For most high-major conferences, it will still be college football season when November 3rd rolls around. Not the Big East, though. The basketball-centric league is ready to finally retake the floor and is filled with teams with various expectations for the coming campaign.
League favorites St. John's and UConn have their sights set on more than just conference titles; Creighton and Marquette hope to continue streaks of five and four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, respectively; Providence and Villanova hope to dance again after recent lapse(s); Georgetown and, to a lesser degree, DePaul hope to break through under coaches in their first few years at the school.
When it comes to reaching those goals, though, which players will have the most to say? For some teams, it might be star transfers with high expectations. Others might already have pre-existing stars needing X-Factors to emerge. No matter what the case may be, but the Big East is loaded with potential difference-makers.
Let's dive into who each team might be defined by, ordered by the rankings of the league's preseason coaches' poll. (Statistics via KenPom, SR-CBB, CBB Analytics, EvanMiya, and Hoop-Explorer unless noted otherwise.)
St. John’s: Oziyah Sellers
With Rick Pitino’s track record on the sidelines and a talent-rich roster at his disposal, hopes are incredibly high for the Red Storm. But, the lack of a true lead guard clearly set for the role has been the main question mark for SJU throughout the offseason. After North Carolina transfer Ian Jackson looked like the early frontrunner, it appears Oziyah Sellers is stepping into the spot. The 6-4 guard is coming off a career-best season at Stanford, but was more of a scorer next to Jaylen Blakes’ facilitator role. Sellers scored 13.7 points per game but dished just 1.3 assists relative to 1.1 turnovers.
Through two exhibitions, the point guard questions persist. Sellers started both contests against Towson (W 73-63) and Michigan (L 96-94 in OT), but recorded only one assist to one turnover in 29 minutes. He fouled out in only eight minutes against the Wolverines.
As a team, though, the Red Storm have recorded assists on 56.6% of made baskets (which would have ranked 65th nationally last season) with an A:TO of 1.42. Perhaps the answer to the lead guard questions is thus team-wide unselfishness, but having a consistent go-to playmaker would help alleviate the lingering concerns. Sellers appears to be getting the first shot at that role in the regular season, with Idaho State transfer Dylan Darling as his backup.
An elite coach leads St. John’s, and with the depth of talent and a superb defensive identity at his disposal, that sets an extraordinarily high floor. It doesn’t need Sellers to emerge at point guard, but that development could lead to title contention.
UConn: Tarris Reed
Although UConn took a step back this past season, it was 1) hard to avoid doing so after winning back-to-back national titles and 2) by no fault of Tarris Reed. The Michigan transfer was a per-minute monster for the Huskies, outstripping his previous accomplishments across the board. Reed averaged career-highs in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, FG%, and FT%, all while lowering his turnover rate.
The 10,000-foot review of UConn’s performance last season shows a drop-off from back-to-back top-10 adjusted defensive ranks with Donovan Clingan clogging the paint to rank only 75th last year. Zooming in a bit closer, though, shows signs of a possible resurgence with Reed as the centerpiece.
Not only is Reed a stout shot-blocker like those before him in Storrs, but he is arguably the nation’s best rebounder. His work on the glass — second-best OR% and 12th-best DR% nationally — was what separated his on-off numbers from his platoon partner and fellow shot-blocking savant Samson Johnson. UConn operated at the equivalent of the 28th-best defense in the country with Reed on the floor last season, compared to 95th when he sat due to his elimination of second-chance opportunities:
The question for this season is whether Reed can maintain his impact and efficiency in a larger role. He only played 19.9 minutes per game last season as Johnson’s backup, but will be asked to transition to full-time starter this time around. Additionally, unless Eric Reibe emerges as an elite freshman big man (though, in honesty, he probably will given his pedigree and UConn’s track record), there will be more pressure on Reed to thrive in a full-time role than past iterations of UConn’s starting center (Sanogo had Clingan, Clingan had Johnson, Johnson had Reed).
Creighton: Owen Freeman
A preseason first-team All-Big East selection, nobody is sleeping on Owen Freeman’s potential impact on Creighton. The 6-10 big man was excellent as a freshman for Iowa in 2023-24, and then turned on the jets to average 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game through 19 contests as a sophomore before missing the rest of the campaign with injury. Now healthy and 250 miles west in Omaha, he is set to fill enormous shoes.
As good as Freeman is, particularly offensively, he is Creighton’s defining player to watch because of who he replaces. It’s been so long since the Bluejays have been without Ryan Kalkbrenner that it is hard to picture what they will look like. Kalk changed Creighton over his tenure, leading five straight top 45 adjusted defenses after the program had never achieved such a feat in the previous 10 seasons under head coach Greg McDermott:
The encouraging fact is that Iowa surrendered 7.7 fewer points per 100 possessions with Freeman on the floor compared to without last season. That said, even the Freeman-on-lineups would have only ranked 74th in adjusted defense. Freeman has yet to anchor a strong defense, perhaps by no fault of his own, but until he does, the unknown extent to which he can replace the four-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year will determine Creighton’s status as a possible top-25 team.
