As the “new” BIG EAST Conference enters its second decade A.F., (After Football), the league has certainly come a long, long way. Remember the doubters who said the league would never survive? That it would never be among the power conferences anymore? That the conference that once brought you Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, Pearl Washington and Ray Allen, among others, would now be - gasp - irrelevant?
 
Seems odd to think of the BIG EAST in those terms anymore. Even laughable. Since the new BIG EAST reorganized to start the 2013-14 season all it has done is win three National Championships, including one by the UConn Huskies last season.
 
And to start this season, the BIG EAST has placed four teams - Marquette, UConn, Creighton and Villanova - in the AP Top 25 preseason poll. The Golden Eagles slotted at No. 5, the Huskies right behind at No. 6, the Bluejays coming in at No. 8 and the Wildcats sliding in at No. 22. Oh, and they just added legendary coach Rick Pitino to its already brilliant poll of head coaches. Talk about an embarrassment of riches.
 
“I think the most compelling and the best basketball in the country is going to be in the BIG EAST this year,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said.
 
So is the BIG EAST the top conference in the nation? Hurley certainly thinks so.
 
“We had the best league last year and you get judged in sports by winning the big championships,” Hurley said. “We won the National Championship, Creighton was in the Elite Eight, Xavier was in the Sweet 16 with a team that was riddled with injuries that maybe could have been a Final Four team and Marquette had the best BIG EAST season of any of us. (Now) we have three teams ranked in the top (eight) with Villanova (at 22) which looks like they are going to be closer to themselves, a revitalized St. John’s, a Providence program that returns two of the better players in the league (Bryce Hopkins and Devin Carter), so, yeah.”
 
And this year it all starts with Marquette.
 
The Golden Eagles were picked atop of the BIG EAST Coaches’ Preseason Poll in Tuesday’s conference media day at Madison Square Garden. The defending regular-season and tournament champion returns virtually all the key components of last year’s 29-win team. Tops among the returnees are Kam Jones, who led the Golden Eagles in scoring last season (14.1 ppg.) and 6-11 Oso Ighodoro 11.4 ppg, 5.9 rpg) as well as BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Tyler Kolek, who also happens to be the reigning conference Player of the Year. A stellar guard who not only finished third in the nation in assists but one who revels in playing the role of “villian” with his BIG EAST brethren.
 
“My villain arc, as I like to call it, is growing and that fuels me,” Kolek said. “I love the banter with the crowd and people not believing and not wanting me to succeed. That’s what drives me and what makes me feel good inside when I do succeed. I love that stuff. I remember one time down in Villanova I was standing right there on the baseline and a guy yelled and I turned right around and said something right back. I like that banter back and forth.”
 
Marquette, you might remember, took it very personal when the Golden Eagles were picked ninth in the preseason poll and responded by winning both the regular-season title and tournament crown. So after earning the No. 1 spot this year, can Marquette still find itself in a hunting role rather than that of the hunted?
 
“We can be on everyone’s bullseye but we like to watch videos and sometimes coach will pull up one of a lion hunting its prey,” Kolek said. “Somebody can try and hunt us but if we’re hungry and we want it more then ultimately we’re the ones hunting them. We want to go after people. We don’t want people coming after us. They want to come out and play against us, we have to give them no hope. That’s the mindset we have.”
 
Creighton, which returns the trio of Ryan Kalkbrenner, the reigning conference Defensive Player of the Year, along with Trey Alexander and Baylor Scheierman, placed second in the poll and is looking to make a similar deep March run like the Bluejays did last season when they finished two points short of a trip to the Final Four.
 
“We got a similar core with a few new guys so it’s going to look a little different but I think it’s going to be as good, if not better than last year’s team,” Kalkbrenner said. “I got a lot of belief in this team that we can win a lot of games.”
 
The UConn Huskies, fresh off their latest national title, came in third in the poll and Hurley thinks that’s an okay fit for his team in this loaded conference.
 
“It’s not like we’re completely disrespected,” Hurley said. “We’re picked behind Marquette and Creighton in the league, two teams that probably returned a little bit more than us. But we’ve returned a lot, added a lot and we’ve got national championship pedigree now which I think is a big factor. When your program has confidence that you can win that big of a trophy and come through in those big moments that’s an intangible thing that doesn’t always get factored in. But I like how we look on the court right now. Our team has great potential and the BIG EAST certainly will toughen us up again this year like it did last year.” 
 
