2024–25 Big East Conference men's basketball season

2024–25 Big East Conference men's basketball season
2024–25 Big East Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	11
TV partner(s)	Fox, FS1, CBS, CBSSN, NBC
Regular Season
Tournament
Basketball seasons
	← 2023–24 2025–26 →

2024–25 Big East men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 5 St. John's †	18	–	2	.900	31	–	5	.861
Creighton	15	–	5	.750	25	–	11	.694
UConn	14	–	6	.700	24	–	11	.686
Xavier	13	–	7	.650	22	–	12	.647
Marquette	13	–	7	.650	23	–	11	.676
Villanova	11	–	9	.550	19	–	14	.576
Georgetown	8	–	12	.400	17	–	15	.531
Providence	6	–	14	.300	12	–	20	.375
Butler	6	–	14	.300	14	–	19	.424
DePaul	4	–	16	.200	14	–	19	.424
Seton Hall	2	–	18	.100	7	–	25	.219

† 2025 Big East tournament winner As of March 23, 2025 Rankings from AP Poll

The 2024–25 Big East men's basketball season is the current season for Big East Conference basketball teams that began with practices in October 2023, followed by the start of the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season which will begin in November 2024. Conference play will begin in December 2024 and ended in March 2025.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

DePaul

Following the end of the 2023–24 season, interim head coach Matt Brady was replaced by Chris Holtmann as the 16th head coach of the Blue Demons.^[1]

Coaches

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Years at school	Overall record	Big East record	Big East titles	NCAA Tournaments	NCAA Final Fours	NCAA Championships
Butler	Thad Matta	Ohio State	4	30–33	15–25	0	13	2	0
UConn	Dan Hurley	Rhode Island	7	106–29	71–41	1	6	2	2
Creighton	Greg McDermott	Iowa State	15	245–130	123–82	0	13	0	0
DePaul	Chris Holtmann	Ohio State	1	0–0	0–0	0	7	0	0
Georgetown	Ed Cooley	Providence	2	9–23	2–18	0	0	0	0
Marquette	Shaka Smart	Texas	4	75–30	42–17	1	11	1	0
Providence	Kim English	George Mason	2	21–14	10–10	0	0	0	0
Seton Hall	Shaheen Holloway	St. Peter's	3	42–28	23–17	0	1	0	0
St. John's	Rick Pitino	Iona	2	20–13	11–9	0	21	5	1
Villanova	Kyle Neptune	Fordham	3	35–33	20–20	0	0	0	0
Xavier	Sean Miller	Arizona	8	43–28	24–16	0	11	0	0

Notes:

Years at school includes 2020–21 season.
Overall and Big East records are from current school.
NCAA Tournament appearances, Final Four & Championships include all schools.
McDermott's MVC conference records, Matta's MCC records, Miller's A-10 records, Hurley's AAC records not included since team began play in the Big East, Pitino does not include vacated wins.

Preseason

Preseason Big East poll

Prior to the conference's annual media day, conference standings were projected by panel of writers.^[2]

Rank	Team	Points
1.	UConn	100 (10)
2.	Creighton	84
3.	Xavier	82
4.	Marquette	74 (1)
5.	St. John's	70
6.	Providence	54
7.	Villanova	44
8.	Butler	36
9.	Georgetown	25
10.	Seton Hall	24
11.	DePaul	12
(first place votes)

Preseason All-Big East

A select media panel named a preseason All-Big East team and player of the year.^[3]

Honor	Recipient
Preseason Player of the Year	Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton
Preseason Freshman of the Year	Liam McNeeley, UConn
Preseason All-Big East First Team	Alex Karaban, UConn
	Kam Jones, Marquette
	Bryce Hopkins, Providence
	Kadary Richmond, St. John’s
	Eric Dixon, Villanova
Preseason All-Big East Second Team	Pierre Brooks, Butler
	Jahmyl Telfort, Butler
	Deivon Smith, St. John’s
	Zach Freemantle, Xavier
	Dayvion McKnight, Xavier
Preseason All-Big East Third Team	Aidan Mahaney, UConn
	Steven Ashworth, Creighton
	Jayden Epps, Georgetown
	Wooga Poplar, Villanova
	Ryan Conwell, Xavier

Preseason All-American teams

Player	AP^[4]	CBS^[5]	Fox Sports^[6]
Ryan Kalkbrenner	RV	1st team	1st team
Alex Karaban	RV	2nd team	2nd team
Kam Jones	RV	3rd team	3rd team
Kadary Richmond		2nd team	3rd team

Preseason watchlists

Below is a table of notable preseason watch lists.

