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

3. Creighton Bluejays

Like Marquette, Creighton also had a star trio last season. And just like the Eagles, the Bluejays lost two of them to the NBA Draft, including leading scorers Baylor Scheierman and Trey Alexander. The duo combined for over 37 ppg, 14 rpg, and 8.0 apg in the backcourt and will be hard to replace.

The good news is that Creighton has back starting center, Ryan Kalkbrenner. The multi-time Defensive Player of the Year averaged 17.3 ppg and 7.6 rpg and will be an All-American candidate after losing so many quality bigs in the sport this offseason. Helping depth is backup center Fredrick King returning to the team after originally entering the portal.

On paper, what gives the Bluejays an edge over Marquette is that they did add a couple of key pieces from the portal. Pop Isaacs (15.8 ppg) led the team in scoring at Texas Tech and will be paired with returning point guard Steven Ashworth, while Jamiya Neal is a double-digit scorer from Arizona State who’ll be slotted on the wings.

Assuming that Neal and Isaacs work out, this roster should be in the top-25 mix and a threat to win the regular-season title. But they aren’t nearly as efficient from the field compared to Alexander and Scheierman, so the offense could take a collective dip. That makes the defensive efforts of Kalkbrenner even more important next season.