Big East Basketball: 2022 offseason grades for each team
Villanova Wildcats – Grade: A
It’s hard to imagine how a program suddenly loses a Hall-of-Famer head coach and still gets an “A” but the Villanova culture is that strong. Jay Wright may be gone but his replacement is former assistant Kyle Neptune, who took Fordham from 2 to 16 wins this past season.
He’s a great pick for the program and clearly, the players and recruits agreed since none of them opted to leave. All three incoming freshmen stayed, including five-star prospect Cam Whitmore, are playing for Coach Neptune and the Wildcats are still primed to contend for a Big East Basketball title.
Xavier Musketeers – Grade: B+
It may be viewed as a controversial move but Xavier bringing back head coach Sean Miller could pay off big-time for the program. And everyone who has eligibility opted to stay, outside of backup wing Ben Stanley. That includes forwards Zach Freemantle and Jack Nunge, along with Colby Jones.
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The Musketeers also brought in double-digit scoring guard Souley Boum from UTEP to bolster the backcourt after losing Paul Scruggs. It’s a roster that just missed out on the NCAA Tournament and with Coach Miller around, could be good enough to make the jump. With an upgrade at coach and the roster mainly intact, it was an overall very good offseason for Xavier.