Villanova is considered a Final Four contender. Connecticut may be good enough to reach the Sweet 16.
St. John’s, Seton Hall, Xavier and Butler, all capable of finishing near the top of the conference, are legitimate NCAA Tournament contenders.
After last year’s COVID-impacted season, when non-conference play was severely limited and just four Big East teams took part in March Madness, the conference believes it’s ready for a big year.
There is ample star power and trademark depth, along with high-level freshmen entering the league.
The Post takes a look at what to expect this season in a primer of the Big East:
Top 10
- Villanova
- Connecticut
- Xavier
- St. John’s
- Seton Hall
- Butler
- Providence
- Creighton
- Marquette
- Georgetown
- DePaul
Player of the Year
G Collin Gillespie, Villanova
Villanova’s point guard gets better every season. While he scored a shade less than usual last year, his shooting percentages and assists-to-turnovers ratio went up, keying the Wildcats’ third straight regular-season conference crown. Expect even more progress this year for Gillespie, who will be extra motivated after a knee injury deprived him of the postseason.
Freshman of the Year
G Aminu Mohammed, Georgetown
This is a good news, bad news scenario for Georgetown. The 6-foot-5, top-25 recruit will put up big numbers and clearly will be the best freshman in the Big East. This, however, could also be Mohammed’s lone season in college, if he produces as expected.
Five Key Questions
Will there be a surprise team?
St. John’s was picked to finish ninth last year and wound up fourth. Georgetown won the conference tournament from the ninth seed. If there is anyone capable of pulling off a surprise like those, it is Providence. The Friars have underachieved recently — their last trip to the NCAA Tournament was in 2018 — but they added a key transfer in Indiana guard Al Durham, they return arguably the league’s best big man in Nate Watson, and the were very impressive in knocking off Big Ten power Purdue in a closed-door scrimmage.
Will Xavier live up to the hype?
The Musketeers haven’t finished with a league record above .500 the last three years. They also have missed the past two NCAA Tournaments, the first time that has happened since 1998-2000. It’s now or never for coach Travis Steele, who returns his top seven scorers and brought in two important transfer forwards, Jerome Hunter, from Indiana, and Jack Nunge, from Iowa. The pressure is mounting.
Will anyone challenge Villanova at the top?
Jay Wright’s Wildcats are the consensus pick to win the league, which is almost always the case this time of year. Thanks to the return of fifth-year stars Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels, they are old — a good thing in college basketball — and deeper than usual. But Villanova does have issues in the paint and lacks shooting depth. The Big East’s second tier is jumbled. Five teams, Connecticut, Xavier, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Butler, are all capable of threatening Villanova. Odds are, they will beat up on each other too much to do so.
How will Georgetown follow up its magic March?
Unfortunately for Hoyas fans, with a lot of losing. Only two starters, guards Dante Harris and Donald Carey, returned. Key transfer Tre King (Eastern Kentucky) is no longer in the program. Georgetown will rely on youth, with its 16th-ranked recruiting class, but that is never a recipe for success in this conference. Coach Patrick Ewing just needs to keep the bulk of this group together and he may have a very good team in a year or two. For now, the Hoyas will likely take their lumps.
How will UConn fare in season two of its return?
There are reasons to think the Huskies will be better: They will return four starters and several key reserves, and they brought in four top-100 recruits. They will be deep and elite defensively. They will come at you in waves up front. But the loss of star guard James Bouknight to the NBA created a major void at the offensive end. Without him, Connecticut at times looked lost offensively. The onus will fall on seniors RJ Cole and Tyrese Martin to fill that major void.