Big East Basketball: Top 5 players at each position for 2019-20 season
By Brian Foley
Guards
5. SO Marcus Zegarowski, Creighton
10.4 ppg – 3.2 rpg – 3.4 apg – 45/43/77 percent shooting
Zegarowski was mighty impressive in his first season with the Bluejays, and was one of two unanimous selections to the Big East All-Freshman team (Georgetown’s James Akinjo beat him out for the Freshman of the Year award). Over the past 10 years, Zegarowski and Syracuse’s Brandon Triche are the only two Big East freshmen to post at least a 55 percent effective field goal rate and a 20 percent assist rate.
Triche progressed nicely during his four-year career with the Orange, but Zegarowski is already a more reliable shooter and is steadier with the ball. Creighton operates with an equal opportunity offense, but the 6-foot-2 Massachusetts native could still post gaudy assist totals during his stint in Omaha. He appears in full control at all times, something rarely seen from a true freshman, and is comfortable scoring both at the tin and from beyond the arc.
4. SR Kamar Baldwin, Butler
17.0 ppg – 4.9 rpg – 3.1 apg – 45/31/85 percent shooting
Baldwin plateaued a bit as a junior, posting essentially the same per-game and shooting marks he did as a sophomore, outside of a jump in his free throw percentage. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as Baldwin is still one of the top two-way players in the conference, capable of playing on or off the ball, as well as taking on any defensive matchup across the perimeter. But it does mean he is a tad overextended as Butler’s No. 1 option, a role he figures to play once again in 2019-20.
Baldwin can still post his fair share of big games, but as his usage rate has climbed over his career, his efficiency continues to slip. The Bulldogs will need one of his wing compadres to make a leap if they hope to avoid missing the NCAA tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2004-06.
3. JR Ty-Shon Alexander, Creighton
15.7 ppg – 4.0 rpg – 1.2 spg – 41/37/79 percent shooting
As he enters the next stage of his career, Alexander is a prime candidate to pop for the Bluejays. Greg McDermott continues to pump out powerhouse offenses, a trend that should continue in 2018-19.
With Martin Krampelj leaving Omaha with a year of eligibility remaining, Samson Froling returning to Australia to turn pro, and Jacob Epperson constantly battling injuries, Creighton is brutally short-handed down low (CU did add Idaho State grad transfer center Kelvin Jones). The Bluejays’ size concerns will only further Alexander’s impact though, as he spearheads Creighton’s high-octane, up-tempo, four-out attack.
Alexander has already turned into a 3-point assassin, hitting 37 percent of his treys on nearly 8 attempts per game last season. If he can trade in a handful of mid-range jumpers for a few more drives and foul shots, he could climb to a level on par with Markus Howard and Myles Powell. In 2018-19, Howard upped his free throw attempts per game from 3.3 to 7.5, while Powell’s marks spiked from 3.4 to 6.1. Alexander averaged 3.1 free throws last year, putting him on the same track as the conference’s star seniors.
2. SR Myles Powell, Seton Hall
23.1 ppg – 4.0 rpg – 2.0 spg – 45/36/84 percent shooting
Powell was not necessarily the surprise some made him out to be last season, but he turned into a walking flame emoji down the stretch when he averaged nearly 26 ppg over Seton Hall’s final 14 games.
Powell’s most unique trait is his ability to score within the flow of the game, and then pouncing with a flurry of buckets to put the clamps on a win. He is a bit like Kawhi Leonard in that way. Though their games could not be more different, during the 2019 NBA Playoffs, even when Leonard would go four or five minutes without a touch, opposing fans still knew the dagger was coming. Powell has that same aura about him – a lion laying in wait to attack his prey.
Fellow Big East first-teamer Howard is involved in almost every play – both good and bad – and that’s how he ends up with 50+ point performances. Powell, meanwhile, will occasionally float through a contest, drop 10 points in the game’s waning moments, total 30 points for the night, and leave the opponent wondering “what just happened? He didn’t even play all that well and he still killed us!”
The 6-foot-2 guard surely returned from the NBA pre-draft process with a laundry list of skills to improve upon, but his expert footwork, impressive finishing ability (60 percent shooting at the rim last year), and superb three-point marksmanship are likely to lead Seton Hall towards the top of the conference this winter and Powell into the NBA next summer.
1. SR Markus Howard, Marquette
25.0 ppg – 4.0 rpg – 3.9 apg – 42/40/89 percent shooting
Seton Hall fans will likely gripe about Powell’s slot behind Howard, and with reason – Howard shot just 22 percent in three games against the Pirates last season, while Powell averaged 25.7 ppg on 43 percent shooting. And after dropping the January matchup in Milwaukee, SHU won the final two meetings in Newark and the Big East tournament in early March. So while the 2018-19 Player of the Year award went to Howard, Powell clearly dominated the head-to-head battle.
But it’s clear Howard was not the same player down the stretch last season, whether it was because of an injury, the wear-and-tear of a long season as a 5-foot-11 guard, unseen chemistry issues in the Marquette locker room, or the opponent’s schematic changes. While all legitimate excuses, those flaws – including the ability to stay healthy and reliably create offense for others – are still real problems that could very well carry over to a new campaign.
But when he is anywhere close to healthy, Howard is capable of feats rarely seen in college basketball. Powell can turn into a supernova in an instant; Howard operates in turbo mode for all 40 minutes. Just ask Buffalo. Or Creighton. Or Providence. Or even Seton Hall in 2017-18 (32 points on 9-13 shooting).
Steve Wojciechowski will need to protect his All-American from himself at times, shifting some of the offensive control over to Marquette’s other guards in order to keep Howard fresh for the full season. In the end, though, despite some interesting pieces across the roster, the Golden Eagles will go as far as Howard – the best scorer in MU’s illustrious history – will take them.
Five More to Watch: James Akinjo (GU), Mustapha Heron (STJ), Koby McEwen (MU), Luwane Pipkins (PC), Paul Scruggs (XU)