Big East Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)

10. Ryan Arcidiacono

Arcidiacono has one of the most famous assists in the history of the NCAA Tournament and we’ll certainly get to that later on. A 6’3 point guard from Langhorne, Pennsylvania, he was a Top 60 recruit who stayed in-state and became a star at Villanova in the coming years. He started nearly all of the 144 games he played with the Wildcats including impressive figures as a freshman in 2013.

He actually had relatively consistent numbers throughout his playing career, putting up around 11 points and 3.5 assists in each of his four collegiate seasons. He had 18 points against UConn in the second round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament and watched his Wildcats fall early the following season, but Arcidiacono would help make up for that. As a senior, he averaged 12.5 points and 4.2 assists per game and led Villanova to the national championship. He had at least 13 points in every Tourney game and had that aforementioned pass to Kris Jenkins for the buzzer-beater to win the title.

For his time on campus at Villanova, Arcidiacono was an impressive leader. He didn’t just pass the ball around, he was a talented scorer, and was also named Big East Player of the Year for his junior season. He was among the conference’s leaders in assists and steals on multiple occasions and headed that run to a national title, just the second in Villanova’s history. His is a name that will never be forgotten in Big East Basketball.