Big East Basketball: St. John's, Villanova rise in updated 2024-25 WTE power rankings

9. Butler Bulldogs

A rough slide towards the end of the season negated an overall solid second year in the Thad Matta era, finishing right around .500 in the Big East Basketball standings. But they lost two of the core four starters who carried the offensive production in DJ Davis and Posh Alexander, who entered the transfer portal.

The good news for Butler is that the two leading scorers are back in Pierre Brooks and Jahmyl Telfort, who combined to produce around 29 ppg and 9.0 rpg. The other three rotation players set to return are guards Landon Moore and Finley Bizjack, as well as center Andre Screen, who’ll take over as the starter with Jalen Thomas gone.

The big question for this team is how the new group of transfers fit in. The hope is that Tulane transfer Kolby King (10.4 ppg and 1.8 apg) can take care of some of the ball-handling duties, while former Iowa forward Patrick McCaffery looks to provide a shooting and spacing boost in the lineup.

Jamie Kaiser, a former top-40 prospect, is an interesting transfer from Maryland as he could be a breakout candidate. Butler will certainly be loaded on the wings but the main concerns are at point guard and center. If those positions remain shaky, it’ll be hard for them to move up the league ladder.