NEW YORK — The Big East held its annual college basketball media day on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden with coaches and players from all 10 teams on hand to discuss the upcoming season.
Villanova — which won the 2016 national championship — captured both the Big East regular season and tournament titles in 2016-17. The Wildcats were upset in the NCAA Tournament’s round of 32, but Butler and Xavier advanced to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8, respectively.
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Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing and Butler’s LaVall Jordan are both set to enter their first year coaching in the conference. Ewing was hired by the Hoyas following the dismissal of former coach John Thompson III, while Jordan replaces Chris Holtmann, who left for Ohio State.
Here are five takeaways from Big East Media Day:
Xavier coach Chris Mack expects F Kerem Kanter to make immediate impact
Xavier went 24-14 in 2016-17 and, despite receiving an 11th seed in the NCAA Tournament, advanced all the way to the Elite Eight.
The Musketeers will bring back leading scorer Trevon Bluiett, who averaged 18.5 points per game, as well as senior guard J.P. Macura. Xavier will also add graduate transfer Kerem Kanter, who averaged 11.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in just 19 minutes per contest in 2016-17 at Green Bay. Kanter also shot 35 percent from 3-point range.
“I think fans of our program are really going to enjoy watching him play,” Xavier coach Chris Mack said Wednesday. “At the five position, he’s incredibly unique.”
Kanter said his ability to shoot will help create space on the floor for Xavier.
“I think my offense is the one thing I can help my team the most with,” Kanter said. “The fact that I can stretch the floor, I think that’ll help my team a lot in terms of them driving the ball, because the big guy that’s guarding me won’t be able to help as much.”
Kanter’s older brother, Enes, is currently playing in the NBA for the Knicks.
Creighton enters season with uncertainty at the point
Kaleb Joseph transferred to Creighton and redshirted last season, following two years at Syracuse.
Joseph was expected to enter the Bluejays lineup and make an immediate impact. But Creighton coach Greg McDermott said on Wednesday that Joseph has been dealing with a hamstring injury and he's been limited in practice.
Creighton does return Marcus Foster, who averaged 18.2 points per game a season ago after transferring from Kansas State, as well as versatile guard Khyri Thomas.
Providence coach Ed Cooley discusses freshmen
Providence returns its top seven scorers from a team that registered a 20-13 overall record in 2016-17 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
The Friars are expected to be led by their veterans this season, but they do add freshmen Makai Ashton-Langford, Dajour Dickens, Andrew Fonts and Nate Watson. When Cooley was asked about his newcomers at media day, he had an interesting response.
“I never get excited about freshmen,” Cooley said. “I wait for them to become sophomores.”
The Friars were picked fourth in the Big East Preseason Coaches Poll.
Patrick Ewing on Chris Mullin
Patrick Ewing led Georgetown to a national championship in 1984 and scored 24, 815 points in the NBA. He served as an assistant at the pro level for the past 15 seasons before returning to Georgetown as the program’s coach in early April.
Before he considered taking the job at Georgetown, the Hall of Famer spoke with current St. John’s coach Chris Mullin. Mullin played at St. John’s and competed against Ewing when he was a Hoya. The two were also teammates on the 1992 United States Olympic squad, known as "The Dream Team," which won a gold medal in Barcelona.
“He was one of the friends that I reached out to,” Ewing said. “I asked him what the transition was like going from the NBA to college.”
Ewing inherits a team that went 14-18 overall and 5-13 in the Big East last season.
LaVall Jordan is excited to be back at Butler
Jordan played at Butler for four years and served as an assistant coach at the school from 2003-07.
After stints as an assistant at Iowa as well as Michigan, and one year as the head man at Milwaukee, Jordan was named the Bulldogs coach in mid-June, following the departure of Chris Holtmann to Ohio State.
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“It’s a really special opportunity,” Jordan said. "To lead the program that you were a part of as a player, have so much invested in, kept up with for so long…it’s an exciting opportunity and a big responsibility.”
The Bulldogs registered a 25-9 record in 2016-17 and reached the Sweet 16. Butler guard Kamar Baldwin, who averaged 10.1 points per game as a freshman last season, said that under Jordan, the Bulldogs have picked up right where they left off.
“The Butler Way is still there, not much has changed,” Baldwin said. “It’s just an ongoing process of continuing to get better.”