My new 2026-27 Big East projections

[Halldan]

NCAA Locks​

1. UConn​

2. St. John's​

3. Villanova​

4. Providence​

​

NCAA hopefuls​

5. Marquette​

6. Creighton​

7. Seton Hall​

8. Xavier​

9. DePaul​

​

No Chance to Dance​

10. Georgetown​

11. Butler​

 

[SHUSource]

It's amazing how Georgetown just can't get any traction. They have money and a coach who has some track record of success -- not stellar and, ever more so, not so recently, but still... They're getting to be the next DePaul.

 

[SPK145]

Tier 1
1 - Villanova
2 - UCONN
3 - St. John's

Tier 2 (these can finish in any order)
4 - Marquette
5 - Providence
6 - Xavier
7 - Creighton
8 - Seton Hall
9 - DePaul

Tier 3
10 - Georgetown
11 - Butler

 

[jack 1970]

I'm not so sure about Providence. They are constantly rated high and disappoint.

 

[PirateBlue08]

I'm not so sure about Providence. They are constantly rated high and disappoint.

True but English was a weak hire. I don’t think Hodgson will be

 

[Piratz]

It's amazing how Georgetown just can't get any traction. They have money and a coach who has some track record of success -- not stellar and, ever more so, not so recently, but still... They're getting to be the next DePaul.

Is remarkable to me too. Something isn’t right.

 

[Halldan]

Just want to note, My tiers can finish in any order. An injury here or one there can make a difference, I would have had SJU on top if not for the injury to Donnie Freeman, That's a brutal loss no matter how much money you have in NIL.

Conversely I bumped Nova up a spot ahead of Providence with the arrival of 7-3 Luigi Suigo and it would not surprise me to see them give UConn and SJU a run for their money.

 

[dehere23]

Just want to note, My tiers can finish in any order. An injury here or one there can make a difference, I would have had SJU on top if not for the injury to Donnie Freeman, That's a brutal loss no matter how much money you have in NIL.

Conversely I bumped Nova up a spot ahead of Providence with the arrival of 7-3 Luigi Suigo and it would not surprise me to see them give UConn and SJU a run for their money.

Agreed.

When one of your big portal additions goes down during the late summer, it impacts you multiple ways. One, because you construct your roster with that player in mind, meaning it impacted to varying degrees all the other moves you made. Two, difficult to find a replacement this late. If it happened in April or May, different story.

That said, I still think SJU is a top 25 team because of Pitino and the rest of the roster. But I absolutely think Nova can push to unseat them as back-to-back BE champs, and Uconn will be the favorite (as they should).

I also think Uconn and Hurley will be particularly motivated to to win the Big East this year, like they were last season. They had a terrific run to the title game, but I have no doubt that SJU running through the BE regular seasons and tourneys the last two years doesn't sit well with the blue chip/big boy program of our league.

 

[joeyklings]

1. Uconn
2. St j
3. Prov
4. Nova
5. Marq
6. Depaul
7. Gtown
8. Creighton
9. X
10. Hall
11. Butler

 

[Fishjam]

Is remarkable to me too. Something isn’t right.

Cooley had it rolling at Providence but really lost his reputation by leaving under shady circumstances. He brought bad karma to Georgetown and I really don't think he works as hard as he used to. Add in the fact that they play in front of swaths of empty seats and there is just nothing to get excited about for GT despite their resources.

 

[Fishjam]

Top 15 teams
StJohn's
UConn

NCAA teams
Nova
Providence

Hopefuls
Marquette
Xavier
DePaul
Creighton
Seton Hall

Basement
Georgetown
Butler

 

[Seton75]

Was GU ever a hoops power if a John Thompson wasnt coaching.

 

[Halldan]

 

[NittanyPirate]

I used to enjoy reading these predictions to see how they matched up with my own. Now I enjoy seeing them because it’s impossible for me to formulate my own.

Purely based on what I have read about our incoming roster, and knowing almost nothing about the other teams, I am optimistic that we can overachieve a little bit again this year. Finishing 6-7th and being on the bubble seems attainable.

 

[NIL BAD]

It's going to be hard for Uconn to replace the leadership of Karaban, especially at the start of the season. I do think Solo Ball will have a rebound year however. There was clearly something wrong with him last year.

 

[PirateBlue08]

It's going to be hard for Uconn to replace the leadership of Karaban, especially at the start of the season. I do think Solo Ball will have a rebound year however. There was clearly something wrong with him last year.

Isn’t he out for the year?

 

[joeyklings]

Isn’t he out for the year?

Yes

 

[SPK145]

I used to enjoy reading these predictions to see how they matched up with my own. Now I enjoy seeing them because it’s impossible for me to formulate my own.

