Big East Basketball: Ranking conference’s top position groups for 2019-20

Big Men

1. Georgetown

Key Names: Omer Yurtseven, Josh LeBlanc
Role Player: Qudus Wahab
Scouting Report: Yurtzeven and LeBlanc figure to be a fearsome duo down low, as the Hoyas will pair Yurtseven’s deft touch and size with LeBlanc’s manic energy and athleticism. Yurtseven posted a 13/7/2 stat line as a sophomore with NC State en route to a third-team all-ACC finish, and should slide seamlessly into Georgetown’s Jessie Govan-sized hole in the middle. LeBlanc, meanwhile, is a rebounding freak. Wahab – a top-150 recruit – enters the fray as talented depth for Patrick Ewing’s squad.

2. Providence

Key Names: Nate Watson, Kalif Young
Role Players: Noah Horchler, Jimmy Nichols Jr., Kris Monroe, Emmitt Holt
Scouting Report: Watson has produced two highly productive years with PC, and should only advance his status as the bulwark of Providence’s interior in 2019-20. He averaged 12 ppg and 5 rpg as a sophomore, highlighted by a six-game run where he posted 17 ppg against Big East competition. Expect those kinds of performances more often this season. Behind Watson and Young is Horchler, who could be a game-changer for the Friars. Horchler is a grad transfer from North Florida, where he averaged 16 ppg and 9 rpg last year. The Atlantic Sun certainly does not provide the stiffest competition, though Horchler did tally 13 ppg on 60 percent shooting in six games against Dayton, Penn State, Florida, Minnesota, Florida State, and Auburn. He can even step outside the arc (32 percent career from three), and at 6-foot-8, could make a nice pair with Watson, who is more of a low-post artist, but has shown signs of promise from deep.

3. Xavier

Key Names: Tyrique Jones, Jason Carter
Role Players: Zach Freemantle, Daniel Ramsey, Deionte Miles
Scouting Report: Carter joins the Musketeers as a grad transfer from Ohio, though he does have two years of eligibility remaining. At 6-foot-8, he can stuff the stat sheet like a traditional big man (17 ppg and 7 rpg last season), but he also has a bit of a playmaking gene, something that Xavier desperately needs. Carter hit 34 percent of his threes last year and dished out two assists per game. Jones’ game is the antithesis of Carter’s – he lives in the paint and provides more brute force – but it can be just as effective. Steele’s freshmen trio of bigs – Freemantle, Ramsey, and Miles – all rank between 130 and 200 in 247sports recruiting rankings. One of them should pop as the third piece in Xavier’s evolving frontcourt.

4. DePaul

Key Names: Paul Reed, Jaylen Butz
Role Players: Nick Ongenda
Scouting Report: Reed is ready to burst onto the scene for the Blue Demons. After a quiet freshman year, the Florida native found his groove as a sophomore, averaging 12 ppg, 9 rpg, and 1.5 bpg en route to the 2018-19 Big East Most Improved Player award, capped off by a monster six-game run in the CBI (18 ppg, 10 rpg) to finish the season. Reed will move into a more featured role this season now that DePaul is without three starters from a year ago.

Could Reed average those CBI marks over a full campaign? No Big East player has hit 18/10 since West Virginia’s Kevin Jones in 2011-12. Butz will also slide into the spotlight as a third-year player after posting 7 ppg and 6 rpg. Neither Reed nor Butz is three-point weapons, but they do provide some frontcourt flexibility at 6-foot-9. Ongenda possesses more vertical size at 6-foot-10, but his listed weight of 200 lbs and three-star prospect rating mean he will be more of a project down low.

5. Marquette

Key Names: Theo John, Ed Morrow
Role Player: Jayce Johnson
Scouting Report: John is a ferocious defender with a burgeoning offensive game, while Morrow owns the glass on both ends as an undersized five. Johnson’s skill set is a bit duplicative behind those two, but still provides starting-caliber depth for John and Morrow’s inevitable foul trouble. Steve Wojciechowski has been not-so-secretly hinting at using lineups featuring two bigs this year, which is certainly a change from Marquette’s recent spread offenses. MU’s season could hinge on the success and frequency of these lineups, because at first blush, all three bigs seem better suited to play as the lone interior presence rather than pairing with another low-post lumberer.

