Big East Coast Bias Preseason Power Rankings

With the 2015-16 college basketball season just one day away, Big East Coast Bias brings you the first edition of our weekly power rankings! These will continuously be a staple of our coverage this season as our staff will vote on a weekly basis on the state of the Big East Conference.

This preseason edition of the power rankings featured votes from 13 of our staff members. The resulting averages from those votes were tallied and thus, we present and unveil the first edition of the Big East Coast Bias power rankings.

Rank	Team/Record	Trending	Comments
1	(0-0)	---	The Villanova Wildcats are the preseason favorites to win the BIG EAST Conference for what would be the third consecutive season if they were to pull it off. Bringing back co-BIG EAST Player of the Year Ryan Arcidiacono as well as center Daniel Ochefu, reigning Sixth Man of the Year Josh Hart and bringing in super freshman Jalen Brunson are just some of the slew of reasons why this team has a lot of hype entering the year. The Cats were a unanimous choice to be No. 1 receiving 13 first-place votes.
2	(0-0)	---	Checking in at No. 2 in a close vote are the Butler Bulldogs. The 'Dawgs picked up a score of 2.62 with no vote lower than fourth place in the first edition of our 2015-16 power rankings. This hedged out our third-place team by just .23 points. The Bulldogs tote with them a terrific tandem of Kellen Dunham and Roosevelt Jones whose experience give their squad an edge over most of the competition in the league this year. After falling just short of a Sweet 16 appearance last year to eventual Elite Eight-bound Notre Dame, Butler is hungry to get back to the NCAA Tournament and hopefully make the second weekend this time around.
3	(0-0)	---	Just barely missing the cut for second place in the power rankings are the Georgetown Hoyas who are third in this first edition. Georgetown finished with five second-place votes amongst the field of 13 voters, with no vote lower than fifth at the end of the process. Like Butler and Villanova, Georgetown's returnees are a big reason why this team is expected to big things this year. D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera as well as a stupendous crop of sophomores ranging from Isaac Copeland to L.J. Peak and Tre Campbell to Paul White make the Hoyas a dangerous threat in the conference and nationally as well. They will be tested very early as they meet Maryland in the second game of the season in College Park.
4	(0-0)	---	The lone team to make the second weekend in the Big East last year, Xavier comes off the heels of a Sweet 16 appearance in which they battled hard with the Arizona Wildcats who were led by former Musketeers head coach Sean Miller. Trevon Bluiett, Jalen Reynolds, Remy Abell, Dee Davis and James Farr are the big-named returnees for this squad in 2015 along with the likes of JP Macura as well. Questions surrounding the point guard position should be answered relatively quickly as Chris Mack will likely decide between Larry Austin Jr. and Edmond Sumner. We'll know lots about X in about a week or so after their matchup in Ann Arbor against Caris LeVert and the Michigan Wolverines. They open with in-state opponent Miami (Ohio) on Friday night.
5	(0-0)	---	Perhaps a little bit surprisingly, the Providence Friars begin the season at the No. 5 spot in the power rankings. PC featured votes as high as No. 2 and as low as No. 6, averaging for a point total of 4.62. The Friars bring the No. 1 player in the nation in Kris Dunn along with them this year as the do-it-all point guard and reigning Co-BIG EAST Player of the Year will be under the microscope all season. The Friars lost quite a bit of scoring with the departure of LaDontae Henton this past offseason to graduation but the likes of Ben Bentil and Jalen Lindsey among others make this Frairs team a very intriguing one to say the least. PC has an early matchup with Illinois next Wednesday that will give them a good test against a solid Big Ten team.
6	(0-0)	---	The Marquette Golden Eagles are looking to get back to the NCAA Tournament this season and boast a talented crop of freshmen that may assist them in doing so. Led by the supremely talented freshman power forward Henry Ellenson, MU is No. 6 in the power rankings after amassing a point total of 5.77. The Golden Eagles featured no votes higher than fifth place and no lower than seventh place -- one vote of that kind in total -- so the BECB staff is giving them a solid shot of being in the middle of the road in the conference. MU will be tested immediately as they face Ohio Valley Conference favorite Belmont in their first game of the season and the following week will face the LSU Tigers, who boast the best freshman in the country in Ben Simmons as well as Antonio Blakeney at the Barclays Center in the Legends Classic.
7	(0-0)	---	The Creighton Bluejays are the team posted in the seventh position on the power rankings. CU featured votes as low as ninth place and as high as fifth place with a total average of 7.54 points in this preseason edition. The Jays will have Boston U transfer Mo Watson and Nevada transfer Cole Huff at their disposal as well as talented big man Geoff Groselle this season as Greg McDermott looks to right the ship after a rare dismal season in Omaha. The Bluejays still will have one of the best home court advantages in the country with their rabid fanbase filling CenturyLink Center Omaha, a 16,000+ seat venue in the heart of the city that plays like an NBA arena at times. The Bluejays begin the year against Texas Southern and UTSA before traveling to Bloomington to take on the Indiana Hoosiers.
8	(0-0)	---	The Seton Hall Pirates reside in the eighth spot to start off the year as they will look to put the nightmares of last year behind them. After the win over Villanova in South Orange, things seemed to fade fast for Kevin Willard's Pirates as they eventually finished the season unranked, missing the NCAA Tournament and obligating not to participate in the NIT or CBI. Now, with Sterling Gibbs headed to UConn and Jaren Sina having departed the program for George Washington, the spotlight is shining bright on Isaiah Whitehead, Khadeen Carrington and reigning BIG EAST Rookie of the Year Angel Delgado. A solid recruiting class joins them - namely Amarveer Singh, Myles Carter and Dalton Soffer - as The Hall embarks on an intriguing 2015-16 campaign.
9	(0-0)	---	A cellar dweller in the conference for many years, DePaul looks to find some semblance of improvement in 2015 as they check in at No. 9 in our first power rankings. Armed with new head coach Dave Leitao, who is a former Blue Demons coach himself, the Blue Demons wil be embraicng a new attitude this year. Billy Garrett Jr. and Myke Henry are back along with Rashaun Stimage and Big man Tommy Hamilton IV and they'll be welcoming a new recruiting class that includes Develle Phillips, Oumar Barry among others. DePaul opens the year against Western Michigan before traveling to State College, Pennsylvania to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions as part of the first annual Gavitt Games.
10		---	The St. John's Red Storm finish off the first set of power rankings in the proverbial basement. The BECB staff came to the second and only consensus in this edition of the power rankings, giving St. John's 13 10th place votes. Unfortunately, it's tough to disagree with the status of this team especially with the news that Marcus LoVett Jr. will be a "partial qualifier" for the 2015-16 season. New head coach Chris Mullin will have his hands full in Jamaica, Queens this year to say the least. And that might actually be an understatement to this point.