When Big East basketball went through realignment, the fate of the conference was unknown. A decade later and the conference has continued its legacy.
25. Sandro Mamukelashvili, Seton Hall
Mamukelashvili came to Seton Hall as a complete unknown from the country of Georiga and finished his career by winning the 2020-21 Big East Player of the Year.
The big man could score at all three levels, was a good rebounder, and could even play point forward, averaging over three assists as a senior. He only had two full seasons of averaging double-digits in points, but his growth from year to year was extraordinary, raising his PPG between 3-6 each year.
24. Kamar Baldwin, Butler
The only Butler player who made the list, Baldwin sneaks in after four seasons of averaging double-digits in points and helping the Bulldogs to two seasons of 20-plus wins.
Butler hasn’t been the best team since joining the Big East but they had a good stretch of years thanks to Kelan Martin and of course, Baldwin. Maybe Thad Matta can start recruiting some big names back to Indy.
23. Mikal Bridges, Villanova
Only one of Bridges’ three seasons at Villanova was very memorable, as he was a role-player until his junior year. But boy did Bridges burst onto the season.
He averaged 17.7 PPG, only second to Jalen Brunson, and chipped in on the boards and defensively. Now, Bridges is a star in the NBA, but his junior year was quite special at Villanova.
22. Bryce Cotton, Providence
Cotton only played one season in the new Big East, so that skews where he falls on this list. However, you can’t ignore a season of nearly 22 PPG and 6 APG. Providence won 23 games this season and there’s no way the Friars would have come close had it not been for Cotton.
You could also say Cotton helped build Ed Cooley’s coaching career. It was his first 20-win season in Friartown and they took the conference championship on the shoulders of their star guard.
21. Baylor Scheierman, Creighton
Scheierman was a coveted transfer when Creighton landed him out of South Dakota State and he didn’t disappoint. His first year in town was about what you’d expect, but in 2023-24, Scheierman officially put the Big East on notice, becoming one of the top scorers in the league.
He had a lot of talent around him these past two seasons, but there’s no denying Scheierman and another name a few more spots down on this list were the players who brought the Bluejays all together.
20. Kadary Richmond, Seton Hall/St. John’s
Kadary Richmond has a chance to become an all-time Big East basketball great and villain if he plays well at St. John’s. Regardless, in three years at Seton Hall, he turned around his career, becoming a matchup nightmare as a 6-6 point guard.
Last year, the Pirates were a snub from the NCAA Tournament, but you can’t blame Richmond. He was considered one of the top players in the transfer portal for the 2024 offseason. St. John’s has the chance to turn him into an all-time Big East Basketball great, whether Pirates fans agree on that or not.
19. Marcus Foster, Creighton
It didn’t take long for Creighton to adjust to Big East basketball and Marcus Foster had a big hand in that. After transferring from Kansas State, he enjoyed two outstanding seasons in Omaha, posting nearly 20 a game his final year of eligibility.
Creighton went 46-22 in the two years Foster was burning opposing Big East guards and even thought he Bluejays have had some really good players since, he sort of started it all since they joined the conference.
18. Isaiah Whitehead, Seton Hall
Seton Hall was one of the bottom-feeder Big East basketball teams that experienced a resurgence thanks to realignment and Whitehead was a major reason why. His sophomore year will forever be remembered in Seton Hall lore. He led the Pirates to a Big East Tournament Championship, 6-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and got him drafted in 2016.
If Whitehead had stayed another year, those Pirates teams with Desi Rodriguez, Khadeen Carrington, and of course, Angel Delgado, were very special. Who knows what they could have accomplished given another year together.
17. Eric Paschall, Villanova
If you’re a fan of physical big men with some touch, you probably loved Eric Paschall’s game. At 6-8, 255 pounds, he had the size to dominate in the post, but the touch and shooting skills to open up the floor for the Wildcats.
Paschall was a champion – like most Villanova players on this list – and a clear all-time Nova great.
16. Phil Booth, Villanova
Booth is one of the few Villanova greats who didn’t make it in the NBA, but since we’re talking college basketball, he gets the nod inside the top 16 here.
He played five seasons, won two championships, and turned from an end-of-the-bench role player into the team’s leading scorer in 2019. Booth didn’t transfer out when times got rough. He stuck with it, and it paid off tremendously in the long run.
15. Ryan Arcidiacono, Villanova
A four-year player at Nova, Arcidiacono’s first year of college basketball was the last year of the Big East before realignment. Of course, his senior year ended in a championship, and he was the point guard of that team, forever enshrining him in Villanova history.
Arcidiacono played on some loaded Wildcats teams, so his stats won’t jump off the page, but if you watched his tenure in Philly, you’d know why he’s on this list.
14. Doug McDermott, Creighton
McDermott only spent one year in the conference, but it was a historic one, as he posted 26.7 PPG, one of the best scoring seasons in conference history.
Of course, Creighton won 27 games and dominated the Big East that year. You can’t understate his legacy, even if he only spent a season in the conference.
13. Donovan Clingan, UConn
Donovan Clingan’s defensive impact helped the Huskies win two National Championships in a row. He may still be raw offensively, but down the stretch of the latest Natty, we even saw that part of his game become a problem for opposing defenses.
Clingan’s size and skill also can’t be understated – the Huskies have had some loaded teams, but there’s no doubt he was a key component on both sides.
I’ve been very tough on Clingan in the past, but I’ve got to be realistic. His presence on defense has been one of the most fearful of the past decade in Big East basketball.
