It has been a weird 2014 Big East season. Exciting and sensational, yes — Creighton and Villanova offensively assaulting their opponents, Doug McDermott’s ascension through the NCAA’s record book, St. John’s 10-3 streak after starting the season 0-5 — but the central theme of the revised conference play has been the inability of any team other than Creighton or Villanova to separate themselves. Forget KenPom or RPI rankings: the other eight team simply aren’t that good. This has made for a entertaining, but also frustrating, season: games which would define a team’s season in past years — SJU beating Creighton at the Garden, Georgetown defeating Xavier and Creighton — were followed by puzzling defeats. So while the first post-realignment Big East has been definitely a mixed bag, below are the conference’s final tempo-free metrics, and the all-conference honors.
| 12-Mar | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Villanova | 16-2 | 1.15 | 1.00 |
| Creighton | 14-4 | 1.19 | 1.05 |
| St. John’s | 10-8 | 1.03 | 0.99 |
| Xavier | 10-8 | 1.09 | 1.07 |
| Providence | 10-8 | 1.09 | 1.09 |
| Marquette | 9-9 | 1.04 | 1.06 |
| Georgetown | 8-10 | 1.05 | 1.07 |
| Seton Hall | 6-12 | 1.04 | 1.08 |
| Butler | 4-14 | 1.00 | 1.09 |
| DePaul | 3-15 | 1.00 | 1.16 |
- Player of the year: Doug McDermott, Creighton (obviously, though in any other season, Providence’s Bryce Cotton would get the nod)
- Coach of the year: Jay Wright, Villanova (even though Creighton is the only team to defeat the Wildcats, a top-seed in the Big East tournament was wholly unexpected)
- Rookie of the year: Rysheed Jordan, St. John’s (the Philadelphia-native is so hard to defend in isolation situations that it masks his perimeter deficiencies, and it will be interesting if he returns for his sophomore year)
First team all-conference
- McDermott
- D’Angelo Harrison, St. John’s
- Cotton
- James Bell, Villanova
- Semaj Christon, Xavier
Second team all-conference
- Markel Starks, Georgetown (though I am buying stock in D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera for a outstanding Big East tourney. The guard tumbled mid-season, and Starks was sound throughout January and February, but a breakout postseason for Smith-Rivera is a possibility)
- Ethan Wragge, Creighton (the Bluejays’ offense isn’t as potent if the bearded marksman isn’t connecting from deep)
- Justin Martin, Xavier
- Jordan
- JayVaughn Pinkston, Villanova
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