, SF, 6'5, St. John's Prep (MA), #94

14. Providence (NR)
Kyan Anderson, PG, 5'11, North Crowley (TX), NR
Markus Crider, SF, 6'6, Wayne (OH), NR

15. Seton Hall (NR)
Aaron Cosby, SG, 6'2, Northfield Mt. Hermon (MA), NR
Freddie Wilson, SG, 6'2, Hillhouse (CT), NR
Haralds Karlis, SG, 6'5, Canaries Basketball Academy, NR

16. South Florida (NR)
T. Jordan Omogbehin, C, 7'2, Atlantic Shores (VA), NR
Andre Jackson, C, 6'10, Lee CC (TX), NR

Note- photo is of St. John's head coach Steve Lavin and is from http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/