Big East Tournament Preview 2021
3MW’s All Conference Team:
Player of the Year: Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, So., Villanova
Coach of the Year: Mike Anderson, St. John’s
Newcomer of the Year: Dawson Garcia, Fr., Marquette
Freshman of the Year: Dawson Garcia, Fr., Marquette
Season Storylines:
This year’s Big East was one of the weaker ones in recent memory. There were a handful of very solid teams, but a severe lack of upper echelon squads.
Villanova was the closest thing to an upper echelon squad this season, and I kept the Cats in the top five of my power ratings all year long. Unfortunately, an MCL tear to Collin Gillespie, the heart and soul and star PG of the Cats, greatly limits their Tourney ceiling.
Creighton had its fair share of ups and downs this season, as well as a recent “controversy” with head coach Greg McDermott. Assuming that is behind them the Jays look to be a dangerous team in the Big Dance with their ability to light the nets on fire.
UConn is actually the favorite according to oddsmakers to win the Big East tournament. Led by arguably the most talented player in the league, James Bouknight, the Huskies have all the pieces to win this conference tournament and make a deep run in March.
The middle of the pack was very ordinary this year. Seton Hall, St. John’s, Providence, and Xavier all finished between 52-73 in KenPom and within one game of .500 in Big East play. Hall has a potential All-American on their team in Mamu, so the Pirates could be a sneaky dark horse to pull off an auto-bid run. The Johnnies, too, have a ton of firepower, but do they have the discipline or the defense? Ed Cooley would for sure like to make up for an underwhelming season up in Providence. David Duke is a terrific lead guard, but the Friars lack scoring. As for the Muskies, I'm pretty out on the Muskies. COVID derailed what looked to be a promising season, and their play since their shutdown has been highly suspect.
Poor DePaul ended up in the Big East basement for the 100th time in a row, finishing multiple games behind 10th place. Marquette was extremely disappointing in conference play but also had wins over Wisconsin and UNC, so… yeah. Maybe Wojo can dig deep and lead the Eagles to an auto-bid… or maybe he’ll be fired this offseason. Georgetown was better than I expected, so kudos to Patrick Ewing, though I’m sure Hoya alumni would like a Tourney berth one of these days. Butler had too many injuries to be too hard on them.
Tournament Preview
Tournament Predictions
(9) Marquette over (8) Georgetown
(7) Xavier over (10) Butler
(6) Providence over (11) DePaul
(9) Marquette over (1) Villanova
(5) Seton Hall over (4) St. John’s
(2) Creighton over (7) Xavier
(3) UConn over (6) Providence
(5) Seton Hall over (9) Marquette
(3) UConn over (2) Creighton
(3) UConn over (5) Seton Hall