Big East Coaches Poll is out

First, the news:

The Big East Preseason Coaches’ Poll is out and there aren’t any surprises at the top. The back-to-back defending national champion UConn Huskies are on top. They’re bringing back less than half of their minutes and just over a third of their possession usage (according to a Bart Torvik formula I confess to not fully understanding), but their raging psychopath of a coach has returned, and that gives them a leg up on the rest of the competition.

Fresh off a trip to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, Creighton slots in as the projected runner-up, followed by your Xavier Musketeers. Rick Pitino described X as “the real deal” at the media scrum and said they have a chance to win it all. The preseason injury to Lassina Traore is a blow, but the Muskies have reloaded after a disappointing season and – with Sean Miller at the helm – seem poised to make a return to the top of the table in the Big East.

Marquette, in fourth, is the only other team to have garnered a first-place vote. They ripped off an eight-game winning streak in conference last year before getting obliterated by UConn, who they ended up losing to three times in the span of a month to lose their shot at a one seed. St. John’s comes in fifth, just four points behind Marquette as there’s a clear perception of a top tier.

Providence, Butler, and Nova – in that order – make up the mid table after a big gap. They’re well clear of the bottom, but they don’t seem to be lining up as contenders in the minds of the coaches.

Then there’s a big gap, then Georgetown, Seton Hall, and DePaul. It’s kind of surprising to see the reigning NIT champions slotted between perennial bottom feeders, but Seton Hall lost 75% of their minutes and apparently the coaches aren’t convinced by the talent they’ve brought in to replace it. As ever, the question of whether or not Ed Cooley is a good coach seems to be unanswered; the question of if DePaul is a good program seems significantly more settled.