Player	Wooden^[7]	Naismith^[8]	Naismith DPOY	Robertson	Cousy^[9]	West^[10]	Erving^[11]	Malone^[12]	Abdul-Jabbar^[13]
Eric Dixon, Villanova		Y						Y
Bryce Hopkins, Providence		Y						Y
Samson Johnson, UConn									Y
Kam Jones, Marquette		Y				Y
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton		Y							Y
Alex Karaban, UConn		Y						Y
Malik Mack, Georgetown					Y
Aidan Mahaney, UConn						Y
Liam McNeeley, UConn		Y					Y
Kadary Richmond, St. John's		Y				Y

Regular season

Rankings

**Legend**
		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
NV		No votes received
(Italics)		Number of first place votes

		Pre/ Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18
Butler	AP	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Butler	C	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
UConn	AP	3 (11)	3 (7)	2 (7)	2 (6)	25	18	11	11	11	9	14	19	25	19	RV	RV	NV	RV
UConn	C	3 (6)	3 (3)	2 (3)	2 (6)	RV	20	13	14	13	10	13	18	24	18	24	RV	RV	RV
Creighton	AP	15	14	14	21	RV	RV	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	RV	RV	RV	24	RV	RV	RV
Creighton	C	14	13	13	19	RV	RV	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	RV	RV	RV	21	RV	25	RV
DePaul	AP	NV	NV	NV	NV	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
DePaul	C	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Georgetown	AP	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Georgetown	C	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Marquette	AP	18	15	15	10	5	6	9	8	8	7	7	10	9	11	18	16	21	20
Marquette	C	17	15	14	11	4	4	9	8	8	6	7	10	9	11	16	15	22	20
Providence	AP	RV	RV	RV	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Providence	C	NV	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Seton Hall	AP	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Seton Hall	C	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
St. John's	AP	RV	22	22	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	20	15	12	9	10	7	6
St. John's	C	RV	25	21	RV	RV	RV	RV	24	RV	RV	RV	21	14	10	8	9	7	6
Villanova	AP	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Villanova	C	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Xavier	AP	RV	RV	RV	22	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Xavier	C	RV	RV	RV	22	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV

Early season tournaments

All 11 Big East teams participated in early season tournaments.^[14]

Team	Tournament	Finish
Butler	Arizona Tip-Off	1st
UConn	Maui Invitational	8th
Creighton	Players Era Festival	7th
DePaul	DePaul Classic	1st
Georgetown	Georgetown MTE	1st
Marquette	Marquette Challenge	1st
Providence	Battle 4 Atlantis	8th
Seton Hall	Charleston Classic	3rd
St. John's	Bahamas Championship	3rd
Villanova	Empire Classic	2nd
Xavier	Fort Myers Tip-Off	2nd

Big East Players of the Week

Throughout the conference regular season, the Big East offices named one or two players of the week and one or two freshmen of the week each Monday.

Week	Player of the week	School	Freshman of the week	School
November 11, 2024	Ryan Kalkbrenner	Creighton	Thomas Sorber	Georgetown
November 17, 2024	Kam Jones	Marquette	Liam McNeeley	UConn
November 25, 2024	Kam Jones (2)	Marquette	Thomas Sorber (2)	Georgetown
December 2, 2024	Jahmyl Telfort	Butler	Thomas Sorber (3)	Georgetown
December 9, 2024	Pop Isaacs	Creighton	Liam McNeeley (2)	UConn
December 16, 2024	Jayden Epps	Georgetown	Liam McNeeley (3)	UConn
December 23, 2024	Alex Karaban	UConn	Liam McNeeley (4)	UConn
January 6, 2025	Eric Dixon	Villanova	Thomas Sorber (4)	Georgetown
January 13, 2025	RJ Luis Jr.	St John's	Ryan Mela	Providence
January 20, 2025	Ryan Kalkbrenner (2)	Creighton	Ryan Mela (2)	Providence
January 27, 2025	Kam Jones (3)	Marquette	Thomas Sorber (5)	Georgetown
February 3, 2025	Solo Ball	UConn	Thomas Sorber (6)	Georgetown
February 10, 2025	RJ Luis Jr. (2)	St John's	Thomas Sorber (7)	Georgetown
February 17, 2025	Zach Freemantle	Xavier	Liam McNeeley (5)	UConn
February 24, 2025	Kadary Richmond	St John's	Liam McNeeley (6)	UConn
March 3, 2025	Eric Dixon (2)	Villanova	Liam McNeeley (7)	UConn

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team is scheduled to play 20 conference games with at least one game against each opponent.

