Marquette Men's Basketball Picked To Finish Seventh

Surprising no one, Villanova was the unanimous choice to win the Big East this season.  They picked up all nine first place votes that they could get, as coaches aren't allowed to vote for their own teams or players.  Here's the full rundown, complete with point totals:

You can see the clear dividing lines of where the coaches generally slotted teams. Villanova, then Georgetown and St. John's.  Xavier, Providence and Seton Hall are a solid pack together, and then there's everyone else, with DePaul pulling up the rear, as they should.  Interesting to note that the Blue Demons are not a unanimous pick to finish last.

I had Xavier above both St. John's and Georgetown in my preseason predictions, but it's the same five teams.  I'll take that as a win.  Also a win for me: accurately picking Isaiah Whitehead from Seton Hall as the preseason player of the year.  That one seemed pretty easy, though.

Things I can't take as a win: picking Darrun Hilliard as the preseason player of the year.

The Big East coaches voted Georgetown's D`Vauntes Smith-Rivera as the player of the year, and Hilliard didn't even make it onto the five man all-conference team.

Let's check out those preseason all-conference teams...

2014-15 BIG EAST Preseason All-BIG EAST First Team
Kellen Dunham, Butler, G, Jr.
D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Georgetown, G, Jr.
D'Angelo Harrison, St. John's, G, Sr.
JayVaughn Pinkston, Villanova, F, Sr.
Matt Stainbrook, Xavier, C, Sr.

2014-15 BIG EAST Preseason All-BIG EAST Second Team
Billy Garrett, Jr., DePaul, G, So.
LaDontae Henton, Providence, F, Sr.
Rysheed Jordan, St. John's, G, So.
Ryan Arcidiacono, Villanova, G, Jr.
Darrun Hilliard, Villanova, G, Sr.

2014-15 Preseason All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention
Roosevelt Jones, Butler, G, Jr.
Chris Obekpa, St. John's, C, Jr.
Sterling Gibbs, Seton Hall, G, Jr.

I had six players in my prediction for the all-Big East squad, which means, technically, I picked the all-conference team correctly, as I got all five guys right.  I had Hilliard pegged as the best guy on the best team, so if you want to make the argument that Pinkston's actually the best guy, that's fine.  I don't know how he loses out a spot to Kellen Dunham, though.

As you can notice, there are no Marquette players amongst the group of 13 players voted as the best guys in the Big East.  I can't really fault anyone for that, as MU is loaded with guys who have the ability to jump themselves into this group by the end of the season.  They just don't deserve a slot at this point based on what they did in previous seasons.