Big East men's basketball preseason poll: UConn picked to win conference in 2024-25

NEW YORK — The college basketball season unofficially kicked off in the Big East on Wednesday as the conference’s 11 programs met at The World’s Most Famous Arena for Big East media day.

With that came the release of the preseason coaches poll, which brought little-to-no surprise on who was predicted at the top.

Fresh off back-to-back national championship titles, UConn was picked to repeat as conference championships. The Huskies (37-3 overall, 18-2 in Big East last season) will feature a new look this year under Dan Hurley, as Donovan Clingan, Stephon Castle and Cam Spencer all are now in the NBA. Star freshman forward Liam McNeeley was named the preseason Freshman of the Year.

Marquette received the other first-place vote, and was picked to finish fourth in the coaches poll. The Golden Eagles made their longest run in the NCAA Tournament last season under Shaka Smart, and furthest in program history since the 2012-13 season.

The Rick Pitino-led St. John Red Storm were picked to finish fifth in the conference. With the addition of Seton Hall transfer Kadary Richmond and the return of RJ Luis Jr., the Red Storm are one of the more intriguing teams in the Big East this season. Richmond was ranked the No. 1 player in the transfer portal on 247Sports.

Headlining the conference’s preseason all-conference teams are UConn's Alex Karaban and Marquette's Kam Jones. Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner and UConn's Liam McNeeley were named the preseason Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, respectively.

The Big East regular season begins Dec. 10 when the newly led-Chris Holtmann DePaul Blue Demons host Providence at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

Here’s a full look at the 2024-25 Big East basketball preseason poll and preseason awards:

Big East men's basketball preseason poll 2024-25

First place votes in parentheses

1. UConn (10)

2. Creighton

3. Xavier

4. Marquette (1)

5. St. John's

6. Providence

7. Villanova

8. Butler

9. Georgetown

10. Seton Hall

11. DePaul

Big East men's basketball preseason Player of the Year

Creighton forward Ryan Kalkbrenner was named the conference’s preseason Player of the Year on Wednesday by the league’s coaches. The 7-foot-1 center is back for his fifth season in Omaha with the Bluejays.

Kalkbrenner was a force to be reckoned with last year, especially on the defensive end, as he was named the Big East’s Defensive Player of the Year for the third consecutive season. In 35 games last season for Creighton, Kalkbrenner averaged a career-high 17.3 points, 7.6 rebounds and a league-leading 3.1 blocks per game.

He is the first Creighton player to be named Big East preseason Player of the Year since Marcus Zegarowski in 2020.

Big East men's basketball preseason Freshman of the Year

The league's coaches named UConn's Liam McNeely the conference’s preseason Freshman of the Year on Wednesday. The five-star recruit was the No. 10 nationally ranked player in the 2023 recruiting class per his 247Sports profile page.

Big East men's basketball All-Preseason team

First Team

• Forward, Alex Karaban (UConn)

• Guard, Kam Jones (Marquette)

• Guard/Forward, Bryce Hopkins (Providence)

• Guard, Kadary Richmond (St. John's)

• Forward, Eric Dixon (Villanova)

Second Team

• Forward, Pierre Brooks (Butler)

• Forward, Jahmyl Telfort (Butler)

• Guard, Deivon Smith (St. John's)

• Forward, Zach Freemantle (Xavier)

• Guard, Dayvion McKnight (Xavier)

Third team

• Guard, Aidan Mahaney (UConn)

• Guard, Steven Ashworth (Creighton)

• Guard, Jayden Epps (Georgetown)

• Guard, Wooga Poplar (Villanova)

• Guard, Ryan Conwell (Xavier)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Big East basketball: Men's preseason poll, all-conference awards