Big East Basketball 2024-25 Preview
After writing an in-depth review of the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC, it's time to evaluate the fifth-best conference in college basketball: the Big East! Rankings and analysis per team are below.
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Introduction
As a fun way to prepare for this upcoming college basketball season, I’ll review the nation’s top conferences before doing deep dives on the less-heralded conferences as we move closer to the start of the season!
All of my college basketball-related content can be found here. Let the rankings begin!
Rankings
1. Creighton
Ryan Kalkbrenner told the NBA to wait for one more season and decided to come back to Omaha. The three-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year has an opportunity to tie Patrick Ewing’s record, who won four in a row in his Georgetown days. And let’s be honest, it will likely happen, and it will be amazing.
It’s less amazing for Coach McDermott that he lost both Baylor Scheierman and Trey Alexander to the NBA. He compensated by bringing in the highly-touted Pop Isaacs, while Jamiya Neal will be trusted to serve as the team’s connecting wing while embracing his role as a forward.
Creighton had a lack of depth in recent years, forcing their starting five to play heavy minutes. They slowly repaired that by some excellent recruiting: Jackson McAndrew, Larry Johnson, and Ty Davis are all ready to battle for spot minutes.
The biggest X-factor for the Bluejays is whether Fedor Žugić is eligible or not. I have been raving about his NBA status for years, and college basketball is the best environment for him to thrive. Playing in Europe at various high levels, it’s clear that he’s the conference’s best player on day one. But the NCAA might get in his way and deem him ineligible.
Let’s hope that won’t happen, and he will be cleared to play to make Creighton the favorite to dethrone Connecticut.
2. Marquette
After losing both Oso Ighodaro and Tyler Kolek, Coach Smart is ready to put this team’s faith into Kam Jones’ hands. In the six games without Kolek, Jones put up more than 20 points per game, while averaging over 50% from three. He’s ready for the challenge.
The biggest win for the Golden Eagles is bringing back everyone else from last season while having an impressive incoming freshman class of Damarius Owens, Royce Parham, and Joshua Clark, who might all find spot minutes.
David Joplin, Stevie Mitchell, and Chase Ross will be a terrific supporting cast for Jones, who’s a favorite to win Big East Player of the Year. However, not fully replacing Ighodaro might make it tough on Coach Smart, where the team’s contributions from Ben Gold will be the X-factor for this team.
3. Connecticut
Can the Huskies do it again? Bringing back Alex Karaban is a season-saving move for them. As great as Coach Hurley is, compensating for losing Tristen Newton, Cam Spencer, Stephon Castle, and Donovan Clingan would be impossible. UConn did well by staying in potential winning mode by bringing in star freshman Liam McNeeley, while also securing the rights to Aidan Mahaney and Tarris Reed, Jr.
The former Michigan big man is set for a career-changing season as the new five-man alongside Samson Johnson. Connecticut can keep their pick-and-roll schemes alive where Reed, Jr. will take over Clingan’s role in drop coverage, where the Samson Johnson minutes will be filled with hedging pick-and-rolls and blitzing ball-handlers.
Solomon Ball is set for a sophomore leap to help his team by carrying more offensive scoring load. However, I believe it won’t be enough to win the Big East. Replacing the three top college guards with Hassan Diarra and Aidan Mahaney is too risky. Alex Karaban will have an All-American level season, but without the reliable scoring around him, the lack of roster continuity will lead to Connecticut finishing outside of the top 2.
4. St. John’s
The Johnnies are in a unique situation. They managed to acquire an elite defensive guard tandem in Kadary Richmond and Deivon Smith. However, their lack of consistent shooting is what got in their way this past season. While all eyes are on Simeon Wilcher and Brady Dunlap, the majority of college basketball fans should instead focus on their incoming tandem of Europeans: Lefteris Liotopoulos (Greece) and Rúben Prey (Portugal) for whom I both expect an impactful role.
Richmond could reach an All-American status, while Pitino’s defensive style will be applied successfully with Smith alongside him. RJ Luis is a creative scorer, and with North Texas transfer Aaron Scott, they get an excellent connecting big wing. This team’s biggest question mark is what will happen at the center position. Vincent Iwuchukwu is healthy and ready to play good minutes, with freshman Khaman Maker playing spot minutes.
At the end of the day, the Johnnies will be a tournament team, but they will trail behind three very good conference rivals, and that’s no shame.
5. Providence
Coach English is a mastermind and a culture-setter. I expect him to be a successful head coach at Providence. And that could be this year. They might have lost Devin Carter to the NBA. But it was always Bryce Hopkins’ team last year until the injuries occurred. Now he’s back and healthy, ready to battle to win Big East Player of the Year.
The Friars built a competitive team around him, maintaining Jayden Pierre who will be their starting point guard. Getting top-notch defenders in Bensley Joseph (Miami) while adding a five-star center in Oswin Erhunmwunse who’ll be the first name coming off the bench, Providence has a fun but solid team that has a conference star and the needed defensive quality to make it feasible they will win over eleven games at worst.
Wesley Cardet Jr. will be the second scorer after Hopkins, and Christ Essandoko gives them a reliable five. The depth on this team is where they beat the below-mentioned teams: Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Corey Floyd, Jr. will be ready to take on any offensive scoring load when Hopkins has an off-night.