	Butler	UConn	Creighton	DePaul	Georgetown	Marquette	Providence	Seton Hall	St. John's	Villanova	Xavier
vs. Butler	–	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. UConn	0–0	–	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Creighton	0–0	0–0	–	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. DePaul	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Georgetown	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Marquette	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Providence	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Seton Hall	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. St. John's	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0–0	0–0
vs. Villanova	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0–0
vs. Xavier	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	–
Total	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0

Honors and awards

All-Big East awards and teams

Big East Awards

Award	Recipient(s)
2025 Big East Men's Basketball Individual Awards^[15] ^[16]
Player of the Year	RJ Luis Jr., St. John's
Coach of the Year	Rick Pitino, St. John's
Defensive Player of the Year	Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton
Freshman of the Year	Liam McNeeley, Connecticut
Most Improved Player of the Year	Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s
Sixth Man Award	Tarris Reed Jr., Connecticut
Sportsmanship Award	Jerome Hunter, Xavier

First Team	Second Team	Third Team	Freshman Team
2025 Big East Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams^[17]
†Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton Micah Peavy, Georgetown †Kam Jones, Marquette Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s †RJ Luis Jr., St. John’s †Eric Dixon, Villanova	Solo Ball, Connecticut Alex Karaban, Connecticut Steven Ashworth, Creighton Kadary Richmond, St. John’s Zach Freemantle, Xavier	Jahmyl Telfort, Butler Liam McNeeley, Connecticut Thomas Sorber, Georgetown David Joplin, Marquette Wooga Poplar, Villanova Ryan Conwell, Xavier	†Liam McNeeley, Connecticut Jackson McAndrew, Creighton †Thomas Sorber, Georgetown Royce Parham, Marquette Oswin Erhunmwunse, Providence Ryan Mela, Providence
† - denotes unanimous selection

Postseason

Big East tournament

First round Wednesday, March 12 Peacock			Quarterfinals Thursday, March 13 Peacock/FS1			Semifinals Friday, March 14 FOX			Championship Saturday, March 15 FOX

			1	6 St. John's	78

			9	Butler	57
8	Providence	69

9	Butler	75
						1	6 St. John's	79

						5	25 Marquette	63



			4	Xavier	87

			5	25 Marquette	89



									1	6 St. John's	82

									2	Creighton	66



			2	Creighton	85^2OT

			10	DePaul	81
7	Georgetown	67

10	DePaul	71
						2	Creighton	71

						3	UConn	62



			3	UConn	73

			6	Villanova	56
6	Villanova	67

11	Seton Hall	55

Source:^[18]

NCAA Tournament

The winner of the Big East Tournament will receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Seed	Region	School	First Four	First round	Second round	Sweet Sixteen	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
2	West	St. John's	Bye	W 83–53 vs. (15) Omaha	L 66–75 vs. (10) Arkansas	DNP
7	South	Marquette	Bye	L 66–75 vs. (10) New Mexico	DNP
8	West	UConn	Bye	W 67–59 vs. (9) Oklahoma	L 75–77 vs. (1) Florida	DNP
9	South	Creighton	Bye	W 89–75 vs. (8) Louisville	L 70–82 vs. (1) Auburn	DNP
11	Midwest	Xavier	W 86–80 vs. (11) Texas	L 73–86 vs. (6) Illinois	DNP
		W–L (%):	1–0 (1.000)	3–2 (.600)	0–3 (.000)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)
Total: 4–5 (.444)

National Invitation Tournament

Villanova, Georgetown, Butler, and Providence were invitated to the National Invitation Tournament, but all schools declined the invite.

College Basketball Crown

The following Big East teams will receive invitations to the inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament.

