Last season at this time much of the talk surrounding the BIG EAST was centered around the mass exodus of veteran talent that left the conference due to graduation or the NBA’s riches.
And yes, it was quite a haul of talent that exited the BIG EAST stage.
A little refresher? Sure thing.
Kelan Martin bid adieu to Butler. Marcus Foster said farewell to Creighton, ditto Khyri Thomas. Georgetown saw Marcus Derrickson hang up his Hoya uniform. Xavier’s Trevon Bluiett and J.P Macura became ex-X-men. And Kyron Cartwright and Andrew Rowsey headed out the door at Providence and Marquette, respectively.
Oh, almost forgot, both Seton Hall and Villanova had a truckload of talent leave their campuses as the Pirates saw Angel Delgado, Khadeen Carrington and Desi Rodriguez say “So long” to South Orange while the Wildcats lost the fabulous foursome of Mikal Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Donte Divincenzo and Omari Spellman.
The league is not going to be as good, the critics said of the 2018-19 campaign. It’s going to be a rebuilding year for the BIG EAST, the television talking heads opined. Yet all the BIG EAST did was send all 10 teams to postseason tournaments, with four reaching the NCAA’s dance party, five receiving NIT invitations and one, DePaul, reaching the championship game of the CBI Tournament.
So what of this season? One that has seen 34 of the 50 starters from last season return this year. What are they saying now about the BIG EAST?
In short, the conference is not the young league it was last year that kind of flew under the radar for much of the season. No, this year, the BIG EAST is back to being, well, the BIG EAST.
“There was a lot of parity in the league last year but our league was young,” said Xavier head coach Travis Steele. “I think the parity is still there but our league is a lot better this year with so many returning players.”
Steele should know. His Musketeers returned a bevy of top-shelf talent this season led by the brilliant backcourt of Paul Scruggs and Quentin Goodin along with elite frontcourt players Naji Marshall and Tyrique Jones. And by the way, No. 25 Xavier is off to a 6-1 start to the season with its lone defeat coming in a 70-65 loss to No. 24 Florida in the title game of the Charleston Classic last Sunday.
Patrick Ewing’s Georgetown Hoyas have already knocked off one nationally-ranked team, No. 22 Texas, 82-66 in the 2K Empire Classic semifinals. The Hoyas then took No. 1 Duke to the wire before losing 81-73 in the title game of that tournament last Saturday night.
So what is Ewing’s impression of the conference this season?
“It has definitely improved,” he said. “A lot of teams have significant players back so that is definitely a plus for all the schools in the conference. It’s going to be a dogfight. It was a dogfight last year and I expect it to be a dogfight again this year.”
Perhaps the most surprising team in the conference through the first three weeks of the season has been none other than DePaul. With their win over Central Michigan Tuesday night, the Blue Demons are 7-0 and off to their best start since the 1986-87 season.
DePaul head coach Dave Leitao thinks an improved BIG EAST will only make it a more dangerous BIG EAST - and more difficult for every team come game night.
“This year the league is different because we’ve all improved, including us,” Leitao said. “So I think it’s going to be even more razor-thin as to who is going to win and who is not.”
Steele thinks the conference is going to be a battleground night in and night out, but there isn’t any place he and his Musketeers would rather be.
“You start looking around and you’re like, ‘Man, these guys are going to be really good and that team is going to be really good,’” Steele said. “But this is what we want. This is awesome for our university to be in this conference. When we joined it this is everything we thought it was going to be and more. It’s been great for us.”
The one thing Leitao hopes the NCAA Tournament selection committee takes into consideration this season are team’s conference records. In a league as deep as the BIG EAST appears to be this season, having top teams beat each other up on a nightly basis can cause havoc with their records. Just be aware of that, is all Leitao asks.
“Sometimes when a team finishes 9-9 in their league, you don’t think it’s that good a team,” Leitao said. “But those nine games you didn’t win were probably single possession games that could have been decided either way because I think the teams are so evenly matched and so experienced.”
With two teams still unbeaten - Butler joins DePaul in that elite club after the Bulldogs went to 7-0 by winning the CBE Hall of Fame Classic with a 68-67 win over Stanford Tuesday night- and five teams toting just one loss, the BIG EAST has enjoyed a very fruitful non-conference season so far as it has compiled a stellar 48-12 (.800) mark through the first few weeks.
So after all 10 teams reached the postseason last year, what could March look like for the BIG EAST this spring?
“There is no one in this league right now that doesn’t think they have a legitimate shot to be a participant come March,” Leitao said. “As the phrase goes, ‘that’s why you play the game.’ But you’ve got to be injury-free and you’ve got to maintain yourself through some really good performances. But most importantly you’re going to get knocked off your feet a little bit and you’ve got to be resilient enough to come back the next day and be ready for the next challenge.”
There’s about a month before BIG EAST conference season tips off. In the meantime the league’s 10 schools will go about trying to add to their impressive non-conference, won-loss ledger and further bolster their case that the BIG EAST is back.
“In this league there will be more close games this year than I think in the recent past just because everyone is older and been through the grind of the league,” Providence coach Ed Cooley said. “I’m really looking forward to a really experienced group in our league this year.”
So is Villanova point guard Collin Gillespie, who was wondering why there was any perceived negative talk about the league to begin with. After all, hasn’t Villanova won two of the past four national championships?
“There are a lot of great teams in this conference and there are a lot of veterans in the conference this year,” said Gillespie, who was named to the All-Tournament Team of the Myrtle Beach Classic last week. “A lot of guys came back so I think this league speaks for itself.”