Five storylines to watch at Big East basketball media day

By John FantaFOX Sports College Basketball Writer

NEW YORK — Big East media day arrives on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, as the basketball-driven conference opens a new year in the location where it will conclude its season for the 41st consecutive year. MSG has served as the home, and really the roots, of the Big East through its existence since 1979, and is college basketball’s longest-running conference tournament at a single location.

Yes, in a climate of football-powered realignment and the world of the unknown, it’s ironic that the Big East enters Year 10 in its current iteration and has found stability by featuring basketball. Sure, the conference does not have the biggest moneymaker in the college landscape. But, you can’t have a discussion about college hoops without bringing up this league, with Villanova’s decade of success, including national titles in 2016 and 2018, being the top reason for the conference’s relevance.

Entering the 2022-23 campaign, though, there are question marks surrounding the league. Hall of Famer Jay Wright is gone from the sidelines, as Kyle Neptune takes over the Wildcats. Can the program sustain its relevance level as a blue blood at the big boy table, or will there be a dropoff? There’s a clear coaching void in the league with Wright gone, leaving Providence’s Ed Cooley and Creighton’s Greg McDermott to take the torch as the elder statesmen. Elsewhere, there are three other new coaches in the conference — Butler’s Thad Matta, Seton Hall’s Shaheen Holloway and Xavier’s Sean Miller. How will those programs fare in new eras, one bringing in the hottest name of March Madness last season and the other two going back to the future?

With that, here are five storylines to look out for entering Big East media day. 

The Creighton Bluejays will likely top the league’s preseason poll 

That has never happened before, and it’s certainly unique not seeing Villanova at the top of the conference heading into the season. But it’s absolutely warranted for McDermott and Creighton, who went from eighth in the preseason poll a year ago to a 23-win season and a run to the Big East title game, even giving eventual national champion Kansas all it could handle in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 

The Jays bring back the majority of their core from a year ago, with Ryan Nembhard and Trey Alexander leading the backcourt and Ryan Kalkbrenner and Arthur Kaluma charging the frontcourt. 

With that core alone, Creighton would have likely been the favorite in the league, but McDermott and his staff hit it big in the transfer portal with reigning Summit League Player of the Year Baylor Scheierman from South Dakota State. He will fit right into the small forward spot, and this starting five is about as strong as any in college basketball. 

How are the Jays handling life at the top? It’s new territory for Creighton, because in the nine previous Big East seasons, the Jays have matched or exceeded their preseason poll ranking. Life as No. 1 gives them the firm role as the hunted. At least earlier this preseason, the talk out of Omaha was more than just leading the Big East …

What’s the mindset at UConn as Dan Hurley enters Year 5 at the helm? 

The Huskies have made steady progress under Hurley and are coming off a 23-win season, the most victories for the program since 2015-16. The trajectory in Storrs is in a good place, and the next step is clear: breaking through in March.

Connecticut has the pieces to do just that, with arguably the best player in the conference, Adama Sanogo, back for his junior year. The 6-foot-9 forward led the Big East with 9.7 boards per game during conference play while topping the league at 51% from the field. He averaged nearly 15 points per game in the process, primarily serving a role on the interior, but one of his offseason areas of progress was evolving his shot.

The key for UConn is guard play, and Andre Jackson’s status. The Huskies announced last week that the do-it-all junior wing suffered a fractured right pinky finger in practice and that he will be out through at least the end of October. Hurley provided some additional clarity on the timeline for Jackson, viewing Thanksgiving Week as a potential return. 

That’s certainly significant because the Huskies will meet Oregon, Michigan State or Alabama and potentially another power conference opponent in Portland that week. 

As for the backcourt, sophomore Jordan Hawkins appears to be primed to take off this season, but it will be interesting to hear from Hurley how that process has gone. UConn brought in three transfers — Virginia Tech’s Nahiem Alleyne, East Carolina’s Tristen Newton and Texas A&M’s Hassan Diarra — to help their efforts in finding different forms of offense on the outside.

One freshman to watch? The 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan, who has shown real flashes in preseason practice. 

Losing RJ Cole and Tyrese Martin is certainly significant, but UConn has reinforcements to be near the top of the league again. Will they deliver? We shall see. 

How is Kyle Neptune handling significant injuries, and will Villanova still be at the top of the Big East? 

This is going to be one of the most interesting Villanova seasons in quite some time just with so much new happening on the Main Line.

