The view from the outside looking in at the BIG EAST going into this season was that it was a conference that would, perhaps, take a step or two back this season while it reloaded after losing a bevy of talent to both graduation and the NBA Draft following last season. A season, you may recall, that saw Villanova win its second NCAA championship in the past three years.
That view was further cemented when the AP preseason poll listed Villanova, at No. 9, as the only BIG EAST team among its Top 25. Then barely two weeks into the season, after the mighty Wildcats stumbled with back-to-back home losses to Michigan and Furman, well, the view was just strengthened even more.
But in the last week and change, the perception of the conference has surely turned after BIG EAST teams captured four, count ‘em, four tournament titles. From Brooklyn to Florida and from the Cayman Islands to California, Creighton, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova all arrived back on their respective campuses toting some championship hardware.
With the four tournament titles and a 44-13 non-conference record going into Tuesday night’s action, was the demise of the BIG EAST greatly exaggerated?
“I think so. We had a rough 10-day stretch but there are a lot of new faces in the starting lineups across our league,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. “Now had we done what we just did the last week, with our success and Villanova’s and Seton Hall’s and St. John’s, there have been a lot of good wins across the league the last week to 10 days, had we done that earlier in the season, everybody would be talking about how great the BIG EAST is even though it’s young. But things work themselves out. I think our teams are going to get better as the season goes on and I think it’s been obvious that our teams have gotten better the second 10 days of the season versus the first 10 days.”
And perhaps none more so than Creighton.
The Bluejays, who are 5-1 after knocking off then-No. 16 Clemson to win the Cayman Islands Classic, are being led by a trio of sophomores -- Ty-Shon Alexander, Damien Jefferson and Mitch Ballock. And that impressive start has even caught McDermott by surprise.
“I’m not sure we knew what we had to be completely honest,” McDermott said with a laugh. “I think teams across the country who have young players that are moving into more important roles on their teams, I think there are always question marks. You don’t know how a Ty-Shon Alexander and a Mitch Ballock are going to grow into a different role than what they were asked to play last year. Some guys do it easily and there is a seamless transition and for some young guys it’s more of a process. We’re by far not a finished product but we do have some talented pieces to our puzzle.”
So far this season Alexander is leading Creighton in scoring at a 19.2-point clip while Ballock is tops on the Bluejays with 25 assists and Jefferson is hauling in a team-best 5.5 rebounds per game.
So was McDermott expecting such a dramatic leap forward for Alexander this season?
“Without question he was the most improved player in our program from the end of last season through the end of the summer,” McDermott said. “He really spent a lot of time working on his game. He realized with (former Creighton stars) Khyri (Thomas) going to the NBA and Marcus (Foster) graduating that there was an opportunity here and he spent an incredible amount of time in the gym working on his game.”
And in case you didn’t notice, thanks to their strong break from the starting gate this season, the Bluejays received 65 votes in the latest AP Top 25 poll. Just as a reminder, Creighton was picked ninth in the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches’ poll.
“Preseason polls are really meaningless and national rankings in November are meaningless as well,” McDermott said. “I mean it’s nice to be recognized. We’ve got a good win over a very good Clemson team and a near miss with a very good Ohio State team. But there are a lot of good games left on our schedule.”
Like Creighton, St. John’s is also off to a strong start with a 5-0 record and boasting the deepest and most experienced team of the Chris Mullin Era. The Johnnies knocked off both Cal and previously unbeaten VCU to win the Legends Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn last week as BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year Shamorie Ponds put on a show when he averaged 33.5 points in the tournament and sent the Golden Bears and Rams back home wondering, ‘Who was that guy?’ Ponds’ 67 points in the two victories shattered the previous two-game record for points in the tournament.
“I’m just happy that we won those two games,” said Ponds, the reigning BIG EAST Player of the Week. “It was a big turning point for us. Unfortunately we have further to go so we can’t be content with where we are now.”
The Johnnies, you might remember, started last season 5-0 as well before an 11-game losing streak to begin conference play derailed their season. Can that happen to the Red Storm again this season? Not likely, said Ponds.
“This team is more mature,” Ponds said. “We’re more together like a family. Last year we had moments when we came together, but this year’s team, I think our identity is more together. We’re just trying to stay level-headed. We know how it turned out last year and we’re trying not to make the same mistake.”
St. John’s received 19 votes in the latest AP Top 25 poll.
Villanova not only rebounded from those two early-season loses by winning the AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando, but the Wildcats did it by knocking off No. 14 Florida State in the title game when Collin Gillespie knocked down 17 points. It was the sixth consecutive November tournament title for the Wildcats and, oh, by the way, the win over the Seminoles launched Nova back into the AP Top 25 after a brief absence. The Wildcats currently occupy the 23rd spot in the latest poll.
Finally, there is Seton Hall. All the Pirates lost this season was the core of Angel Delgado, Khadeen Carrington and Desi Rodriguez which helped lead The Hall to a BIG EAST conference tournament title and three NCAA tournament appearances during their time in South Orange, not to mention logging over 5,300 combined career points.
Still, the Pirates are not shying away from anyone this season.
This past weekend, The Hall flew cross country to take part in the Wooden Legacy and a few days later flew home needing a seat on the plane for the championship trophy. Junior guard Myles Powell poured in 17 points in the Pirates’ 83-81 win over another previously unbeaten team in Miami (Fla.) in the title game in Fullerton, Calif. Powell averaged 25.3 points a game in the tournament that also included victories over Grand Canyon and Hawaii.
In the next week the Pirates will step up even further in weight class when they host Louisville at the Prudential Center on Saturday Dec. 1 before taking on No. 10 Kentucky at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 8.
But Creighton has the biggest opportunity of all to raise the BIG EAST’s profile even more as it will host Gonzaga, the newly-minted No. 1 team in all the land, Saturday at 2 p.m. ET on FOX. The Bluejays, though, will first face a stiff test on Wednesday night from a Montana team that won the Big Sky Conference tournament title and reached the NCAA tournament last season.
“Right now our focus is on a very good Montana team that won 26 games and returns everybody from last season,” McDermott said. “They have 100 percent of our attention. But the Gonzaga game has been sold out for a long time. They’ll be 18,000-plus in the CHI Arena and it will be an incredible environment. Now is our young team ready for it? Well, we’re going to find out because Gonzaga is very experienced and deep and a big, physical basketball team that has proven their mettle. But these are the kinds of non-conference games that our fans want to see and hopefully we can hold our own on Saturday.”
Just as the BIG EAST has been more than holding its own so far this season.