12. Shamorie Ponds, St. John’s
If we had to make a list of the top five Big East scorers of the decade, Ponds might be in the top five. He scored 1,870 points in just three seasons. Had he stayed a fourth year, he would have eclipsed about 2,400 points and could have topped 3,000 in today’s game where playing five seasons is becoming the norm.
Regardless, Ponds was as tough a bucket-getter as anyone in the Big East over the last 10 years. St. John’s didn’t have enough around him to make it count, but that shouldn’t take him out of this conversation.
11. Collin Gillespie, Villanova
A five-year player under Jay Wright, Gillespie won a championship as a freshman and enjoyed four more years of high-level basketball as the Wildcats’ starting point guard.
He never won the Natty as a major player, but with that type of a career, I’m sure Gillespie doesn’t care too much. Fans of other Big East teams are just glad he’s out of the conference. Five years of dealing with him was five years two many.
10. Angel Delgado, Seton Hall
One of five Seton Hall players on this list, Delgado stands first all-time in rebounds in conference history. However, Delgado became a master of scoring in the low post, putting together a 15.2 PPG and 13.1 RPG junior season.
The following year, Delgado’s stats dipped slightly, but it didn’t matter, as he won the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, which goes to the nation’s top center. His skillsets weren’t as broad as other players on this list, but he did what he did best, and for a few years, no one could stop him.
9. Kris Dunn, Providence
It’s crazy to think that Dunn, who redshirted as a sophomore, parlayed that into a heck of a two year stretch at Providence and made it to the NBA.
In fact, Dunn didn’t just have a good year, he won Big East Player of the Year AND Big East Defensive Player of the Year in 2014-15. Then he turned around the next season and put together an even stronger offensive campaign, leading the Friars to 24 wins.
8. Trevon Bluiett, Xavier
I get the sense people tend to forget how great of a scorer Trevon Bluiett was. He averaged double-digits all four years of college, over 15 PPG as a sophomore, and over 18.5 PPG as a junior AND a senior. That’s a lot of points – 2,261 to be exact – for the Xavier legend.
Bluiett helped lead Xavier to a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in his final season in town. Even though he couldn’t give the Musketeers their first Final Four appearance, he put together a heck of a career in Cincinnati.
7. Adama Sanogo, UConn
Sanogo was the star of the UConn team that gave Dan Hurley his first of back-to-back National Championships. Jordan Hawkins, Donovan Clingan, and Tristen Newton all played big parts, among others, but Sanogo was the centerpiece of the team, especially offensively.
In three years in Storrs, Sanogo improved from start to finish and went from being a solid big man to one of the best players in the conference. You could even argue he helped start the resurgence of UConn basketball.
6. Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton
Big East fans are asking ‘Why?’ Ryan Kalkbrenner is coming back for a fifth and final season at Creighton. He’s already terrorized opposing bigs enough, hasn’t he?
Kalkbrenner is a 3x Big East DPOY and 2x All-Big East selection but apparently, that wasn’t enough for his liking. He’s back for more!
5. Josh Hart, Villanova
So many great Villanova players to choose from and Josh Hart is one of the best of the best. We’ve seen it now on the New York Knicks and it’s always who Hart has been – a physical bulldog who combines that with skill and energy. If you have to guard or play against Josh Hart, you’re in for a night.
Hart was a major player on Nova’s 2016 championship squad and spent one more year after actually leading the Cats in scoring. He’s a Big East great and carving out a name for himself in the NBA as we speak.
4. Tristen Newton, UConn
Newton has a lot of Josh Hart in him. He’s a winner, a bigger guard who rebounds and playmaker, and developed scoring strengths as his career went on.
The difference is Newton has TWO national championships and had a huge role in both, winning NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Newton doesn’t have the flare as some of these guys, but like Hart, he’s a winner, and that counts for a lot.
3. Markus Howard, Marquette
The next two players are interchangeable, and I’m starting with Marquette legend Markus Howard. 25.0 PPG as a junior and 27.8 PPG as a senior is unheard of for a power conference, but Howard was that good of a shooter and overall scorer.
Believe it or not, the Golden Eagles were 0-2 in the NCAA Tournament in Howard’s four years, missing it entirely when he was a sophomore and finishing 18-12 (8-10) in his senior campaign. Still, that should take away from how great he was at getting buckets. We might never see that for a long time, or even again at Marquette.
2. Myles Powell, Seton Hall
Powell is one of the most elite scorers the conference has seen, averaging 23.1 PPG as a junior and 21.0 PPG as a senior. That last season was special but was cut short due to COVID. Had the NCAA Tournament gone on as planned, SHU was a top 15 team throughout most of the season and Powell was playing at an All-American level.
Even though he couldn’t finish one of the greatest seasons in program history, Powell still had one of the best careers of anyone to ever wear a Seton Hall jersey.
1. Jalen Brunson, Villanova
Two-time National Champion. 2018 Naismith and Wooden Award winner. Consensus All-American. Jalen Brunson had himself a legendary career in three years at Villanova.
What separates him is his impact on that first Villanova championship team. Brunson wasn’t the go-to guy, but he did start in 39 of 40 games and averaged about 10 points per game. Of course, for the second championship, he was dominating college basketball alongside some other Big East basketball greats.
This is not a prisoner-of-the-moment pick. Jalen Brunson is the top Big East player since realignment. There’s no argument.