Wednesday morning in New York, the Big East announced their preseason poll and individual honors at the conference’s media day. Creighton was picked third, receiving one first-place vote, with Marquette named the overwhelming favorite, receiving five of a possible 10 first-place votes.
Georgetown received two first-place votes, and was slotted second in the poll. St. John’s received the other first-place vote, though they’re picked fifth as Villanova had more overall votes.
The reborn Big East has projected itself as a league of schools with similar values and goals, and that’s a real strength according to St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin. “Like a neighborhood, we’re at a place where the homes, the schools, the basketball programs are similar. There’s a common thread. We look like one another, we mirror one another as institutions. When you add the fact that it’s all basketball — no football — that makes us unique. It gives us distinction. That’s how we’re going to brand this league and drive this league. We’re the old soul, love of the game league…if you’re a basketball-head, basketball junkie, basketball jones, it’s going to be the Big East that you’re going to have an affinity for.”
One of the old-school things the league trumpeted at media day was the fact that the Big East is returning to a round-robin schedule, something the league went away from in recent years as it expanded. DePaul coach Oliver Purnell was a big fan of the move. “It makes us old-school unique. That’s something college basketball fans have missed out on with some of the expansion, that you didn’t play everybody twice. I grew up on that, where if you lost to a team on the road, you knew you had that team coming back to your place. When you do that all year long, it makes the matchups more important. It gives your fans something to point back at, as you point forward to the league tournament. If you lose to somebody twice, you could play them a third time in the tournament.”
“I like that a lot,” Lavin noted. “I hope there isn’t any expansion. I love the fact that there’s going to be a true champion, where it’s home-and-home and someone doesn’t win the league because the imbalance of the schedule gave them a lighter slate. I just think that’s a better way to go. When you add teams, you start to dilute the quality matchups, and it marginalizes the rivalries.”
Jay Wright of Villanova echoed those sentiments. “We’re in a really tough conference, and we have to play all of these teams at their place! Last year, we got Louisville at home, but we didn’t have to go to Louisville. We got Syracuse at home, but didn’t have to go there. You’re not getting away with that in this league. If you get one of the top guys at home, you still have to go back to their place and play them. That’s old school, but that’s fun.”
“I like it for a lot of different reasons,” Georgetown head coach John Thompson III commented. “One, it’s a balanced schedule as it relates to your competition. But more than that, is it will start to re-establish some of those old rivalries and help create new ones. Now, you’re going to come to our house, and we’re going to have to come back to your house. That’s how rivalries are established. It’s not just because the league or the coaches say it is, or because someone writes about it. Rivalries are established by tough, intense battles. Hard-fought victories. Heart-breaking losses. That’s what helps create rivalries.”
Bluejay star Doug McDermott was named the Big East Preseason Player of the Year; in a change from the Valley, the POY is not part of the All-Big East First Team. Those honors go to five additional players — Markel Starks (Georgetown), Davante Gardner (Marquette), Bryce Cotton (Providence), D’Angelo Harrison (St. John’s) and Semaj Christon (Xavier).
“We’re really excited about this new league,” Doug McDermott said at media day. “We had some great experiences in the past in the Missouri Valley Conference, but with all the guys we have returning, we’re very comfortable as we head into a new league.”
Among those returning players is Grant Gibbs, a player McDermott made note of. “Gibbs returning is huge for us. He’s probably the oldest guy in college basketball now, but we have such a good connection out there. It’s not just me and him, though. It’s our whole team — he’s on the same page with everybody. He makes us go. He won’t put up the most crazy stats every night, but he’s the reason we win.”
Creighton’s head coach Greg McDermott knows how important Gibbs is to the Bluejays’ success — so much so that he remembered not only the exact date Gibbs’ sixth year was granted, but the time of day he received the call. When asked about it by Fox’s Bob Wenzel, Coach Mac replied, “It was July 3, at 10:31 a.m. (laughter). I remember the exact time, that’s how important he is.”
The old-school Gibbs is one of the Jays’ leaders, and while Greg McDermott didn’t expect to have him back, he’s thrilled that he is. “He’s a great leader not only on the floor, but in the locker room and off the floor in the community. He’s helped set the tone for our program and the culture of our program. To have him back as we transition into this league is incredible as a coach.”
As he comes back for his senior year in a new league, Doug McDermott is excited for a lot of things, but one he mentioned specifically in NYC was the chance to play in new cities and venues. “As a kid growing up and dreaming of playing on the biggest stage, the first thing you think of is Madison Square Garden. It’s hasn’t even hit me that I’m in New York right now, let alone that I’m going to be playing at the Garden pretty shortly…everything is new. That’s what I’m really excited for, going to all these different venues, playing in front of different fan bases, establishing different rivalries with different opponents. I think it’s just going to be awesome.”
Coaches and players at the event were unanimous in their excitement for the rebirth of the Big East. Villanova’s Jay Wright said, “I love the connection of these teams and these schools. I love that these new schools have great tradition and history. That’s what the Big East was built on back in 1979 — schools that have a history in basketball. That’s THE sport. Not other sports. Basketball. You know when you go anywhere in the league to play, that that’s the biggest thing happening on their campus. I love it.”
“The three teams that we have coming in have fantastic home courts,” DePaul’s Oliver Purnell pointed out. “Creighton draws what, 16,000, 17,000 fans every night? Plus, they’re pretty good (laughs). I was part of that Xavier/Dayton matchup (as a coach at Dayton) and we played at Cintas Center every year for nine years. That’s a tough, tough place to win. And what can you say about Hinkle Fieldhouse and how different that is. That’s such a different place to prepare your team to play in. So we bring outstanding teams in with outstanding home courts. There are no nights off in the Big East.”
One of those newcomers, Xavier head coach Chris Mack, commented on what it meant to be part of the Big East. “We wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for so many great players that have worn that Xavier uniform for so many years. This is because of those guys. There’s an unbelievable excitement level around our university, to be a part of what is in my estimation the best basketball conference in America. To play our conference tournament in Madison Square Garden. To play a true round-robin schedule. To play in a league where every school from top to bottom has allocated resources and has great players.”
“Our fans are so energized,” CU coach Greg McDermott added. “There’s a lot of traditionalists at Creighton that always hoped that something like this was possible, but some of them are getting to the age that they didn’t think they’d ever see it, that it was probably just a pipe dream. They’re unbelievably excited.”
John Thompson III of Georgetown noted that he’s thrilled to be in the new league. “I’m looking at them not just as three new teams, but three really good programs. If you look at their history, the success that they’ve had, the tradition of those places, the fact that they’ve had success at a high level…they’re going to come in and hit the ground running, unfortunately perhaps for the rest of us (laughing). We’ve gone from what was, last year, unquestionably the best basketball conference to where now we’re arguably the best basketball conference in the country.”
Creighton will hold their own media day on Thursday, October 17, and WBR will have full coverage of the event.