Villanova, coming off a very un-Villanova-like year when the Wildcats finished 17-17 and out of the NCAA Tournament mix, was selected fourth in the poll and will look to erase the bad memories of last season that saw stud guard Justin Moore miss a huge chunk of the season overcoming an Achilles injury.
 
“It was tough for me to be out with the injury last year but (this year) we’ve made strides,” said Moore, a Preseason All-BIG EAST First Team selection. “The guys coming back and the transfers all got better from last season so I think we’re in a great spot and that’s all really where you want to be.”
   
And Moore says Villanova is ready to return to its Villanova ways of the past.
 
“It’s one of the best conferences in the country and night in and night out you have to play at a very high level,” Moore said. “You can’t sleep on any teams because they will get you so it will be a great challenge this year and we’re ready for it.”
 
The most intriguing team in the conference has to be St. John’s with new head coach Rick Pitino. The Johnnies won just seven league games last season and with a roster full of newcomers  - Joel Soriano is the lone holdover of note - the Red Storm will look to be relevant for the first time in quite a while.
 
“We have 14 new faces and the toughest thing for us has been trying to get the guys to know each other’s skills set, getting them to communicate defensively and basically teaching everybody from scratch,” Pitino said. “It’s been tedious to say the least, but it’s been enjoyable.”
 
So what can Red Storm and college basketball fans expect from St. John’s once the season tips off?
 
“Very similar to our exhibition game when we played Rutgers in a double overtime game,” Pitino said. “Both teams played with a lot of heart and both teams played their tails off and I think that’s what our fans should expect from us. We’re going to give every ounce of perspiration in us to try and get a victory.”
 
So what does Pitino expect from his return to the BIG EAST? 
 
“I think this conference is as strong this year as any other time in the history of the BIG EAST, which is saying something,” Pitino said. “(But) I think I’m looking forward to this year as much as any time in my coaching history because it’s back home. The Garden has changed immensely, two billion dollars added to it, but still the same freight elevator to get to the locker rooms. There are a lot of changes but there’s still the great history of the place so I’m excited to be back and be a part of it.”
 
Xavier, which is dealing with the losses of Jack Nunge, Souley Boum and Adam Kunkel, landed in sixth place in the poll but head coach Sean MIller likes a pair of transfers he brought into the program.
 
“Our transfers are really going to be impactful,” Miller said. “Dayvion (McKnight) is a point guard from Western Kentucky and a two-way player. Based on what we lost from last year, he’s going to be physically ready for the BIG EAST and Quincy (Olivari) is a terrific shooter. There weren’t a lot of guys last season who made 90 three-point shots which he did at Rice. So, we’re certainly counting on both of them.”
 
Providence and first-year coach Kim English come in seventh in the poll and the Friars may be flying a bit under the radar this season. But a healthy dose of Bryce Hopkins can go a long way toward enhancing the Friars’ future this season.
 
So after a year that saw Hopkins, a Preseason All-BIG EAST First Team pick this year, average team bests in points (15.8) and rebounds (8.5) last season, what can we expect this time around?
 
“Same thing as last year,” Hopkins said. “I’m going to come out more hungry, more aggressive and just trying to put my teammates in the best position to have a successful season again.”
 
Despite being picked seventh, should teams not dare sleep on Providence?
 
“It will be a problem if you do,” Hopkins warned. “We know what we have here at Providence.”
 
Former Providence coach Ed Cooley will now stroll the sidelines at No. 8 Georgetown, where Cooley will preach patience in his first season in D.C.
 
First off, why the move?
 
“It was time for a change,” Cooley said. “It was the right time with the right spot in the right league. Just change. That’s the best way I can tell you.”
 
So how does he see this season unfolding with the Hoyas?
 
“There’s a lot of work to do,” Cooley said. “The tradition and the legacy is there but we’re going to do it a different way. We’ll respect the legacy and the tradition but we’re just going to do it a different way.”
 
Seton Hall comes in at No. 9 after tying for sixth place in the league last year. Head coach Shaheen Holloway will again rely on his trademark stingy defense while hoping for more offense from a team that ranked near the bottom in points, three-pointers and free throw shooting last season.
 
Butler grabbed the 10th spot in the poll and the Bulldogs roster will rival St. John’s for most new faces. Butler welcomes 10 new players to the program, including five transfers who averaged double figures for their former teams.
 
DePaul comes in at No. 11 and will hang their hat on the senior duo of Da’Sean Nelson and Jalen Terry. Nelson led the BIG EAST in points and minutes off the bench last season while Terry will look to avoid the injury bug that marred most of his 2022-23 season.