Big East Preview
By: Justin Donofrio
College basketball is just days away from tipping off and UConn is finally back where they belong in the Big East. It is a little bit different this time around. though
My projected order of finish for the conference is,
- Villanova
- Creighton
- UConn
- Seton Hall
- Providence
- Marquette
- St. John’s
- Xavier
- Butler
- DePaul
- Georgetown
I will start at the top of the conference with Villanova. This team is loaded with pretty much the same roster intact as last year, and the only one who left was Saddiq Bey, who was a first round pick. Collin Gillespie who is on the Big East Preseason 1st team and was second on the team last year in scoring with over 15 points a game is back. He is a pretty similar player to Ryan Arcidiacono who was a big part of that National Champion team from a few years ago. Another top player for the Wildcats is Jeremiah Robinson-Earl who is also on the conference preseason 1st team just missed averaging a double double last year with 10 points a game and 9 rebounds, he is tough to guard because for a guy 6 foot 9 he can step out and hit the 3 ball. Jay Wright loves a guy who can shoot the 3 ball and got Caleb Daniels, a Tulane transfer who scored 17 points a game in 2018. A few other names to know are Justin Moore and Bryan Antoine when he comes back from a shoulder injury. If the Wildcats stay healthy and play to their potential they have a very good shot to win another National Champion.
Next up is the Creighton Blue Jays. They are led by the Big East Preseason player of the Year Marcus Zegarowski who shot 43% last year from 3. The kryptonite last year for the Jays was rebounding and defense. Most likely Creighton will struggle in rebounding again because their starting center is Christen Bishop standing at 6 foot 7 which is undersized. Another sharpshooter is Mitch Ballock who also shot 43% from behind the arc a year ago. The Blue Jays will score points with coach McDermott uptempo style. If they can figure out their problems on defense and manage being undersized. They could make a trip to the final four for the first time in school history.
Now for the UConn Huskies. In year 3 under Dan Hurley he has his best roster since arriving at Storrs. James Bouknight is back after having a tremendous end to the season and he got snubbed and did not make the preseason conference 1st team. A couple new additions two transfers one RJ Cole from Howard University. The other transfer who committed to play for Dan Hurley while at the University of Rhode Island Tyrese Martin. Martin. Dan Hurley brings in the 23 ranked recruiting class in the country and 2nd in the Big East behind Marquette. The two big names to get to know are Andre Jackson. If you are a fan of Bouknight you will definitely become a fan of Jackson, the second is Adama Sanogo 6 foot 9 forward a top 100 prospect who committed in May. I will go more in depth about the Huskies in my article previewing their season.
Down in the Garden State at number four is Seton Hall. The Pirates have one of the biggest losses to graduation was the player of the year in the Big East Myles Powell. Seton Hall lost 3 of their top 5 scorers from a year ago to help that blow. Harvard transfer Bryce Aiken durability has been an issue for him. He has only played 65 games in 4 years and is already dealing with an injury, but says he should be ready to go for the season opener. Probably the Pirates best returnee is Sandro Mamukelashvili who averaged 12 points and 6 rebounds a year ago. Two guys that Hall need to step up are forwards Tyrese Samuel and Jared Rhoden. Right now Seton Hall is in quarantine after a player tested positive for Covid-19 and their season opener on November 27 vs Louisville is in question right now. Kevin Willard has done a great job building this program and they should be going dancing for a sixth straight season.
Rounding out the top 5 is the Providence Friars. This team got hot towards the end of the year after a rough start losing games to teams that they should have beaten. Five of the nine players who played in 27 games or more last year are gone. The biggest loss was on the 2nd team all Big East last year Alpha Diallo. The Friars leader this year is going to be guard David Duke who started in all 31 games a year ago the Providence native he will need to take over and be the number one option this year. Jared Bynum, a transfer from St. Joseph’s will be the point guard. He is a good distributor and does not turn the ball over a lot. A player who could have a breakout year is AJ Reeves. His points decreased last year, but he should have a better year as one of the Friars top options. Providence struggled as a team last year at the free throw shooting less than 70%. If the Friars help David Duke and are more consistent at the line they could very well be in the top 3 in the conference.
Heading up north to the Marquette Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles lost one of the most entertaining players last year in Markus Howard who averaged just under 28 points a game a year ago. For coach Wojcichowski that is a big hole to fill, but he is bringing the top recruiting class in the Big East. The top guy will be 6 foot 11 forward Dawson Garica, a good shot blocker and can shoot the 3. Marquette is bringing in two transfers as well DJ Carton from Ohio State who started a couple games for the Buckeyes. He is going to be a big part of the offense this year and Jose Perez who has to sit out due to getting his waiver denied to play this year. Defense was a big issue as they were 9th in the conference and 270th in the country in scoring defense last year. I think the loss of Markus Howard is going to be too much to overcome. I would not be surprised to see them hanging around on the bubble, but ultimately I think they will be in the NIT this year.
