BIG East Preview 2025-26
The headliners.
Can the Johnnies repeat last season’s double? Does UConn get back on top? Can the league break free from low pre-season expectations?
The Big East is coming off a decent year, in which it sent 5 teams to the tournament, co-headlined by Big East double-champs St. John’s and defending back-to-back National Title defenders UConn, earning a 2-seed and an 8-seed, respectively. They were joined by Creighton (9 seed), Marquette (7 seed) and Xavier (11 seed, First Four). Once there, the results were not great.
St. John’s underachieved, taking care of 15-seed Omaha, before losing to 10-seed Arkansas in the Round of 32. UConn held seed, beating No. 9 Oklahoma, before the back-to-back defending champs fittingly fell to eventual National Champion Florida. Creighton did similarly, beating 8-seed Louisville, before falling to Final Four bound Auburn. Marquette fell victim to an upset at the hands of new Big East coach Richard Pitino and 10-seed New Mexico. Speaking of Richard, Xavier beat Texas in Dayton, before falling to Illinois in the Round of 64. Texas got the last laugh, poaching Sean Miller to Austin, leaving Xaiver to hire Richard.
Several Big East squads also went Crowning, with Villanova making it all the way to the Crown Final Four, before falling to UCF in OT. That run was led by interim head coach Mike Nardi, now an assistant at UConn. Villanova ultimately brought back a familiar face for Big East fans, hiring Kevin Willard away from Maryland amid some internal strife in College Park. Butler and Georgetown each won a crown game before falling to Boise State and eventual-Crown champion Nebraska, respectively. DePaul fell in the first round to Cincinnati.
Coaching Seat Temperature Check
(in order of 2024-25 finish)
St. John’s, Rick Pitino: Ice cold. Rick will retire as Johnnies coach if that’s what he wants.
Creighton, Greg McDermott: Ice cold, he’s never getting fired, but succession planning has begun in Omaha, with the Huss bus coming back into the fold after 2 excellent years at High Point: CBI Runner-Up in year 1 and the program’s first-ever D1 NCAAT berth in year 2. With Huss on board, the retirement watch is on. Probably won’t be his last season this year, but you never know.
UConn, Danny Hurley: Colder than ice. Winning 2 nattys will do that.
Marquette, Shaka Smart: Lukewarm. Just saying that will probably catch me a lot of flack. I could probably spill 10,000 words discussing Shaka’s position right now. No one has done more with one fluky Final Four run than Shaka Smart. In the 14 years since, he’s had more missed NCAATs (2) than trips to the second weekend. Will Marquette fans get restless with under-talented rosters and a coach who refuses to supplement from the portal? Probably not this year, but it’s something to keep an eye on. Continuity is important, but eschewing the portal to focus solely on continuity is cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. Imagine if Marquette had brought in a big man from the portal last season, one with 2 or 3 years left. Would’ve been huge, and set them up for the trendy “2-bigs” everyone seems to want to play these days, with portal big on the inside and Gold on the outside, where he’s better. All to say, with a less-talented roster this year, and no incoming portal help, there’s a non-zero chance he finds his seat getting hot this year. But it’s very small.
The prodigal son
Xavier, Richard Pitino: Ice cold. Year 1. Going to get a few years to get it right.
Villanova, Kevin Willard: Ice cold. Year 1. Going to get a few years to get it right. And after the Kyle Neptune era, the steady build from mediocrity to competitive over the next few years will be a welcome change on the Main Line.
Georgetown, Ed Cooley: Quite warm, per the local weatherwoman. Ewing left the cupboard bare, no doubt. The program was at its lowest point since John Thompson took over a 3-23 squad in 1972. Even the Esherick years weren’t that bad. However, none of that is relevant. Ed Cooley–by his own words–took the job because Georgetown was a bigger brand than PC, and offered him a better platform to have more success than he had at PC. Ed is an established coach who does not have any learning curve upon taking the job. Georgetown promised, and by all accounts has mostly delivered a huge NIL budget. Year 1 to year 2 saw marked improvement, going from 9-23 to 18-16 overall, and 2-18 to 8-12 in conference. However, the era of small builds is over. The man their fans claim they could have had–Rick Pitino–turned around an equally moribund program in just 2 years, reaching 31 wins, and delivering the program’s first NCAAT win in 25 years. The Sorber loss really hurts the roster, which certainly doesn’t look any better than last year’s squad. Meaning year 3 could be a step backwards. If that happens, how much more patience will Georgetown fans exhibit?
