your way too early big east rankings?

[Hoyas]

Everyone will have to adjust their rankings now that DSR is back.

Apparently everyone is returning as even Dunn is apparently thinking about returning as are Obekpa and Jordan.

It was looking like the BE would take a step back next year, but this may no longer be the case.

What's everyone thought's on Dunn coming back? My hunch is he goes.

[NovaBall]

Smith Rivera coming back
Obekpa and Rysheed Jordan coming back, and potential Diallo commit

This conference is going to be super balanced.

[XUFan09]

DSR is now coming back, and for this ranking, I'm assuming Dunn is coming back. Obepka and Jordan are both coming back too, right?

1. Villanova - Not quite as dominant but still really strong with what they have returning. Daniel Ochefu and Ryan Archidiacano will keep doing their thing, Phil Booth will likely make a good sophomore jump, Kris Jenkins will earn more minutes with Pinkston's graduation, and Josh Hart will be the star player. Jalen Brunson should be the real deal as the anchor of a good freshman class.
2. Xavier - Jalen Reynolds and Trevon Bluiett will compete for best player on the team, with Myles Davis right there with them, while redshirt freshmen Edmond Sumner and Makinde London will add length, athleticism, and a spark on both ends of the court (especially Sumner).
3. Georgetown - Some great young talent surrounding DSR as he makes another bid for Big East Player of the Year. L.J. Peak, Paul White, and Isaac Copeland all look to be preparing for big sophomore campaigns, while Tre Campbell's likely improvement will force DSR to play off ball more. That's not even mentioning a good freshman class coming in.
...
4. Butler - The defensive drop-off from Alex Barlow to Tyler Lewis (even with Lewis' better offense) and the rebounding dropoff from Kameron Woods to his replacements both hurt a little too much for me to put Butler in the first tier. Still, the return of Roosevelt Jones and Kellen Dunham should be cause for excitement, while Andrew Chrabascz made big strides this past season and Kelan Martin and Tyler Wideman looked good as freshmen.
5. Seton Hall - Lots of talent returning (theoretically), but chemistry is obviously the issue. In the middle of this past season before the implosion, I thought they were going to be scary good in 2015-2016, but for now, I have to put them at 5th. Still, Isaiah Whitehead, Angel Delgado, Khadeen Carrington, and Desi Rodriguez looked really good as freshmen. If they can work together with Sterling Gibbs (if he's returning), this could be a really good team.
...
6. Providence - Similar story to DSR and Georgetown. Some young talent surrounding Dunn as he makes a bid to repeat as Player of the Year. Ben Bentil, Paschal Chukwu, Jalen Lindsey, and Kyron Cartwright all looked good as freshmen and there's a solid class coming in behind them. Still, I think this core surrounding Dunn just isn't quite as good as the core surrounding DSR. One thing that Providence has that Georgetown does not, though, is size on the interior. Perhaps I'm misreading both Georgetown and Providence by not factoring in this discrepancy enough and they'll be closer together than 3rd and 6th.
7. Creighton - Now-eligible transfers Maurice Watson and Cole Huff and redshirt freshman Ronnie Harrell, along with returnees like James Milliken and Toby Hegner, are enough to get Creighton fans excited. The offense should be much more fun to watch than this past season's iteration. However, can we see a Bluejays squad that plays solid defense? History tells me probably not, and I don't think the offense will be strong enough to offset that and pull Creighton above the middle of the pack.
8. DePaul - They have some offensive talent, particularly Billy Garrett, Jr., but also Rashaun Stimage and Tommy Hamilton. I'm also counting on "new" coach Dave Leitao to instill better ball security and better defense than Purnell did, which isn't exactly a tall order.
...
9. Marquette - Lots of solid sophomores and juniors, anchored by Luke Fischer, with a big and talented freshman class coming in. Will Duane Wilson and Sandy Cohen make the much needed sophomore jump? The Golden Eagles will play well enough at times to challenge the best in the league, but they'll probably be a year away from consistently producing. Maybe they'll start clicking sooner rather than later, in which case I admit they are a good sleeper pick.
10. St. John's - They were already playing with a really thin lineup this year, and now they've lost four of the six rotation players. Chris Obepka, Rysheed Jordan, and maybe potential commits like Cheick Diallo will be enough to make them fun to watch at times, but this was already going to be a rebuilding year. Now it will be a rebuilding year with a brand new coach in Chris Mullin, so there will be some rough patches before the program really gets going again.

I don't think we'll have any sub-150 teams this year, and actually, I wonder if we'll have any sub-125 teams. That's what makes it tough to determine the order of the last few slots. The teams that are 9th or 10th this coming season will probably be more like the ones than finished 7th and 8th this past season.

EDIT: I'm going to move Marquette up, just haven't decided how much yet. I've been thinking more about their incoming class and have to give them some credit for the potential there. I still think they have limits as a young team, but not so much that they finish 9th.

[stever20]

If St John's is going to be picked last or close to last, why would a 1 and done guy like Cheick go there and not have much of a chance of a postseason instead of a possible final 4 team? That makes no sense at all.

I think the big issue the Big East is going to have is with really everyone having a lot of key young pieces, November/December are going to be rough. I think we're going to be those teams you don't want to see come tourney time- but because of November/December we either don't make it, or our seeding is impacted considerably by that. Maybe the young guys come in and dominate right off the bat- but I dunno. The fact November is so loaded makes it tough.

