Big East Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)
By Joey Loose
5. Kris Dunn
A dynamic high school player and 5-star recruit, Dunn made his way to Providence as part of Ed Cooley’s first recruiting class. A 6’3 point guard from New London, Connecticut, Dunn made quite a name for himself across four seasons leading the Friars. He put up decent figures as a freshman but missed much of his second year with a shoulder injury, making our focus almost solely on those two final seasons.
In what was his redshirt sophomore campaign, Dunn made a major comeback, averaging 15.6 points, 7.5 assists, and 2.7 steals per game for the Friars. He had his first triple-double in a win over DePaul and led Providence to a 24-win season. He’d contribute similar numbers the following season (16.4 points, 6.2 assists per game) adding another triple-double and a boatload of production. He actually scored 29 points in his final collegiate game, an NCAA Tournament loss to North Carolina, an eventual Final Four team.
In 2015, Dunn was named Co-Player of the Year and Co-Defensive Player of the Year in Big East Basketball after quite the bounce back from his shoulder injury. As a junior, he’d claim both those awards on his own and was also a Second Team All-American, emerging as a star in the Big East. He led his league in steals in both seasons and was also among the top assists guys in the league. Dunn had a remarkable impact in those final two years in Providence and turned that success into the 5th overall pick of the 2016 NBA Draft.