Creighton Men’s Basketball Picked Third in Big East Preseason Poll

Tuesday in New York City, Creighton was picked to finish third in the preseason Big East poll, while Maurice Watson was named to the preseason All-Big East First Team and Marcus Foster was an honorable mention choice.

Villanova was a unanimous selection to win the league, earning all nine first-place votes and 81 votes overall in the poll of Big East head coaches. They’ve won the league outright each of the past three years, and return three starters from a team that finished 35-5 en route to a national championship. Josh Hart, the preseason Big East Player of the Year, leads the way after averaging 15.5 points and 6.8 rebounds a game last year. Junior forward Kris Jenkins, who hit the game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer in last year’s national championship game, also returns. He averaged 13.6 points per game a year ago and made a Big East best 100 three-pointers. The third returning starter is sophomore guard Jalen Brunson, who averaged 9.6 points a game and was a member of the Big East All-Freshman team.

“I feel like, in the Big East, we’ve been the hunted before,” Villanova head coach Jay Wright told a throng of media in NYC. “We’ve been the Big East champ before, and I can’t see being the National Champion being that much different. It’s going to be tough in this conference. They’ll all be coming after us, and we’ve lost to all of these teams. Anywhere we go on the road in this conference is just…bedlam. So I can’t see being the National Champ being any worse in terms of that.”

Xavier was picked second by the league’s coaches, picking up Jay Wright’s first-place vote (as he was not allowed to vote for his own team). The Musketeers were the only squad to land two players on the Preseason All-Big East First Team in Trevon Bluiett and Edmond Sumner.

“It’s been our goal, every year since we’ve been in this league, to win the Big East,” Sumner said in a video posted by @XavierMBB on Twitter. “With this year’s team, I definitely think we can get it.”

Bluiett added, “I think being picked second is great. We’ve worked so hard the last couple of years to get where we are now. With the team we have coming back, plus the freshman coming in, we have enough to not only win the league title by to compete for the tournament title.”

The Bluejays came in third, picking up 64 total votes. “I’m pleased with where we are,” Greg McDermott told the Big East Digital Network’s Pat O’Keefe. “We knew there was going to be a period of rebuilding after losing that senior class. The guys we had in the program certainly did a great job of improving, and then we added in a couple of transfers in Maurice Watson and Cole Huff, and that helped us get back on solid ground last year. I’m hopeful we can take it another step this year and get back to the NCAA Tournament.”

Their point guard, Maurice Watson, earned a spot on the All-Big East First Team after a spectacular debut season. “Maurice has been such a good leader,” McDermott noted on the BEDN. “Anytime you have that kind of leadership from the point guard position, it’s really going to help your team. He’s in the gym all the time, and I think he’s added things to his game this summer.”

“He and Cole really took advantage of their transfer year. Some guys come in and look at a transfer year as a vacation. These guys worked extremely hard, and they were better players when they got back on the floor. Cole can score the basketball in a lot of different ways, and Maurice sees the floor better than anybody I’ve ever coached. They’ve been fun to coach and hopefully their senior season can end with a bang.”

They’re joined this year by another high-caliber transfer, Marcus Foster, who was named an honorable mention All-Big East player before ever playing a game in the league. “Marcus, like Cole and Maurice last year, worked really hard in the off-season to get better,” McDermott said. “He’s really transformed his body, lost some weight, his ball-handling has improved, and defensively I think he can be a difference maker for us.”

Foster’s offensive prowess is where he’s likely to make the biggest impact, however. McDermott told the BEDN, “Here’s a guy who averaged 15 or 16 points a game as a freshman in the Big 12, and we think he can take a lot of pressure off of Maurice especially in late shot-clock situations. Maurice was the guy who had to make a play either for himself or for a teammate last year because we weren’t built to have other guys do that. Now I think Marcus can take some of that on.”

Media Day began with the annual “State of the Big East” address from Commissioner Val Ackerman. “This is a league that doesn’t back down,” Ackerman said. “This is a league that plays basketball at the very highest level. We’re 110% committed to the pursuit of national titles.”

She also noted that the continued television partnership with Fox means that the Big East continues to have more TV coverage than any other conference, and that ratings are up 60% since the contract began.

Then a 30-minute roundtable discussion about the 35th Anniversary of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden commenced, featuring Bill Raftery, P.J. Carlesimo, Chris Mullin, and Jim Calhoun. In case you missed the discussion, here’s the archive of the BEDN broadcast:

And now here’s a roundup of media day festivities from around social media.

Maurice Watson Jr. (@mauricewatsonjr) speaks with Duke Castiglione at #BEmediaday! #GoJays #Creighton #BIGEASThoops https://t.co/BCVU8rC6KH

— Creighton Basketball (@BluejayMBB) October 11, 2016

Greg McDermott (@cucoachmac) speaks with Pat O’Keefe at #BEmediaday! #GoJays #Creighton #BIGEASThoops https://t.co/VXbQxgZRTt

— Creighton Basketball (@BluejayMBB) October 11, 2016