Providence: Duncan Powell
How about we overreact to some exhibitions? Much of Providence’s outlook for this season comes down to the guard-big duo of Jason Edwards and Oswin Erhunmwunse, but Duncan Powell looks ready to surprise for a second straight season. First, the 6-8 forward who began his career at North Carolina A&T and Sacramento State transferred up to Georgia Tech last year and set career-highs in minutes (29.5), points (12.2), and 3P% (.358).
Now in Friartown, he started both exhibition games and looked the part of an impact player. A multi-tooled big wing, Powell stuffed the stat sheet to the tune of 26 points, 18 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and two blocks in 55 minutes across the loss to Pittsburgh and win over Harvard. Small sample size aside, he shot 6-for-12 from three in those games, making his 25.5% over the first two years look more fluke than the 35.8% at Georgia Tech last season.
Kim English is a defense-first coach with an offense built around the 3-ball. If Powell continues to shoot with the volume and efficiency that he has for the past year, Providence could have a very deadly trio of starting shooters between him, Jason Edwards, and Jaylin Sellers. Powell also adds a different dimension with his ability to rip down a rebound and start the break himself.
Marquette: Chase Ross
There might not be a bigger singular loss to any team in the country than Kam Jones leaving Marquette. The 6-4 guard was a demon for the Golden Eagles last season, not only posting excellent counting stats (19.2 ppg, 5.9 apg) but also flat-out absurd impact numbers: Marquette was 35.7 points per 100 possessions worse with Jones off the floor. Someone needs to step into the starring role in his absence, and Chase Ross is the lone returning double-digit scorer from last year’s team.
Ross was rock-solid as an individual last season, averaging 10.2 points per game on .587 TS%, but was among the many other Golden Eagles who benefited greatly from sharing the floor with Jones. Ross’s usage rate went up when Jones sat, much like it will this season as he steps into the primary role, but his efficiency fell off a cliff:
Marquette has never finished worse than 55th in AdjD under Shaka Smart and shouldn’t this season, either. Bringing back seven rotational pieces, as well as getting Sean Jones back from injury, should solidify a strong defensive unit to set a high floor. Whether there will be enough offense will define the ceiling. If Ross can be the “next man up” that Marquette has so often found in recent years, a fourth straight top-30 KenPom finish could be in the cards.
Georgetown: KJ Lewis
Sans a horrendous showing in 2024 (321st), Ed Cooley-coached teams have finished in the top 100 for adjusted defensive efficiency in 12 of the last 13 seasons. Personnel questions following the losses of Thomas Sorber and Micah Peavy notwithstanding, the Hoyas should remain solid on defense. Thus, it is the 43-spot in adjusted offensive efficiency last season that most needs to be remedied entering 2025-26. Cooley-led teams have overcome plenty of poor shooting in the past; it was a lack of whistles that struck last year:
Between 2011 and 2024, Cooley-coached teams averaged a ranking of 98th in free-throw rate, never worse than 168th. Last season, though, the Hoyas ranked…348th?
Enter KJ Lewis as a downhill driving wing with a tendency to work his way to the charity stripe. The 6-4 Arizona transfer posted a .484 free-throw rate last season, which would have led Georgetown (big men Sorber (.420) and Drew Fielder (.299) led the Hoyas). Lewis also converted at an 80.7% clip, taking full advantage of those opportunities at the stripe.
Cooley has had a lot of recent success with high free-throw rate guards and wings, including Devin Carter, Bryce Hopkins, and Al Durham. Oh, and he said a little thing about Lewis’s two-way impact at Big East media day as well: “I feel the Big East, at Georgetown, has the best defensive player in America in KJ Lewis.” So there’s that, too.
Villanova: Acaden Lewis
Kevin Willard’s teams have thrived on interior defense, ranking in the top-110 or both block rate and 2-point percentage surrendered in seven straight seasons. However, the personnel doesn’t seem to be in place for that in 2025-26; Tafara Gapare is the only proven shot-blocker on the team and has never played over 20 minutes per game in a season. With that in mind, pressure falls on the backcourt of Tyler Perkins and Acaden Lewis.
Amid a disastrous last year for Kyle Neptune on the Main Line, Tyler Perkins was a steady hand and helped the Wildcats play 18.9 points per 100 possessions better when he was on the floor than when he was off. He sets somewhat of a backcourt floor as an experienced, impact player, while Lewis is a near-unknown true freshman set to start next to him.
Exhibitions must be taken with grains of salt, but Lewis’s role as a go-to offensive player has been a takeaway for Villanova. The top-50 recruit not only started both of Nova's exhibitions against VCU and Virginia, but led the team in points (31), field goal attempts (27), assists (8), and turnovers (6). Even if (when?) the usage tones down in the regular season, it is clear that he will have the ball in his hands a lot. As such, he will determine much.