[BEhomer]

1. nova 2. gtown 3. butler

1. nova - still plenty of leadership and talent returning for nova and a legit nba talent in brunson joining the team. if reynolds or freshman delaney find their way into regular rotation, they will be even better than this year's team come tournament time.

2. gtown - has the most talent. if freshmen develop as projected this team can replace nova at the top. i also liked what i saw from hayes in the tournament. he should help govan ease into a prominent role by the end of the season.

3. butler - martin and wideman all proved to be solid contributors. no reason to doubt they will get better next season. i actually liked the other freshman davis the most initially. the 3 of them should be more than enough to replace woods production. i know they lose barlow, but jones handles the ball alot and add in transfer lewis and they should be ok in the backcourt. and you know you can always count on butler to play solid team D.

[Hall2012]

If Gibbs returns, I see the Pirates no worse than 5th but no better than 3rd. Nova , Xavier, Georgetown, butler, ???

Gibbs is returning, he's already made that clear.

"Oh no, I'm definitely coming back," Gibbs told ZagsBlog.com and SNY.TV. "I'm at Seton Hall and that's where I'm going to be. That's where I'm going to finish it out."

http://www.nj.com/setonhall/index.ssf/2015/03/sterling_gibbs_will_return_as_seton_hall_eyes_the.html

I'd pick the Pirates as a middle of the pack, but as a dark horse to challenge the top 2 or 3. They have the returning talent to be able to win, but only if they can get their chemistry issues figured out over the summer.


Although to be completely honest, another season of underperforming might be better for the long term success of the Pirates. If they make the tournament, then (along with Gibbs graduating) Whitehead and Delgado both turn an eye towards the NBA and Willard further secures his job. If they underperform again, Whitehead and Delgado have little chance of getting drafted and the school hopefully does whatever necessary to make a Hurley the head coach (in my opinion, the one name that has any hope of consistently keeping top NJ high school talent at home).

[Hoyas]

Just looking- ESPN has a mock draft for the NBA and this is their write up about Dunn... who they have at #21.
Dunn is now in an interesting scrum for the title of best point guard in the draft after Mudiay and Russell come off the board. He's in the same group that includes Notre Dame's Jerian Grant, Murray State's Cameron Payne, Duke's Tyus Jones, Louisville's Terry Rozier and Utah's Delon Wright. Dunn gets the slight nod over the pack right now because of his elite athleticism, his size for the position, and his floor vision. He seems like the most ideal candidate to break out as an NBA player, though his poor decision-making and so-so jumper definitely make him a risk. He's in the 14-to-22 draft range.

there's several juniors in the list so he could be looking at the mid to late teens.

[XUFan09]

Just looking- ESPN has a mock draft for the NBA and this is their write up about Dunn... who they have at #21.
Dunn is now in an interesting scrum for the title of best point guard in the draft after Mudiay and Russell come off the board. He's in the same group that includes Notre Dame's Jerian Grant, Murray State's Cameron Payne, Duke's Tyus Jones, Louisville's Terry Rozier and Utah's Delon Wright. Dunn gets the slight nod over the pack right now because of his elite athleticism, his size for the position, and his floor vision. He seems like the most ideal candidate to break out as an NBA player, though his poor decision-making and so-so jumper definitely make him a risk. He's in the 14-to-22 draft range.

there's several juniors in the list so he could be looking at the mid to late teens.

I honestly think he should go, but it would be good for the conference if he doesn't.

[Hoyas]

Just looking- ESPN has a mock draft for the NBA and this is their write up about Dunn... who they have at #21.
Dunn is now in an interesting scrum for the title of best point guard in the draft after Mudiay and Russell come off the board. He's in the same group that includes Notre Dame's Jerian Grant, Murray State's Cameron Payne, Duke's Tyus Jones, Louisville's Terry Rozier and Utah's Delon Wright. Dunn gets the slight nod over the pack right now because of his elite athleticism, his size for the position, and his floor vision. He seems like the most ideal candidate to break out as an NBA player, though his poor decision-making and so-so jumper definitely make him a risk. He's in the 14-to-22 draft range.

there's several juniors in the list so he could be looking at the mid to late teens.

I honestly think he should go, but it would be good for the conference if he doesn't.

Yeah, I think if I was advising him, I would probably tell him to go.

[chopper]

If St John's is going to be picked last or close to last, why would a 1 and done guy like Cheick go there and not have much of a chance of a postseason instead of a possible final 4 team? That makes no sense at all.

I think the big issue the Big East is going to have is with really everyone having a lot of key young pieces, November/December are going to be rough. I think we're going to be those teams you don't want to see come tourney time- but because of November/December we either don't make it, or our seeding is impacted considerably by that. Maybe the young guys come in and dominate right off the bat- but I dunno. The fact November is so loaded makes it tough.

On issue #1, I have no idea what Cheick will do, but I do know that St. Johns is going to get a LOT of NE media and national media attention, and if Cheick decided to go, that would only magnify their focus.

On issue #2, The Big East is actually returning a lot of talent from last year, and are certainly not losing any more than any other top 30-50 team. I would be shocked if we as a conference do not leave November and December collectively with some really nice OOC wins.

Also, do not sleep on Marquette...many on here have them far down the list, and I think that is a mistake. The Big East is going to be WIDE open next year. I think Nova should still win out, but the league will be even better top to bottom than it was this year.