Big East: Xavier Musketeers +600
Much like the Big 12 and witnessing a single-team domination at the top of the conference, Villanova has firmly stamped their authority on the Big East. The Wildcats have won the regular-season title in seven of the last eight years and four conference tournament titles, including a pair of national titles. While head coach Jay Wright has held the program to the highest of standards, last season proved there may be a chink in the team’s armor following the injury to point guard Collin Gillespie.
The absence of Gillespie in the rotation leading up to the NCAA and conference tournaments caused Villanova to spiral a bit. A 2-3 record in the games he missed showed the Wildcats were ill-prepared for younger reserve guards to carry the team’s mantle. While there’s been time between this event and present circumstances, Villanova’s roster has not changed much and there’s a question mark surrounding the Center position this season.
Adding to the susceptibility for this team in 2021-22, the Wildcats have only won their titles by an average of two games per season and stand to have little room for error. If they are to be topped, there isn’t a better opportunity than this year.
UConn could be a good bet, but they are not without question marks as well in the backcourt. The value on Xavier +600 however is rather enticing considering the Musketeers retained their top talent and deepened their stable of players likely to contribute to this year’s rotation. Led by the double-digit trio of Zach Freemantle, Paul Scruggs, and Nate Johnson, Coach Steele’s group maintains the scoring potency from last year’s team that resulted in a 20-point blowout of Oklahoma.
The depth on this year’s team will not be an issue either as guards Dwon Odom, KyKy Tandy, Adam Kunkel, and Colby Jones were each in the vicinity of double-digit points last season. The Musketeers heavily relied on their backcourt rotation to pour points onto the scoreboard, but the move caused weaknesses on the defensive end resulting in rocky conference play. The teams’ oft-injured frontcourt was not able to provide much in the way of support in that regard, but following an offseason to recover this group may be a growing strength for Xavier.
The return of talented bigs Ben Stanley and Dieonte Miles, as well as the additions of Jack Nunge (Iowa), Jerome Hunter (Indiana), and freshman Cesare Edwards, create the potential for this year’s frontcourt to actually be an area of reliance and production. Notably, Xavier’s toughest defenders came from this part of the court and the arrival of Nunge may have helped the team to land their best one yet.
With more balance at both ends of the floor, there’s plenty of reason to believe this version of Xavier can compete for a regular-season title. Recent editions of the Musketeers achieving this level of success, such as 2015-16 and 2017-18, featured very similar roster construction and production to the 2021-22 team expected to roll out next month. A slight improvement defensively and lineup consistency could pave the way to big dividends for Xavier.