Butler, Thad Matta: Warm. I think the world of Thad Matta as a coach, and I think he has to be in any conversation of the top-10 of coaches that never won a national title. He has a career 486-207 (.701) record, 2 Final Fours (including a runner-up finish in 2007), 2 Elite 8s, 2 Sweet 16s and an NIT championship. He posted 20 wins every season in Columbus except his last (17-15)...and stop me if you’ve heard this one before…he never had a losing season prior to returning to Butler in 2022. He now has 2 in 3 seasons, going a pedestrian 71-61 in his 2nd stint at Butler. Now, the NIL budget may not be there, and maybe that means everyone is content to continue along this path, but this is a program 15 years removed from consecutive Final Fours. This coming March they’ll be 8 years removed from their last NCAAT berth, Year 1 of LaVall Jordan after Chris Holtmann moved on to Columbus a la Thad before him. I reckon he’ll start to feel the heat if this season does not go well.
Providence, Kim English: Hot. Kim English sits on what I believe is the hottest seat in the conference. On-the court, Kim’s squad got snubbed year 1, and had some bad luck year 2 when Bryce Hopkins shut it down for the season after just a few games. Most times, a coach in these shoes wouldn’t be sweating yet. However, Friartown is different. The PC fans have begun to turn on Kim, who has done himself very few favors with a defiant, and seemingly arrogant attitude off the court. Couple that with a decent NIL budget, resulting in a roster that absolutely has the talent to make the NCAAT, and you have a recipe for a potential year 3 firing.
Depaul, Chris Holtmann: Cold. Year 1 of the Holtmann era at DePaul was a success. The program went from 3-29 to 14-20. They were pesky and fun to watch. Given the state this program has been in, that is an unqualified success. He’ll get a few more years before any one starts to dial up the heat on his seat.
Seton Hall, Shaheen Holloway: Cool. Year 3 of the Holloway era was an abject disaster. The program went from an NCAA snub that they turned into an NIT Championship to a 7-25 (2-18), non-competitive horror show that included losses to Fordham, Hofstra, and Monmouth. But what’s a coach to do? Hall has the worst NIL in the conference. Recruiting and retaining quality players has proven quite difficult. And at the end of the day, who is going to want to coach this program with its paltry NIL budget? In other words, even if this season is another disaster, it can always get worse.
Key Out of Conference Matchups
A lot of fans in rival conferences scoff at the idea of intraconference unity. Gary Parrish and Matt Norland were talking about this one a recent podcast, and apparently many B1G fans mailed in to say “I wouldn’t want the B1G’s 25 year NCAA title drought to end if it meant my team’s rival was the winner.” For most Big East fans, we feel the opposite. That’s not to say we are not bitter rivals from late December through early March–look no further than the UConn-PC vitriol, or the PC-Georgetown Ed Cooley inspired feud. But at the end of the day, most of us root for the conference outside of conference play. In the NCAAT, in OOC play and in recruiting.
For me, the difference is that the reconstituted Big East has never had the luxury of being able to have such deep-rooted hatred for one another. The barbarian has been at our gates since Day 1. This is a league that by all accounts should not exist in this football-dominated world. It is a basketball-first, football-less league in an increasingly football dominant world. Since the day the reconstituted Big East was announced, we’ve had to fight, and earn, and prove we belonged. Villanova went a long way to doing that in the Jay Wright era. UConn’s return has certainly helped. The steady elite play of Creighton has helped. The re-emergences of St. John’s has helped. If Georgetown can re-emerge it would be at least as helpful.
The point here is that every time the Big East is exposed to other power conference or elite mid-major teams, it feels like an existential battle. Every W means more, and ever L is a referendum on the conference’s ability to continue existing as currently constructed.
So in order to maintain that the Big East must play and win big games. Last year, versus the other power conferences the Big East went:
ACC: 5-2
B1G: 4-7
Big12: 5-9
SEC: 4-5
Top Mid-Majors (<100 KP): 5-5 (Dayton 2x, George Mason, St. Joe’s, VCU, Memphis, New Mexico, SDSU, UNLV and Gonzaga)
Total: 23-28
That’s…not great.
