NCAA Basketball: Evaluating bold predictions from 2019-20 season

Big East

1) Myles Powell wins National Player of the Year while leading Seton Hall to the Big East title

Knee tendinitis really slowed Powell down over the past part of the season, and his shooting percentages show it. He ended up dropping out of the National Player of the Year race in early March but still put together enough of a campaign to be named a first-team All-American.

And, while Powell struggles played a part in the Pirates going 5-5 in their last 10 games and not winning the Big East title outright, they still claimed a share and were either tied for first or alone in first in conference all season long.

2) James Akinjo is Powell’s biggest competition for Big East Player of the Year as Georgetown finishes third

Welp, this went awry a few weeks into the season as three Georgetown players had assault and battery charges brought against them, leading all three to transfer. Akinjo was not one of those, but he opted to transfer to Arizona at the same time citing displeasure with the program while also wanting to be closer to his hometown in California. Obviously, those moves completely changed Georgetown’s outlook for the season.

3) Two Big East teams make the Final Four

Unfortunately, we will never know. Three teams appeared to have legitimate chances to make it in Creighton, Seton Hall, and Villanova. However, for what it’s worth, Providence was the only Big East team to make the Final Four in my NCAA Tournament simulation.

We’ll call this 1-1 (Seton Hall was technically two predictions) with two no contests.