Big East Basketball: Top 10 players entering the 2018-19 season
By Brian Foley
Despite mass departures to the NBA and other professional leagues, Big East Basketball still has a very deep crop of players for the 2018-19 season.
The one positive about summer slipping through our collective fingertips is that we are now just roughly 80 days away from the opening night of college basketball. Non-conference schedules are flying around, 2019 recruits are cutting down their lists, and coaches are running through potential rotations for the upcoming 2018-19 season.
The Big East figures to feature one of the more compelling conference races in the country this season, with as many as six teams fighting for the second spot behind Villanova. A few squads – including Marquette and Butler – even have an outside chance at capturing the Big East regular season crown.
The success of the top-10 players in the conference will largely decide the final Big East standings, though surprise contenders could certainly emerge and shake things up. If up-and-comers like Xavier’s Naji Marshall or Butler’s Sean McDermott turn into superstars sooner rather later, the entire Big East could flip on its head, just as it could if any of the top incoming freshmen establish themselves as potential one-and-done candidates. There will be so much volatility throughout the season that any predictions are probably a fool’s errand at this point.
Needless to say, here is a prediction for the top-10 players in the Big East.