This year, here’s the key out of conference matchups for each team (high majors + top mid-majors), with that team’s Torvik projection in parenthesis:
Butler
11/15 @ SMU (46)
11/21 S. Carolina (107) - Greenbrier Tip-Off
11/23 UVa (N) (35) - Greenbrier Tip-Off
12/6 Boise St. (48)
12/20 NWern (N) (68)
Creighton
11/11 @ Gonzaga (24)
11/24 Baylor (N) (34) - Player’s Era
11/25 Iowa St. (N) (15) - Player’s Era
11/26 TBD - Player’s Era Third Game
12/7 @ Nebrasketball (44)
12/13 Kansas St. (61)
DePaul
11/14 NWern (68)
11/28 Ga. Tech (N) (86) - Emerald Coast Classic
11/29 Drake (138) or LSU (67) (N) - Emerald Coast Classic
Georgetown
11/7 @ Maryland (41)
11/15 Clemson (52)
11/27 Dayton (N) (77) - Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational
11/28 BYU (6) or Miami (55) (N) - Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational
12/7 @ UNC (18)
Marquette
11/9 Indiana (N) (42)
11/15 Maryland (41)
11/19 Dayton (77)
11/28 Oklahoma (N) (31)
12/6 @ Wisconsin (29)
12/13 @ Purdue (4)
Providence
11/8 Va. Tech (N) (74)
11/14 @ Colorado (100)
11/22 Penn St. (N) (102)
11/27 Wisconsin (N) (29) - Rady’s Children’s Invitational
11/28 Florida (5) or TCU (56) (N) - Rady’s Children’s Invitational
Seton Hall
11/24 N.C. St. (N) (39) - Maui Invitational
11/25 USC (25) or Boise St. (48) (N) - Maui Invitational
11/26 Texas (36), Washington St.(143), Arizona St. (71) or Chaminade (D2) (N) - Maui Invitational
12/6 @ Kansas St. (61)
12/13 Rutgers (98)
St. John’s
11/8 Alabama (20)
11/24 Iowa St. (N) (15) - Player’s Era
11/25 Baylor (N) (34) - Player’s Era
11/26 TBD (N) - Player’s Era
12/6 Ole Miss (43)
12/20 Kentucky (N) (14)
UConn
11/15 BYU (N) (6)
11/19 Arizona (12)
11/28 Illinois (N) (7)
12/2 @ Kansas (17)
12/9 Florida (N) (5)
12/12 Texas (36)
Villanova
11/3 BYU (N) (6)
12/9 @ Michigan (3)
12/13 Pitt (76)
12/19 Wisconsin (N) (29)
Xavier
11/10 Santa Clara (89)
11/14 @ Iowa (38)
11/21 Georgia (N) (33) - Charleston Classic
11/23 Clemson (52) or WVU (57) (N) - Charleston Classic
12/5 Cincinnati (32)
That’s 56 games, 5 more than last year’s total of 51. An average of 5 games per program versus power conference and top-100 mid-major programs. The Big East is also well-reprsented in the major MTEs this year, with 2 teams playing in the Player’s Era (SJU & Creighton), Seton Hall playing in Maui, Providence playing a surprisingly stacked Rady’s Children’s Invitational, Xavier playing in Charleston and Georgetown playing the ESPN Events Invitational. That should be good for the #brand.
Conference Awards Predictions
POY: Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s. The returning big man will likely be the preseason BE POY. Honestly, though, this feels like a pretty wide open race. Of his own teammates, certainly Bryce Hopkins or Ian Jackson are candidates. Solo Ball is definitely capable as well, and would probably be my 2nd choice. Jason Edwards also has the talent if Kim figures things out in Providence. Malik Mack and Josh Dix are candidates as well.
DPOY: Dillon Mitchell, St.John’s. That’s right, I’m going full homer. St. John’s defense is likely to take a step back, after all, they were 2nd in AdjDE per KenPom last season, but they are still going to have an elite defense, and Dillon Mitchell will be the anchor. Other candidates include Tarris Reed, Stevie Mitchell, and a bit of a dark horse Owen Freeman if he can step into Kalkbrenner’s shoes anchoring Creighton’s defense.
