Breaking Down Big East Preseason Poll Tiers

Earlier this week, the Big East released its Preseason Coaches’ Poll ahead of the 2025-26 season. After a historic season, winning the Big East regular season title and the conference tournament, St. John’s was tabbed as the top team in the poll. As with most of these polls, it’s unlikely these teams will finish in the exact order as predicted. But that doesn’t mean there is some value in seeing how these coaches view their rivals.

Generally, the Big East Preseason Poll can be broken down into a few tiers. There’s always 2-3 teams that are favored to compete for conference title, then about 6-7 teams bunched in the middle that could finish in any order. These teams are usually fighting for a tournament spot. Finally, you have 2-3 bottom dwellers whom the other teams will pick on for easy wins.

Breaking Down Big East Preseason Poll Tiers

The Contenders

1. St. John’s
2. UConn
3. Creighton

The Red Storm and the Huskies both received first place votes in the poll. Not only are they picked to be the best in the Big East, they are ranked fifth and fourth on the AP’s Top 25 Preseason Poll. St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor, the conference’s reigning Most Improved Player, was picked as the Preseason Player of the Year. He averaged 14.7 points and 8.1 rebounds last season. His teammate, and Providence transfer, Bryce Hopkins made the First Team.

UConn flooded the First Team with a trio of returning players in Solo Ball, Alex Karaban, and Tarris Reed Jr.. After a “down” year by  head coach Dan Hurley’s standard, the Huskies retool by adding Georgia transfer Silas Demary Jr. and Preseason Freshman of the Year, Braylon Mullins.

It could be argued that the Red Storm and the Huskies should be in a tier of their own. With the returning talent and top-10 national rankings, on paper it seems like there is a fair game. But it was actually Creighton who finished second in the Big East and beat UConn to make it to the conference finals. Blue Jays head coach Greg McDermott knows how to win. While Creighton may not be as stacked as St. John’s or UConn, it broke into the rankings at 23. Two newcomers from Iowa, Owen Freeman (First Team) and Josh Dix (Second Team) both made the preseason teams. They come in a one of the top transfer pairs in the league.

The Middle Scrum

1. Providence
2. Marquette
3. Georgetown
4. Villanova
5. Xavier

This is where things get fun. Any of these teams are an “if” or two from being fourth, or even third, in the league. How clustered are these teams? The Preseason Poll had fourth-place Providence 16 points behind Creighton, while the gap between the Friars and seventh-place Villanova was 14 points.

If Oswin Erhunmwunse builds off his All-Big East Freshman Team season and Jason Edwards can average another 17 points per games, the Friars should rebound from an usually bad season. Head coach Kim English’s team could be scary if the mesh quickly.

If Chase Ross and Ben Gold are the next beneficiaries of Shaka Smart’s “Our Way” system, Marquette will make its fifth straight tournament. Without Tyler Kolek or Kam Jones, who will be the leader on the offensive end?

If Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley wants to see progress in Year 3, Malik Mack has to become that guy. He led the team in assists and averaged 12.9 points per game. The Hoyas, who lost five of their top six scorers from last season, hope Arizona transfer K.J. Lewis came make up for the losses.

If freshman Acaden Lewis can lead a group of transfers under new coach Kevin Williard, Villanova will compete for its first tournament bid since the Jay Wright era.

If Richard Pitino can get a group of transfer to mesh like his father, Xavier is going to be a scary team to matchup against.

The Bottom of the League

1. DePaul
2. Butler
3. Seton Hall

Xavier was actually closer to DePaul than to Villanova based on the votes, but the Musketeers should have enough depth to compete with the majority of the league. Rather than a question or two, this trio of teams simply do not have the proven talent expected to compete in the league. For any of them to finish in the top half of the league, a lot has to go right.

Is this probably the first year in a long time DePaul has buzz around the program? Head coach Chris Holtmann improved the team’s win total from three to 14. The Blue Demons still struggled against Big East opponents. The good news is Holtmann kept three starters and got transfer Kaleb Banks, who averaged 14.7 points at Tulane. But until this team proves it can get even close to .500 in the Big East, it’s hard to put them in the middle tier.

Even if things don’t go to plan for the middle-tier teams, they should still finish above .500 . For Butler, they need multiple things to go right just to be competitive. Thad Matta lost his top three scorers for a team that finished 6-14 in the conference. In order to make up for the offense and really improve on the defense, transfers Jalen Jackson and Michael Ajayi are going to have to shoulder the load.

Seton Hall has a long way to go after finishing with seven wins last season. The Pirates did not return any key contributors and their best transfer Adam “Budd” Clark, who averaged 19.8 points at Merrimack of the MAAC. Head coach Shaheen Holloway will have his work cut out this season.