Another season and another bumper crop of ultra-talented freshmen is once again dotting rosters around the BIG EAST.
 
Maybe you just saw Marquette’s Dawson Garcia pour in 28 points in the Golden Eagles’ loss to Villanova this past Wednesday night, the third 20-plus point game this season for the 6-11 big man. Perhaps you’ve seen Butler sharpshooter Chuck Harris knocking down a plethora of three balls, as the 6-2 marksman currently ranks fifth in the conference with a 43.8 shooting percentage from behind the arc.
 
Or how about Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner? The Bluejays’ sloppy joe-loving (check his bio) 7-0 center is second in the BIG EAST in field goal percentage (65.9%) and sixth in blocks.
But wait, there’s more.
 
Harris’ teammate at Butler, Myles Tate, leads the Bulldogs with 16 steals, is second with 38 assists and scored 15 points in Butler’s 70-66 upset of then-No. 8 Creighton on Jan.16. Garcia’s Golden Eagle partner in crime, Justin Lewis, is also enjoying a fine first season. Though he has been dealing with a nagging leg injury of late, the 6-7 Lewis’ six rebounds per game has him in the top 15 in the league while his 2.2 offensive rebounds per game has him tied for seventh in the conference.
 
And let’s not forget Georgetown’s Dante Harris, who is tied for the Hoyas’ lead with 13 steals and is second in assists with 40, UConn’s Adama Sanogo, who leads the Huskies in field goal percentage (54.2%) and is second in blocks with 11 or Providence’s Alyn Reed, who has turned in some very solid outings, including a 15-point, 6-rebound effort in the Friars’ 74-70 upset of then-No. 11 Creighton on Jan. 20.    
 
And, of course, there’s the Xavier tandem of Dwon Odom and Colby Jones, who you may not have gotten to see much of due to an inordinate number of Musketeer postponements, who are making their presence around the league known when they actually do get to play.
 
Odom is tops in the BIG EAST in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.4) and his four assists per outing has him in the top 10 in the league while Jones is averaging 6.3 points with 22 assists on the season, the latter figure tying him for third on the Musketeers.
 
Yes, another collection of top-shelf talent has arrived for sure.
 
And then there is St. John’s phenom Posh Alexander. What hasn’t he done this season?
 
Let’s see. He’s been named the conference’s Freshman of the Week three straight weeks and a league-high four times overall. He is second in scoring among all freshmen in the conference behind Marquette’s Garcia with 11.6 points a game. Alexander leads all freshmen in both steals (55) and assists (89) and is third in offensive rebounds with 31.
 
And that’s just his offense. We’ll get to his defensive exploits in a bit. Or at least St. John’s head coach Mike Anderson will. Anderson is the one responsible for bringing Alexander to the BIG EAST and he has a front row seat to watch the Posh Show night in and night out. So did he expect this kind of impact from his freshman guard so quickly?
 
“In recruiting him I thought he fit perfectly in terms of what we wanted in a lead guard,” said Anderson, now in his second season with the Johnnies. “His energy, his toughness, his quickness, his will to win. He does whatever it takes to help his team. Obviously as a coach you see potential, but to see how much he’s impacting us, it says a lot about the kid. He’s an exciting player. He’s a guy who commands your attention.” 
 
Alexander arrived in Queens with a reputation as a fierce defender and he has done nothing this season to taint that status. What has been something of a surprise is his offense as Alexander has turned into quite the stat stuffer.
 
Case in point, the Red Storm’s 70-59 upset of then-No. 3 Villanova last week. All Posh did in that victory was log 16 points with six assists, four rebounds and three steals. He followed up that little gem with a season-best 21 points in his next game, a 92-81 victory at Providence.  
But it’s Posh’s style of play that really makes him stick out. He mixes it up with the big men for rebounds, dives on the floor for seemingly every loose ball and has on more than one occasion got up close and personal with the basket support while chasing balls out of bounds. There’s a word for that kind of play.
 
“He’s a kamikaze,” Anderson said. “He sacrifices his body for the sake of the team. He just has an uncanny ability to seize certain moments. He’s fearless. That’s the word for him. He’s a fearless kind of player. As a guard, he rebounds just as well as some of the big guys. He can create for himself and he can score and that’s what he’s doing now, showing people he’s capable of scoring. He can shoot the basketball but he can also get to the hole and finish. But the thing I love about him is he knows that defense is the thing he probably does best. He loves to play defense. We follow his lead without a doubt.”
 
In the victory over Villanova, Alexander was the main defensive culprit who helped turn Collin Gillespie, perhaps the conference’s most respected guard, into a mere mortal for one night at least. Alexander helped limit the Wildcats’ senior to just four points on 2-for-12 shooting, including an 0-for-8 night from 3-point range. Gillespie was also forced into committing six turnovers in that game, after having just 12 in total in his previous 12 games.
 
“I thought he was excellent but he had some help in that department, too,” Anderson said. “But I thought for the most part he was doing whatever he could do to help the team. Gillespie is a big part of what Villanova does. A lot of things go through him. So I thought he had a very good game though we did rotate some other guys in on (Gillespie). But I thought he played a fantastic game and made Gillespie work for everything.”
 
With just 21 college games under his belt, the good news for Red Storm fans is that there is still lots of room for growth from the 6-0 guard out of Brooklyn.
 
“His potential is up to him but his ceiling is really high,” Anderson said. “He’s just a freshman so he’s still learning the ropes of the BIG EAST. We haven’t even been through a full season yet. But that being said, there are going to be some nights where guess what, offensively it might not be there. But can you continue to impact the team defensively? Can you continue to impact the team by getting other guys the ball? That’s what I want to see. Let’s see when some adversity comes. Let’s see when you get in foul trouble, how will you manage that? But he’s one of those kids who I think will continue to get better.”
 
And with Posh and the rest of the Frosh, the BIG EAST’s future appears to be in very good hands.