Purely based on what I have read about our incoming roster, and knowing almost nothing about the other teams, I am optimistic that we can overachieve a little bit again this year. Finishing 6-7th and being on the bubble seems attainable.

6th or 7th in the BE won’t be near the bubble. With 76 teams now in the NCAA, 4th or 5th will be on the bubble.

 

[Merge]

I used to enjoy reading these predictions to see how they matched up with my own. Now I enjoy seeing them because it’s impossible for me to formulate my own.

Purely based on what I have read about our incoming roster, and knowing almost nothing about the other teams, I am optimistic that we can overachieve a little bit again this year. Finishing 6-7th and being on the bubble seems attainable.

Seriously. You'd have to spend hours of research just to come with an educated guess at this point.

In my opinion, this years roster is better on paper than last years roster. I just have no idea about the other teams in the league to guess if they will be the same or better than they were.

 

[Seton75]

This is why these letters were invented lol.

Yup. WGAS.

 

[NittanyPirate]

6th or 7th in the BE won’t be near the bubble. With 76 teams now in the NCAA, 4th or 5th will be on the bubble.

Thats depressing to read. Sounds like the BigEast needs the tournament to expand to 100 teams to get back to having > 50% of the conference receive bids.

 

[Halldan]

Can't agree that 4 will be on the Bubble. The top 4 teams IMO are locks. Then you have 5-9 in the conference and this season at worst I believe at least two make it, maybe a third if everything falls right.

I'll go with 6 Big East teams for now.

 

[Fishjam]

Big East teams spent a lot more money this year in the Portal and International markets. I don't know if we have 1 dominant team that will make the Final 4 like UConn has done in 3 of the last 4 years but the overall talent in the league is deeper and with the larger pool, we should result in more bids than we have gotten in last 3 years. Less than 6 will be disappointing.

 

[Anon1774390042]

It's going to be hard for Uconn to replace the leadership of Karaban, especially at the start of the season. I do think Solo Ball will have a rebound year however. There was clearly something wrong with him last year.

Ball is out for the season due to wrist surgery. Hell be back in 1 year

 

[Anon1774390042]

Big East teams spent a lot more money this year in the Portal and International markets. I don't know if we have 1 dominant team that will make the Final 4 like UConn has done in 3 of the last 4 years but the overall talent in the league is deeper and with the larger pool, we should result in more bids than we have gotten in last 3 years. Less than 6 will be disappointing.

UCONN will be dominant.
I think they will get off to slow start because they have their most difficult OOC schedule in their history. It is BRUTAL.
However, by season's end they will be a machine.

 

[joeyklings]

UCONN will be dominant.
I think they will get off to slow start because they have their most difficult OOC schedule in their history. It is BRUTAL.
However, by season's end they will be a machine.

You can’t get off to a slow start and be dominant. If they are dominant they should handle their non conference schedule

 

[PirateBlue08]

You can’t get off to a slow start and be dominant. If they are dominant they should handle their non conference schedule

You can become dominant once you come together as a team through the early battles. Always a contrarian this guy.

 

[joeyklings]

You can become dominant once you come together as a team through the early battles. Always a contrarian this guy.

I don’t think you understand what the word dominant means…

 

[dehere23]

Seriously. You'd have to spend hours of research just to come with an educated guess at this point.

In my opinion, this years roster is better on paper than last years roster. I just have no idea about the other teams in the league to guess if they will be the same or better than they were.

You can bank on Hurley as Uconn will again have the best roster on paper IMO.

You can bank on Pitino because 40+ years tells us that he could coach 5 guys off the street to a decent record, and they have talent even with the Freeman injury.

At this point, I think you can pretty much bank on Willard having a solid team and they have talent too, especially with the big time giant they added late that some thought would be a late first round pick.

Marquette looks prime for a rebound season and they have talent, but not sure what the ceiling or floor looks like there.

Not sure if Creighton is better on paper, but that coach has been successful and so I think they will be anywhere from OK to good.

I think we are better on paper, as is is Xavier. Tough to figure where both land. Providence had huge talent last year but Kim English to bring them down, and with the "Shark" plus the talent they brought in, I think they'll be pretty good too (but again no feel on the ceiling or floor).

 

[dehere23]

UCONN will be dominant.
I think they will get off to slow start because they have their most difficult OOC schedule in their history. It is BRUTAL.
However, by season's end they will be a machine.

They've been great in the OOC the last two years despite playing a monster schedule.

It is the Big East where they've gotten beat at times, but even last year they were historically dominant along with SJU. It's just that SJU has gotten the better of them the last 2 years pretty consistently.

 

[PirateBlue08]

I don’t think you understand what the word dominant means…

Dominant once the team gels. Why is that so hard to understand?