Providence won over twenty games last year but missed out on an NCAA tournament ticket. But they will be one of the 68 in this year’s March Madness.
6. Xavier
Xavier built a tough yet injury-prone team. Zach Freemantle hasn’t been healthy for two seasons, and Jerome Hunter is back after a heart issue last year. If they can stay healthy, Xavier is one of the best teams in the conference. Returning their veteran leading guard, Dayvion McKnight improves this team’s continuity. However, if one of the pieces can’t stay healthy, the Musketeers are in trouble.
That keeps them outside of the top 5 for me. However, they would still be in contention to secure themselves the right to go dancing in March. One of this team’s X-factors is to overcome the lack of defensive quality, where I expect Dailyn Swain to be the best defender in the conference not-called Ryan Kalkbrenner. Even if defensive improvements occur, the injury risks are too much to overcome.
7. Villanova
Eric Dixon and Jordan Longino both return for their senior year. That’s what keeps this team afloat. Bringing in highly-touted transfers in Wooga Poplar and Jhamir Brickus gives them a very good starting five. But for the Wildcats, a good team on paper hasn’t worked at all. After two consecutive seasons finishing conference play with a 10-10 record, this is a career-changing season for Coach Neptune.
I expect Nova to be a competitive team that lets their freshmen get the runway they need. Josiah Moseley has had a terrific summer representing Belize at the FIBA U18 AmeriCup, while Aleksandar Gavalyugov took over in the European scene. Both are under-discussed prospects for the NBA who will thrive in Coach Neptune’s system. Adding Matthew Hodge and Kris Parker to the mix, Villanova has eight to ten good options while aiming to finish this year near or slightly above .500 while winning more than twenty games.
8. Seton Hall
Coach Holloway has had a fantastic season, winning 25 games while also becoming the NIT champion. The next step would be to battle for an NCAA appearance, but that becomes tricky as their absolute star in Kadary Richmond left for their conference rival in St. John’s. On top of that, close to 80% of their minutes are not returned. So that leaves the Pirates with the challenge to continue their path with a whole new team, Isaiah Colemon is the most essential Holloway recruit who will have to prove his value in his second year.
But they have another sophomore stud: Garwey Dual. He is my personal favorite NBA prospect in the Big East. Not for how high he might go, but how much-untapped potential there is. He added close to 15 pounds during his freshman year and looks like a favorite to take a sophomore leap. Dylan Addae-Wusu will be forced to take over most of Richmond’s role as well. The addition of Scotty Middleton from Ohio State is another potentially fruitful transaction for Seton Hall, alongside great athletes in Prince Aligbe and Zion Harmon. I expect Seton Hall to play for a .500 record, putting them outside of contention to make it to the Big Dance.
9. Butler
I like the Bulldogs. They are a sneaky team that could win up to eleven conference games. However, that’s a big “could”. I have tons of expectations from Finley Bizjack, of whom I saw flashes late in his freshman campaign. He’s a legitimate NBA prospect no one else is talking about. While there will be an article out on him soon, he’s another sophomore leap taker after the earlier-mentioned Dual.
Jahmyl Telfort and Pierre Brooks II return as the two most vital parts of this Butler team. Adding Kolby King and Patrick McCaffery gives Coach Matta two starting-caliber pieces. The addition of size was the emphasis, with the whole roster being at or over 6-foot-4, outside of their leading guard Kolby King.
This is a pick that I might regret later on because my heart says Butler will win eleven games while being a potential six-seed in the Big East, but my mind says that I have to be cautious and see them finish near a .500 record at best.
10. DePaul
Coach Holtmann took over from Coach Stubblefield. Them losing their top scorer in Elijah Fisher hurts, but they found a great replacement in Layden Blocker, who comes over from Arkansas. He was one of the youngest freshmen in the country last year, aiming to play starter minutes at a power-five school to maintain his NBA status.
Outside of him, Skogman is a good addition as a floor-stretcher as he shot over 47% from three at Davidson last year. But the conversation for the third guy on this team is still wide open. The Blue Demons focused on underclassmen who came from big schools with things to prove. CJ Gunn (Indiana) is one name that could be the second guy on this team. Conor Enright from Drake looks ready to impact, as the redshirt junior still has two years left.
DePaul will win a few games but will have a disappointing season.
11. Georgetown
The Hoyas got much better talent than DePaul from the portal. But this team projects to be last after they acquired tons of offense, but zero to no defense. Malik Mack and Jayden Epps can both average close to twenty points, but a backcourt with both will easily give up more than that.
I like Julius Halaifonua as an impactful freshman. The seven-plus-footer comes over out of New Zealand and will contend to be one of the top freshmen in the conference.
However, the future is still bright for Coach Cooley. He found great pieces in the 2024 class, with Thomas Sorber and Kayvaun Mulready being legitimate contributors this season. Seal Diouf is another name to keep an eye on. We will see Georgetown give up many, many points, but possibly win a few games.
Finalizing Summary
To summarize the piece, here’s the list for my 2024-25 Big East Basketball Preview:
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