FOY: Braylon Mullins, UConn. A top-15 freshman, he’s the only freshman I really expect to have a huge positive impact on his team. Acaden Lewis will certainly get every opportunity, as he’s going to get a ton of minutes for Villanova, but I just can’t see him having a huge year 1.
MIP: Oswin Erhunmwunse, Providence. Oswin was a beast on the boards, pulling in 5.6 in just 20 minutes, good for a per-40 figure of 11.2, he also had 6.8 ppg, 13.5 per 40. He also has 1.6 BPG, 3.2 per 40. With more minutes and a sophomore jump, I think we see a massive year from Oswin as a rim protector, offensive rebounder, and put back machine. Other candidates: Layden Blocker, Royce Parham, Ruben Prey, Tyler Perkins
Sixth Man: Malachi Smith, UConn. He’s going to be the back-up to Silas DeMary, but Smith is an elite ballhandler in his own right, posting a 5 to 2 assists to TO ratio at Dayton. He’s a credible deep threat at 38.8% in his career, albeit on limited volume (2 attempts per game). He’s also the clearest candidate, as he’ll definitely be coming off the bench. The SJU starting lineup, e.g., is a bit more fluid, but I would expect whomever is the odd man out–likely Sellers, Sanon, Hopkins or Mitchell–to be a Sixth Man candidate as well. If Bryce Lindsay comes off the bench for Villanova (and they start Lewis, Devin Askew and Tyler Perkins in the backcourt), he could be a candidate. A dark horse candidate for me would be Tre Norman. He has not done much in 2 years at Marquette, but he’ll be asked to step into a much bigger role this season. He’ll be the first guard off the bench in a guard-heavy system. He’s a very good defender, if he can improve offensively, he’ll be a candidate as well.
Friar and Future BE COY?
COY: Kim English. I think Kim turns it around this season, and turns down the heat on his seat. The roster has too much talent for me to think otherwise. Kim takes Providence from a 9th place finish a year ago, to 4th place this season behind SJU, UConn and Creighton.
All Big East First Team
Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s
Solo Ball, UConn
Jason Edwards, Providence
Josh Dix, Creighton
Chase Ross, Marquette
Malik Mack, Georgetown
All Big East Second Team
Bryce Hopkins, St. John’s
Tarris Reed, UConn
Alex Karaban, UConn
Oswin Erhunmwunse, Providence
Owen Freeman, Creighton
All Big East Third Team
Ian Jackson, St. John’s
KJ Lewis, Georgetown
CJ Gunn, DePaul
All Wright, Xavier
Braylon Mullins, UConn
All Big East Freshman Team
Braylon Mullins, UConn
Acaden Lewis, Villanova
Jamier Jones, Providence
Adrien Stevens, Marquette
Kelvin Odih, St. John’s
Azavier “Stink” Robinson, Butler
PROJECTED FINISH
It should be an interesting season in the Big East. According to Bart Torvik’s current projections, SJU is 8th nationally, UConn 10th, Creighton 23rd, and the next 7 teams are grouped between 50 (Villanova) and 79 (Butler). This jives with my general view that outside of Seton Hall (125 in Torvik preseason), every team in the Big East is capable of making the NCAAT. Every team in that 50-79 range has significant question marks, and whichever among them can answer more of those questions in the affirmative will likely finish 4th. For my money, here is my projected order of finish:
November 3*
November 2*
November 1*
October 31*
October 30*
Georgetown - I really like this starting 5, expecting an all-Big East caliber season from Mack and big things from Halaifonua. Will it be enough? Is there enough depth here?
DePaul - Chris Holtmann returns a solid core, and assembles a roster that might get back to the quality defense that made his early Ohio State teams so good.
Xavier - The headline here is that I love the upside potential of this frontcourt. Could be very good and carry this team much higher than 8th.
Villanova - Willard sets a strong floor, but I’m not sold there’s enough talent here to do much more than meet the floor. Should be competitive throughout.
Butler - I’m not sure what I’m supposed to like on this roster. Ajayi, I guess? Another year of Jizzley Frazzlebuck? Couple that with a washed-up coach, and yeah…
Seton Hall - I think Sha is a great coach, and the talent has improved…but it’s still short of what one might expect of a Big East roster.
*Dates indicate the date on which I’ll be releasing my individual preview for that team.