Ed Cooley has been familiar with the BIG EAST for quite some time now. It started during his days as an assistant coach at Boston College when the Eagles were still part of the BIG EAST and continues today – except for a six-year hiatus as Fairfield’s head coach – as he is now in his fifth season as head coach at Providence.
So when you ask Cooley about the daily grind of the BIG EAST, having to go against some of the top teams in the country night in and night out, Cooley is one of the better sounding boards.
“It’s all what we all envisioned when the BIG EAST was reconfigured,” said Cooley, whose 23
rd-ranked Friars own a 19-7 overall record and a 7-6 mark in the BIG EAST. “No night off. I know a lot of coaches have that cliché that you’re going to have to lace them up every night, that the energy in the building is great, the officiating is great, the coaching is great. But it’s a great league. It’s very, very fun. It’s very demanding, very physical and really fast with really good players. I couldn’t be any prouder to be part of the BIG EAST.”
There is a lot to be proud of this year in the BIG EAST. Already four of the conference’s 10 teams – Villanova, Xavier, Providence and Butler - have found their way into the Associated Press Top 25 during the season with three teams remaining ranked as the calendar shows less than three weeks to go in the regular season. And yes, that team sitting atop of the AP Top 25 rankings? That would be Villanova, the BIG EAST’s top dog.
So how difficult is it to take the court each night knowing you are about to get the best shot from one of the top programs in the country? Better be prepared, says Butler coach Chris Holtmann.
“I think if we don’t have the (right) approach we’re not ready to play in a power league, in a big-boy league, in one of the very best leagues in the country,” said Holtman, whose Bulldogs defeated Creighton Tuesday night to tighten an already bunched up middle of the BIG EAST standings. “That is a requirement if you’re going to try and be successful in a power league, you have to have some inner stuff and you’re going to have to have some perspective. They keep coming at you. Like I think Xavier can win a National Championship. They’re that talented and that well put together. I think they just keep coming at you in this league and if you don’t have some inner stuff to you then you’re not ready to play in this caliber of a league which I think is one of the very best in the country.”
After Tuesday night’s action just one win separates the third-place team – Creighton – from the seventh-place team – Butler – with four regular-season games to play. It’s exactly the type of league the BIG EAST thought it would have after the mass defections three years ago and the arrival of such prominent programs as Xavier, Butler and Creighton. Yes, for all the naysayers who predicted doom for the new BIG EAST, the league can now brag of being the home to the nation’s top-ranked team and two other Top 25 programs along with a rather robust 95-30 non-conference record this season with one such game remaining, that being Wednesday night’s Big Five battle between top-ranked Villanova and Philly-rival Temple.
“I think it speaks to the strength of the conference where you have a lot of really good teams,” said Georgetown head coach John Thompson III. “At the end of the day someone is going to have to be one and someone is going to have to be two. But there’s not much difference in this league and we’re seeing that night in and night out as we knock each other off.”
And as has always been the case, the BIG EAST is overflowing with top-shelf talent that not only makes watching BIG EAST games Must-See TV, but may also give rise to the National Player of the Year as Providence’s Kris Dunn is among the favorites to win the award. But Dunn is far from the only elite talent in the league.
How about Josh Hart at Villanova, last year’s BIG EAST Tournament MVP? How about Marquette freshman Henry Ellenson, who might as well have the BIG EAST Rookie of the Week award named after him? How about the ultra-talented sophomore class turning the Seton Hall program into one to be reckoned with or a Xavier team that is not only ranked in the top 10 in the nation, but boasts two of the best young talents in the game in sophomore Trevon Bluiett and freshman Edmond Sumner? And let’s not forget Georgetown’s ultra-talented D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera?
Outside of Providence’s Dunn and Ben Bentil, is there a better dynamic duo in the league than Butler’s Kellen Dunham and Roosevelt Jones? Or has there been a better newcomer than Creighton’s Maurice Watson Jr., who has been an integral part of the renaissance of Creighton this season and is tied with Dunn for the assist lead in the BIG EAST at 6.6 per game? Ok, maybe Ellenson, but you get the point.
“He’s very good at getting into the paint and putting his shoulder in the shot-blocker’s chest and being able to finish with both hands in a variety of ways,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said of Watson, his first-year guard who transferred to the Bluejays from Boston University. “He’s very creative and he has improved as a shooter to the point where you have to respect it and he’s been a great foul shooter. And obviously his assist-to-turnover ratio has been good as well. He’s really the engine that makes us go and I couldn’t be more pleased with where he’s at in this point of his junior season.”
That last quote from McDermott could be the refrain of almost any coach in the Big EAST this season. A conference loaded with talent, promise, and, oh yeah, the top-ranked team in the country. And with under three weeks left to play in the regular season, it should be quite the sprint to the finish line. Can Villanova hold on for a third straight regular-season title? Can talented Xavier catch the ‘Cats? And who will fill in the rest of the field from third place to seventh or even eighth? And who is going to be crowned BIG EAST Player of the Year this season after Dunn and Villanova’s Ryan Arcidiacono split the award last year?
Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard is not about to make any predictions.
“I think all the coaches are going to have a hard time picking (Player of the Year) because the league is so talented and so many great players are playing at an extremely high level,” Willard said. “You can talk Josh Hart, Kris Dunn, you can throw (Seton Hall’s) Isaiah (Whitehead) in there. There are just a lot of guys. It’s going to be a hard day when you have to pick the best players, this league is so talented.”