Compared to the other conferences, Big East Basketball wasn’t dominated by transfers from the previous year. Players such as Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton), Zach Freemantle (Xavier), Eric Dixon (Villanova), and Kam Jones (Marquette) spent their whole careers with their teams but have run out of eligibility this offseason.
That means many Big East teams had to go use the portal even more than usual to replenish the talent pool. After weeks of roster building, here are three early winners to this point.
Winner No. 1 - St. John’s Red Storm
- Joson Sanon (Arizona State)
- Bryce Hopkins (Providence)
- Oziyah Sellers (Stanford)
- Dylan Darling (Idaho State)
- Dillon Mitchell (Cincinnati)
- Ian Jackson (North Carolina)
Coach Rick Pitino lost everyone outside of center Zuby Ejiofor so there was a definite need to land some talent. And that they did, landing several high-major players, including guys like Sellers, Sanon, and Jackson who shot around 40% from three-point range. If Hopkins, a former All-Big East star, is healthy again, the Red Storm could be a preseason top-10 team.
Winner No. 2 - Creighton Bluejays
- Josh Dix (Iowa)
- Nik Graves (Charlotte)
- Owen Freeman (Iowa)
- Austin Swartz (Miami)
- Blake Harper (Howard)
The duo of Dix and Freeman will automatically have Creighton as one of the best offenses in Big East Basketball, once again. Harper, the Player of the Year as just a freshman in the MEAC at Howard, could be a nice x-factor on the wings if he can play at the high-major level.
Winner No. 3 - Providence Friars
- Jason Edwards (Vanderbilt)
- Daquan Davis (Florida State)
- Jaylin Sellers (UCF)
- Duncan Powell (Georgia Tech)
- Cole Hargrove (Drexel)
Despite losing Hopkins and several other starters, the Friars could have a better backcourt for next season, assuming Sellers, who missed all of this past season with an injury, is good to go. Edwards led Vandy in scoring and is a proven high-major guy, while Powell is a capable stretch forward who was originally a Georgetown transfer commit before picking Providence this offseason.