Big East Basketball: Buy or sell UConn, Marquette, Villanova and Xavier?
By Joey Loose
Providence
The Friars lost early to Miami and Saint Louis and dropped a tough game at TCU, but those three losses are the only blemishes for a team now 6-0 in the Big East. A lot of the talent from last year’s Sweet Sixteen team is gone, but Ed Cooley revamped this lineup through the Transfer Portal and has a team that may be just as good as last year’s “lucky” squad.
Among those transfers has been Providence’s most impactful player in Bryce Hopkins (16.0 ppg, 9.1 rpg), who put up remarkable numbers after coming over from Kentucky. Fellow transfer guards Devin Carter (13.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg) and Noah Locke (10.1 ppg) have been important pieces on both sides of the ball while the Friars continue to get contributions from Jared Bynum (9.1 ppg), one of the stars from last season’s run.
Recent wins over Connecticut and Marquette have cemented the Friars’ place in the Big East’s top tier, though they still sit slightly below those teams in many of the metrics and rankings. It wasn’t a super impressive nonconference slate for this team, though they have continued to gel, especially in recent weeks. This is one of the hardest picks in the conference, but we’re going to buy the Friars as a contender. They’ve shown poise, the ability to win games using both offense and defense, and they aren’t necessarily lucking into these big wins like last year’s team.
Buy