Arlesia Morse Named To Preseason All-Big East Women's Basketball Team; Marquette Picked 7th

Marquette guard Arlesia Morse was included in the 10 player preseason all-conference team selected by the Big East women's basketball head coaches.

The senior from Flint, Michigan averaged 11.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game last season, and will be a major focus for the Golden Eagles offense this year.

As far as the other player voting goes, Creighton's Marissa Janning was named the preseason Player of the Year.  This is of no surprise to anyone, as the junior was named the postseason Player of the Year last season.  Georgetown's Dorothy Adomako was named the Preseason Freshman of the Year.

As far as the other spots in the all-conference team go...

Preseason All-BIG EAST Team
Caroline Coyer, Villanova, Jr., G
Danaejah Grant, St. John's, Jr., G
Aliyyah Handford, St. John's, Jr.*
Alexis Harris, Providence, Sr., F
Brittany Hrynko, DePaul, Sr., G*
Arlesia Morse, Marquette, Sr., G
Tabatha Richardson-Smith, Seton Hall, Jr., F
Megan Rogowski, DePaul, Sr., G*
Ka-Deidre Simmons, Seton Hall, RS-Sr., G*
Faith Woodard, Georgetown, So., F

Preseason All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention
Sarah Beal, Providence, So., G
Amber Thompson, St. John's, Sr., F

Hey, wait a minute.  Marissa Janning's not on the all-conference team.  How is that possible?  Was she automatically lifted from the team because she was voted player of the year?  That has to be it, because there are four players who were unanimous choices for the all-Big East team, and you'd figure someone named the best player in the whole league would have to beat out those four choices for the top spot.

Anyway.

I hit on four of my six predictions for the all-Big East women's team.  I missed on Janning for whatever reason that she's not in the squad, and I missed on Natalie Butler.  That one's on me, because I neglected to double check Georgetown's roster.  As it turns out, Butler has transferred to Connecticut, so I'm going to give myself partial credit.

The Golden Eagles were picked to finish seventh in the preseason balloting of the Big East's head coaches.  The Golden Eagles picked up 34 points, finishing two behind sixth place Providence and eight in front of eighth place Georgetown.

DePaul was picked to repeat as regular season champions, earning all nine votes that they could get, as head coach Doug Bruno was not allowed to vote for his squad.  His vote went to second place St. John's.  Here's the full rundown:

1. DePaul, 81 points
2. St. John's, 73
3. Villanova, 60
4. Creighton, 55
5. Seton Hall, 51
6. Providence, 36
7. Marquette, 34
8. Georgetown, 26
9. Xavier, 24
10. Butler, 10

The Blue Demons and Red Storm appear to be the clear cut 1-2 punch of the league, with Villanova, Creighton, and Seton Hall jockeying back and forth for the next three slots.  The heavy drop off to Providence proves that there's a divide in the expectations for the top and bottom halves of the league this season, especially when you get down to Butler.  The Bulldogs managed just 10 points, meaning only one coach has them finishing out of the basement, and even that coach only has them in ninth place.

The top two are exactly the top two I had in my predictions, as are the next three.  I had the order flipped around a bit (Creighton 3, Seton Hall 4, Villanova 5), but who's counting minor discrepancies at a time like this?  The important thing is getting all five teams correct.