Xavier: Roddie Anderson III
With a new head coach (Richard Pitino) and an essentially brand-new roster, Xavier is as hard to project as any team in the country. The only player back from Sean Miller’s roster last season is Roddie Anderson, who redshirted. But for the Musketeers to exceed lower-than-usual preseason expectations, it might have to start with him.
Anderson has been far from the most efficient player in his college career, shooting only 38.3% from the field and 28.3% from three, but he has two seasons as a full-time starter under his belt at UC San Diego and Boise State. His aggressive attacking style should also fit within Pitino’s system. New Mexico ranked in the 96th percentile for at-the-rim field goal attempt rate under Pitino last season, and Anderson gets to the rim with plenty of volume; he has attempted over 60% of his career shots either at the rim or in the paint:
Having faced off against Anderson at Boise State twice in 2024, Pitino is familiar with the lead guard and will likely task him with spearheading Xavier’s new system. New Mexico played at increasingly frenetic tempos in each of Richard Pitino’s four seasons (22nd -> 17th -> 9th -> 7th in AdjT). Anderson is an opportunistic defender who should fit nicely in Pitino’s system, which ranked top-60 in turnover rate forced in back-to-back years.
If the offensive efficiency comes along after a season out honing that portion of his game, it would be huge for the Musketeers.
DePaul: Layden Blocker
Chris Holtmann's teams have finished with a better adjusted offensive rating than defensive rating in six consecutive seasons, with 3-point shooting and ball security at the forefront. Looking back on last season, DePaul got one or the other, depending on its point guard. When Conor Enright ran the show, the Blue Demons shot 36.5% from three but committed turnovers on 19.7% of possessions. When Layden Blocker set the tone, the 3-point shooting dipped to 30.5%, but the turnover rate improved to only 15.5%.
In many ways, DePaul already went as Blocker did last season; the Blue Demons were 8-3 when he posted an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.0 or better and 6-17 when he fell short of that mark. With Enright now at Indiana and the full-time keys jangling in Blocker’s pocket, he will have even more of a say in whether DePaul can climb out of the Big East basement.
For the former four-star recruit, it marks a continued uptick in responsibility. Blocker's minutes (22.7->30.7) and usage rate (24%->25.1%) jumped after Enright was forced to miss DePaul’s last 11 games with injury last season, so he isn’t unfamiliar with the role. He was also at his individual best in that stretch:
Continued improvement with a different batch of shooters around him, namely RJ Smith and Kaleb Banks, could define the ‘Mons.
Butler: Jalen Jackson
An experienced lead guard with an electric first step, Jalen Jackson could be just what the doctor ordered for Butler. While the Bulldogs ranked 38th nationally in adjusted efficiency last season, they were among the worst in the country around the rim; they attempted just 28.6% of their shots within 4.5 feet (29th percentile) and converted only 61.0% (36th percentile). Enter Jackson, who led all guards in the country in field goal attempts in the paint last season while finishing at well above the national average rate for guards:
Jackson’s archetype as a rim-pressuring guard with inconsistent perimeter shooting (26.2% from three last season but 40.0% the year prior) is difficult to project at the high-major level. Still, his track record to date stands out. He averaged 18.3 points (.583 TS%), 2.6 assists, and 1.3 steals per game in 19 contests against the KenPom top 160 over the last two seasons, including scoring 31 at Penn State and 27 at Michigan this past year.
Defensively, Jackson ranked in the 72nd percentile or better in each of defensive rebounding rate, block rate, steal rate, fouls per 40 minutes, and personal foul efficiency. He can use his quick feet to help the Bulldogs apply more defensive pressure, a must after ranking 362nd in team turnover rate forced (359th in steal percentage) last season.
If Butler exceeds expectations this season, don’t be surprised if it is because Jalen Jackson forces his way onto an All-Big East team. He could have that type of impact.
Seton Hall: Stephon Payne
Merrimack transfer Budd Clark is set to run the show for Shaheen Holloway this season and will be the team’s most important player. It will take more than just him for the Pirates to truly elevate from what was an extremely disappointing ‘24-25 campaign (7-25 record, 204th on KenPom), though. Looking back, the team posted the lowest eFG%, OR%, DR%, and 2-point percentage allowed of any Holloway-coached team to date:
Clark should provide an immediate jolt to the offense with his scoring and distributing (19.8 ppg, 6.0 apg at Merrimack). As for the other areas, Jacksonville transfer Stephon Payne was particularly effective on the offensive glass last season, ranking 32nd nationally and second in the ASUN in OR%. Defensively, Jacksonville's opponents shot 1.3% worse inside the arc with Payne on the floor. He also finished nationally in the top 250 and ranked top 5 in the ASUN for both steal and block rates. Holloway needs defensive tone-setters, and Clark on the perimeter with Payne inside could be them.
Offensively, Payne is also the type of player that Clark could make better. Despite Clark himself not being a terrific finisher (57% at the rim, 44th percentile among guards), Merrimack shot 12.6% better at the rim with him on the floor (57.5%) than without (44.9%). Over 13 percent of his assists last season went to his rim-running big man Bryan Etumnu, and hopefully, he can form a similar connection with Payne.
