Coaches pick Marquette as favorite to win Big East

Marquette topped the poll of Big East coaches and was selected as the favorite to win the conference this season. This is a new position for Marquette and Buzz Williams to be in, having never been selected higher than sixth in a pre-season Big East poll — and that was back in 2008 with the three amigos. It wasn’t a landslide victory by any means, with Georgetown finishing only four points behind with Creighton a bit further back in third.  

Below is the poll’s full tally, with first place votes in parentheses.

1.) Marquette (5) 74
2.) Georgetown (2) 70
3.) Creighton (1) 61
4.) Villanova 58
5.) St. John’s (1) 56
6.) Providence 41
7.) Xavier 38
8.) Seton Hall 20
9.) Butler 19
10.) DePaul 13

Two of Marquette’s seniors were also given pre-season honors as Davante Gardner was selected to be on the preseason All-Big East First Team with Jamil Wilson selected for the Second Team. Creighton’s Doug McDermott, a two-time All-American, was selected as the preseason Big East Player of the Year.

Below are the full results

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Doug McDermott, Creighton, F, Sr.

FIRST TEAM
Semaj Christon , Xavier, G, So. 
Markel Starks, Georgetown, G, Sr.
Davante Gardner, Marquette, C, Sr.
Bryce Cotton, Providence, G. Sr.
D’Angelo Harrison, St. John’s, G, Jr. 

SECOND TEAM
Cleveland Melvin, DePaul, F, Sr., 6-8, 208, Baltimore, Md.
Jamil Wilson, Marquette, F, Sr., 6-7, 230, Racine, Wis.
JaKarr Sampson, St. John’s, F, So., 6-9, 214, Akron, Ohio
Fuquan Edwin, Seton Hall, G/F, Sr., 6-6, 215, Paterson, N.J.
Ryan Arcidiacono, Villanova, G, So., 6-3, 195, Langhorne, Pa.
JayVaughn Pinkston, Villanova, F, Jr., 6-7, 240, Brooklyn, N.Y.

PRESEASON All-BIG EAST HONORABLE MENTION
Kadeem Batts, Providence, F, 6-10, 245, Boston, Mass.
Chris Obekpa, St. John’s, C, So., 6-9, 240, Makurdi, Nigeria