Big East Basketball: Vital questions facing the conference for 2018-19

1. Can anyone compete with Villanova at the top?

Here’s the deal. I understand why people are skeptical of Villanova, I really do. The Wildcats lost four crucial players this offseason to the NBA Draft, all of whom had enough talent to be first-round selections. Yet, despite this, Villanova should still be the preseason favorite to win the Big East this season for a variety of reasons.

For starters, the Wildcats are still a very talented team that boasts veteran talent. In fact, the team will more than likely start three seniors this season in Phil Booth, Eric Paschall, and grad transfer Joe Cremo. And these are not just token rotation players, either. Booth is arguably one of the best team leaders in the entire country, Paschall is a versatile offensive force, and Cremo is one of the best guards in the nation when it comes to posting up in an inverted offense.

In addition, Villanova has some elite-level youngsters on the roster. Not only does the team bring in a top-10 recruiting class this season that features four top-150 prospects but they also return two top-100 players from the 2017 class (not including Collin Gillespie) who received limited playing time a year ago. Quite honestly, Villanova is far from rebuilding this season. They are reloading.

Furthermore, is there a more talented team on paper in the conference? Marquette might be the closest when it comes to overall firepower but they also have some massive questions to answer this offseason. And this does not even account for the fact that Jay Wright is by far and away the best coach in the Big East. To put it simply, this may be a down season compared to usual ‘Nova standards but they are still the team to beat in the conference.