6. Seton Hall

Key Names: Sandro Mamukelashvili, Ike Obiagu
Role Players: Romaro Gill, Taurean Thompson, Tyrese Samuel, Darnell Brodie
Scouting Report: This group has a ton of high-impact upside, but outside of Mamukelashvili, there are a bunch of guys who could flit in and out of the rotation. Mamukelashvili posted an under-the-radar season as a sophomore, averaging 9/8/2 in 29 minutes per game. He profiles as a stretch-4, and while his shooting percentages do not necessarily bear that out (30 percent from three, 61 percent from the free-throw line for his career), his reputation as a floor spacer is still an effective weapon for SHU’s offense.

Obiagu was a shot-blocking machine in his lone season at Florida State (20.9 percent block rate), but he also only managed to tally 10.7 minutes per game. Gill similarly fell short of 11 minutes per game last season, and Brodie was mostly glued to the bench. Thompson saw his production cut in half after transferring from Syracuse. Few teams have this much hyper-athletic, young talent between 6-foot-8 and 7-foot-2; one of these guys will probably pop next to Mamukelashvili, but there’s no telling who it’s going to be, and it will likely change on a nightly basis. God speed to Willard as he tries to juggle this bloated frontcourt rotation.

7. Villanova

Key Names: Jermaine Samuels, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl
Role Players: Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree
Scouting Report: While Willard attempts to balance as many as six frontcourt options, Wright will have a much more manageable rotation. Samuels averaged just three ppg through his first 52 appearances but seemingly flipped a switch down the stretch in 2019-20, posting 13 ppg over his final eight games, including 29 against Marquette. His production as a versatile big man will be crucial for this inexperienced VU squad. Robinson-Earl, a 6-foot-9 five-star recruit, provides similar flexibility for Wright; he seems best utilized as an athletic 4 who can lead the break, but he may be able to soak up spot minutes at the 3 and the 5 as well. As always with young players, JRE’s defensive progress will be what keeps him on or off the floor. In that vein, Cosby-Roundtree should continue to see big minutes as the Wildcats’ lone interior defender.

8. Butler

Key Names: Bryce Nze, Derrik Smits
Role Players: Bryce Golden, John-Michael Mulloy
Scouting Report: The Bulldogs have retooled their frontcourt with a pair of transfers following the departures of Nate Fowler and Joey Brunk. Nze redshirted last year following his move from Milwaukee and averaged 10 ppg for the Panthers in 2017-18. He does not shoot the ball well (29 percent from three, 45 percent from the line for his career) and is a bit undersized at 6-foot-7, but he can absolutely rebound the heck out of the basketball. Also new to Butler’s frontcourt is Smits, who transferred after three years at Valpo, the last of which featured career-high marks in points, rebounds, and minutes played. Neither Nze and Smits profile as true floor-stretchers, but Golden has the ability to knock down the outside shot, something we may see more of now that he is no longer coming off shoulder surgery.

9. Creighton

Key Names: Jacob Epperson
Role Players: Kelvin Jones
Scouting Report: This barren frontcourt could be what caps Creighton’s season as an above-average team rather than a conference title contender. Once Martin Krampelj forwent his final year of eligibility, the low-post responsibility fell squarely on Epperson’s shoulders. The former top-100 recruit has only played in 21 games in his career, including 12 contests after his planned redshirt was pulled in January of his freshman year, and then nine more to start the 2018-19 season prior to a back injury and knee surgery.

Epperson theoretically slots in perfectly as a rim-running, shot-blocking big man surrounded by four perimeter players, but his lengthy injury history significantly lowers his stock. Even if Epperson stays healthy, McDermott will be hard-pressed to play him for more than 20 minutes per game; anything more approaches coaching malpractice. That means for much of the game, Creighton will be relying on Jones, who was somewhat serviceable on bad UTEP and Idaho State teams throughout his career, or super small-ball lineups.

10. St. John’s

Key Names: Ian Steere
Role Players: Josh Roberts
Scouting Report: Not only is there a dearth of depth here, there is also next to no experience. Steere, a top-150 recruit last season, played one game at NC State and then transferred. He will not be eligible for the Johnnies until the conclusion of the fall semester. Roberts stuck out the whole year for St. John’s in 2018-19, but only played in 18 games. The two 6-foot-9 forwards have played just 116 minutes of college ball between them, almost entirely by Roberts. St. John’s will be forced to get creative until Steere returns in mid-December, and even when he is back on the floor, foul trouble or potential injuries mean Anderson will be rolling out a ton of small-ball variations.

The Big East is well-stocked with impact stars, veteran depth, and promising youth heading into 2019-20. In such a crowded conference, whichever coaching staff can best develop its young talent this year will have a leg up on the Big East title.