College football has ended with a bang — and it’s time to start paying closer attention to college basketball. March Madness is closer than you think — we’re already in Week 10.
The Big East has gotten off to a surprisingly strong start. Though reigning national champion Villanova hails from the “New” Big East, it wasn’t immediately clear who else (besides Xavier, who was ranked in most preseason top 10s) would be the contenders in the Big East’s 4th season since reorganization. After a 95-28 non-conference run that left them as the third-best conference per KenPom’s rankings, and with four top-15 teams (Villanova, Creighton, Butler, and Xavier), the Big East has displayed a top-end strength that rivals the best of any conference. Joe Lunardi is currently projecting them to receive five bids, with a sixth (Marquette) right on the bubble, good for fourth-best in the country.
A few weeks into the season – where all teams have played at least three (and mostly 5) games- let’s take a look at how they stack up so far.
DePaul continues their run at the bottom of the Big East – they’ve haven’t finished higher than 8th since the new league started. They’ve been battling, having only lost by 3 at Villanova and 6 at home to St. John’s in two of their first three games in the league, but were coming up empty until Tuesday night, when they logged their first Big East win at Providence. Despite their location near one of the hotbeds of high school basketball talent (Chicago), DePaul can never seem to turn the corner to contention.
One somewhat bright spot is the season of Billy Garrett Jr. The senior has been toiling heavily in obscurity for the Blue Demons since arriving on campus, as he’s never played less than 27 minutes per game, or had a usage percentage below 23.4 percent. He’s asked to do everything for DePaul – take the shots, and set everyone else up when he does (he’s using or assisting on nearly half of DePaul’s possessions while he’s on the floor). Garrett has been great at getting to the line this year, he’s drawing 7.2 fouls per 40 minutes, and has a free throw rate near 60 percent, incredibly high for a high-usage guard.
And then there’s the Hoyas. One of the stalwart programs of the old Big East, John Thompson III’s program has fallen into a rut, finishing in the bottom half of the league in two of the past three years. And this year has started no better. Despite a solid win over Oregon, and a less solid (but still top 55 in KenPom) victory over Syracuse, Georgetown will likely struggle to finish better than .500 this season. They’re currently projected to finish at 7-11 in the conference – having opened with four straight losses to the better teams in the Big East (Marquette, Xavier, Providence, and Butler) – with their sole victory so far over a young (and struggling) St. John’s team.
It’s tough to pin down exactly what has happened to the Hoyas. They recruit well enough, as the team has had six former ESPN top-100 recruits play for them this year, though Isaac Copeland has since abandoned ship. They can shoot, having hit 38 percent of their threes this year, and excel at getting to the line (top-10 free throw rate in the country). And their roster is long and versatile – the shortest player in their top six is the 6-foot-3 Jagan Mosely.
Whether it’s a stale, constricting offense or inconsistent team effort, a lot of the problems can likely be blamed on John Thompson III. The past few seasons have already warmed his seat; finish the season with the team in the same general funk, and the calls for his job will only get louder. He’d be lucky to survive a sub-.500 campaign.