Big East Coast Bias preseason awards

We survived the long offseason! College basketball is back!

The BECB staff got together and voted on a few preseason awards for the Big East. The results are below. Let’s jump right in!

NOTE: There were 18 responses.

Big East Player of the Year

Josh Hart, Villanova (13 votes, 72.2%)

Edmond Sumner, Xavier (2 votes, 11.1%)

Jalen Brunson, Villanova (1 vote, 5.6%)

Maurice Watson, Jr., Creighton (1 vote, 5.6%)

Kelan Martin, Butler (1 vote, 5.6%)

No real surprises here. Hart ran away with the vote, just as he did in the Big East Player of the Year vote at Big East Media Day.

All-Big East First Team

G: Maurice Watson, Jr., Creighton (13 votes, 72.2%)

G: Edmond Sumner, Xavier (9 votes, 50%)

F: Trevon Bluiett, Xavier (13 votes, 72.2%)

F: Kris Jenkins, Villanova (12 votes, 66.7%)

F: Kelan Martin, Butler (10 votes, 55.6%)

Just like the regular Big East voting, the Player of the Year is automatically on the First Team, so it’s Josh Hart plus these five players.

All-Big East Second Team

G: Jalen Brunson, Villanova (4 votes, 22.2%)

G: Marcus Foster, Creighton (7 votes, 38.9%)

F: Andrew Chrabascz, Butler (5 votes, 27.8%)

F: Desi Rodriguez, Seton Hall (6 votes, 33.3%)

F: Angel Delgado, Seton Hall (5 votes, 27.8%)

As you can see, this race was incredibly tight. There was no definitive majority, unlike the previous two ballots we’ve seen so far. In a way, the First and Second Teams represent the Big East perfectly. There’s a pretty clear idea who the top is, and then the middle is a giant mess.

Big East Freshman of the Year

Shamorie Ponds, St. John’s (9 votes, 50%)

Joey Brunk, Butler (3 votes, 16.6%)

One vote each for: Eron Gordon, Markus Howard, Kalif Young, Dylan Painter, and Tyrique Jones.

Just like the Big East Media Day poll, Ponds won this quite easily. Omari Spellman probably would have won with Ponds as a close second, had Spellman not been ruled academically ineligible.

Big East Coach of the Year

Jay Wright, Villanova (5 votes, 27.8%)

Chris Mack, Xavier (5 votes, 27.8%)

Greg McDermott, Creighton (4 votes, 22.2%)

One vote each for: Chris Mullin, Ed Cooley, John Thompson III, and Chris Holtmann.

A tie! Wright has won Big East Coach of the Year in each season of the “new” Big East and took home one of the national Coach of the Year awards last season. Mack did an excellent job with the Musketeers last season and took home one of the other national Coach of the Year awards last season.

Those are our picks. How do you think we did? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!