To the Big Apple for St.John’s. Mike Anderson is in year number 2 in Queens. In 18 years as a head coach Mike Anderson has never had a team finish under .500. The Storm were one of the worst 3 point shooting teams last year ranking 332nd in the country and only 32%. They signed a couple of Junior College guys Vince Cole and Isiah Moore who they did to come in right away and play key roles. The top returning scorer is Rasheem Dunn. He is a guy they need to improve shooting from the outside as he was only 22% a year ago. I think St. John’s could be a surprise. They were picked 9th in the Big East preseason poll I think they have some talent and with Mike Anderson never having a year where his team finishes under .500 they find a way to finish in the middle of the pack.
The Xavier Musketeers lost their top two scorers and rebounders from a year ago. Paul Scruggs was third on the team last year with just under 13 points a game. He needs someone to help the scoring. The help could come from Nate Johnson, a graduate transfer from Gardener-Webb averaging 13.5 points last year. They did have the number 24th recruiting class in the country. The top commit from the class is Dwon Odom. He is a guy who is not a great shooter but he is very quick and he could work his way into the starting lineup later in the year. Xavier needs to do a much better job of taking care of the basketball. The Musketeers did rank in the top 20 nationally last year if they can keep games in the 60s they could steal some wins. They turned it over 14 times a game. In two years head coach Travis Steele is 17–19 in Big East play with some of the pieces they lost. It is going to be a rebuilding type of year and it would not surprise me to see them playing in the NIT.
Next up the Butler Bulldogs, a team last year that started out 15–1 and then the wheels came off and finished the year going 7–8. Butler lost some key guys from last year Kamar Baldwin, Sean McDermott, Jordan Tucker. They lost a total of five players from last year’s roster and do bring in a top 50 recruiting class. Bulldogs Christen David who contributed well off the bench last year tore his ACL last January and won’t be ready for the start of the season. Butler last year was very good defensively last year but struggled to score averaging less than 70 points a game. If Butler wants to make a push to try to finish in the top half of the conference they need Bryce Nze the leading returner scorer and Byrce Golden to take the next step. I think Butler will be back in the upper half of the conference next year losing 3 of your top 4 scorers and 3 of your top 5 rebounders from a year ago is tough in such a deep conference.
Finishing at 10th is the DePaul Blue Demons, Dave Leaito a former Jim Calhoun assistant is in year number 6 in his 2nd go around with the school. He is definitely on the hot seat going into this year. The interesting thing is though he does have the number 9 ranked recruiting class in 2021 which is rare for them to finish that high would they fire him knowing there could be a chance some of those guys decommit. Two years ago DePaul lost in the College Basketball Invitational and the thought headed in to last year and started very promising going 12–1 and finished the season going 16–16. They added three graduate transfers for this year to get some more experience and another transfer Javon Freeman-Liberty averaged 19 points a contest last year at Valparaiso. The top guys for the Blue Demons are Charlie Moore who is on the preseason 1st team all Big East team who led the team with 15 points a game a year ago and was 2nd in the Big East last year dishing over 6 assists a game. The last guy is Romeo Weems in his freshman year averaged 8 points a game and 5 rebounds a game. I expect to have an even bigger in the offense this season and can see him averaging close to a double double this season. DePaul has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2004 and I do not see them breaking that streak this year.
Finally the Georgetown Hoyas. Georgetown’s legend Patrick Ewing starts year number 4 as the head coach and it is going to be a long year yet again. Unfortunately too for the Hoyas fanbase with the passing of John Thompson who had his eyes on this program since 1971. You know that his former player Pat Ewing wants to put this program back to where coach Thompson had. It won’t be this year though, after going 15–17 last year, things will not be better this year. A lot of turnover in the Nation’s Capital James Akinjo and Mac Mclung both transferred, Omer Yurtseven declared for the draft a year early and Josh LeBlanc Sr, Galen Alexander and Myron Gardner all got kicked off the team. They only return 3 players that played at least 400 minutes last year. Next year things should start looking bright as coach Ewing has a top 25 class coming in and the top player in that class is Ryan Mutombo the son of the great Dikembe Mutombo. I believe one more down year here for the Hoyas and hopefully when they get next year’s recruiting class on campus things will start to turn around as the Hoyas have not been to the dance since 2015 when they got bounced as a 2 seed by everyone’s favorite cinderella team that year Florida Gulf Coast.
Justin co-hosts a weekly podcast called Sports Talk with R & J. It airs Wednesday’s at 2pm with Clovercrest Media Group. You can learn more about it here:
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