Projected Big East Freshman of the Year Cam Whitmore is coming back from a thumb injury and will be re-evaluated in November. One of the stars in the league, Justin Moore is still coming back from an Achilles injury, and while he’s targeting the start of Big East play, it might take longer than that.

The return of Moore may be the single-biggest determining factor in the conference this season, because if he can give the Wildcats even half of what he is, he would be a splash acquisition like you would see at a trade deadline in pro sports. 

Caleb Daniels, Brandon Slater and Eric Dixon will be asked to shoulder the main load for the Wildcats, and it will be important to see if sophomore Jordan Longino and freshman Mark Armstrong can give this team anything on the perimeter.

Villanova has won the Big East regular season or tournament crown in each of the last nine seasons. That streak has never been more in jeopardy than it is now, but then again the Wildcats have a record of 264-53 over the last nine years. I would not doubt them. It will be intriguing to hear from them on Wednesday. 

How are the league’s new head coaches adapting to their respective jobs?

For Sean Miller at Xavier and Thad Matta at Butler, that should be pretty easy. Shaheen Holloway spent eight years with Kevin Willard at Seton Hall and is a Pirate alum, so it’s not complicated for him either. 

What’s interesting about Holloway, Matta, Miller and Neptune is that all four coaches take over programs that have had recent success. None of the four jobs are total rebuilds.

That said, the Musketeers and Bulldogs haven’t reached the NCAA Tournament since 2018. Both have had a higher standard and level of tradition than that overall. 

Here’s a take entering media day: Xavier could be a dark horse candidate to win the league this year. I don’t think it’s all that hot, either. Colby Jones and Jack Nunge are two of the more talented players in the conference. If Miller can get Zach Freemantle right, Xavier could be top-20 good. The biggest key for the Musketeers? Point guard play. UTEP transfer Souley Boum and highly-touted freshman Des Claude will compete for it. 

Meanwhile, the Dawgs ushered in N.C. State transfer Manny Bates and Purdue transfer Eric Hunter Jr., among others, as Matta clearly upgraded the roster in the offseason. It appears Butler will play faster, and this team might be slept on entering the year. The size of Bates cannot be overstated — he will be a game-changer defensively. 

As for Seton Hall, Saint Peter’s transfer KC Ndefo could be one of the best players in the league that nobody’s talking about. The Pirates have depth, with Al-Amir Dawes, Jamir Harris, Femi Odukale, Dre and Tae Davis as perimeter options. The key player is Kadary Richmond. Will the Syracuse transfer find consistency in his second year with The Hall? We shall see. Alexis Yetna and Tyrese Samuel are both back down low, and it will be interesting to see how much Holloway uses Samuel, a stretch big, differently. Coming off a wild run to the Elite Eight, how will the Seton Hall great handle this transition? It will be interesting to find out.

Who could be the dark horse in the league? 

Entering media day, I think there are several possible teams thought to be in the middle that could emerge this year. The two programs that interest me the most? Providence and St. John’s.

Here’s why: The Friars are coming off a Sweet 16 run but lost a large chunk of their core, while St. John’s came up short of expectations but notched key wins in the transfer portal.

Both teams had very different seasons last year, and there’s a case on both sides for how their season could go, whether it be a strong campaign or the other way around.

St. John’s has Posh Alexander and Joel Soriano to lead the way, and a fourth-year head coach in Mike Anderson who has yet to get the program to the NCAA Tournament. That is the expectation in Queens this year, though, and how DePaul transfer David Jones and Illinois transfer Andre Curbelo figure into things could determine what this team does. Will Anderson get everybody on the same page and produce the breakthrough in March? College hoops is better when the Johnnies have New York City buzzing, but now, it can’t just be talk. Winning has to occur.

As for Ed Cooley and the Friars, Jared Bynum and Ed Croswell will certainly lead the way, and a transfer splash in former Kentucky wing Bryce Hopkins will be a name to monitor closely. Hopkins could be a real game-changer for Providence and fits what the program has before at the forward position.

That being said, will Bynum have enough help alongside him in the backcourt with transfers Devin Carter and Noah Locke as well as freshman Jayden Pierre? We shall see. 

The Friars had a storybook run last season, but this year’s squad is very different. That makes them an interesting watch because of the new faces blended into a program that does come off a historic campaign. 

Media day festivities get underway from The Garden at 9:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, and for more information on how you can follow what’s happening, check out the link below. 

John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him on Twitter @John_Fanta.

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