Seed	School	First round	Second round	Semifinals	Finals
3	Villanova	vs. (14) Colorado
5	Georgetown	vs. (12) Washington State
9	Butler	vs. (8) Utah
15	DePaul	vs. (2) Cincinnati
	W–L (%):	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)
Total: 0–0 (–)

References

^ "DePaul hires Chris Holtmann: Blue Demons tap ex-Ohio State coach to turn around floundering program". March 14, 2024.
^ "UConn Selected For First Place In Preseason Coaches' Poll". www.bigeast.com. October 23, 2024.
^ "Creighton's Kalkbrenner Named Preseason Player of the Year". www.bigeast.com. October 23, 2024.
^ "Men's Preseason All-America Team". APNews.com. October 21, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
^ Parrish, Gary; Boone, Kyle; Cobb, David (October 14, 2024). "2024-25 CBS Sports Preseason All-America team: SEC, Big East lead way among college basketball's best players". CBSSports.com. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
^ Fanta, John (October 20, 2024). "FOX Sports' 2024-25 college basketball preseason All-America teams". FoxSports.com. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
^ "John R. Wooden Award Preseason Men's Top 50 Watchlist". November 7, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
^ "2024-25 Jersey Mike's Naismith Men's Player of the Year Watch List, Presented by AXIA Time". October 30, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
^ "Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame Announces Preseason Watch List For The 2025 Men's and Women's Point Guard Of The Year Awards". October 28, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
^ "Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame Announces Preseason Watch List For The 2025 Men's and Women's Shooting Guard Of The Year Awards". October 29, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
^ "Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame Announces Preseason Watch List For The 2025 Men's and Women's Small Forward Of The Year Awards". October 30, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
^ "Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame Announces Preseason Watch List For The 2025 Men's and Women's Power Forward Of The Year Awards". October 31, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
^ "Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame Announces Preseason Watch List For The 2025 Men's and Women's Center Of The Year Awards". November 1, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
^ Dobbertean, Chris. "2024-25 Men's College Basketball Early Season Tournaments and Exempt Multi-Team Events (MTEs)". Blogging the Bracket. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
^ https://www.bigeast.com/news/2025/3/10/mens-basketball-big-east-announces-individual-mbb-awards.aspx
^ https://www.bigeast.com/news/2025/3/12/big-east-announces-mens-basketball-major-award-winners.aspx
^ "All-BIG EAST Teams Announced Four Unanimous Picks On First Team". www.bigeast.com. March 9, 2025.
^ "Bracket (PDF) - Big East Conference" (PDF). www.bigeast.com. Retrieved December 25, 2024.

[1] "DePaul hires Chris Holtmann: Blue Demons tap ex-Ohio State coach to turn around floundering program". March 14, 2024.

[2] "UConn Selected For First Place In Preseason Coaches' Poll". www.bigeast.com. October 23, 2024.

[3] "Creighton's Kalkbrenner Named Preseason Player of the Year". www.bigeast.com. October 23, 2024.

[4] "Men's Preseason All-America Team". APNews.com. October 21, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.

[5] Parrish, Gary; Boone, Kyle; Cobb, David (October 14, 2024). "2024-25 CBS Sports Preseason All-America team: SEC, Big East lead way among college basketball's best players". CBSSports.com. Retrieved February 7, 2025.

[6] Fanta, John (October 20, 2024). "FOX Sports' 2024-25 college basketball preseason All-America teams". FoxSports.com. Retrieved February 7, 2025.

[7] "John R. Wooden Award Preseason Men's Top 50 Watchlist". November 7, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.

[8] "2024-25 Jersey Mike's Naismith Men's Player of the Year Watch List, Presented by AXIA Time". October 30, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.

[9] "Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame Announces Preseason Watch List For The 2025 Men's and Women's Point Guard Of The Year Awards". October 28, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.

[10] "Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame Announces Preseason Watch List For The 2025 Men's and Women's Shooting Guard Of The Year Awards". October 29, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.

[11] "Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame Announces Preseason Watch List For The 2025 Men's and Women's Small Forward Of The Year Awards". October 30, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.

[12] "Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame Announces Preseason Watch List For The 2025 Men's and Women's Power Forward Of The Year Awards". October 31, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.

[13] "Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame Announces Preseason Watch List For The 2025 Men's and Women's Center Of The Year Awards". November 1, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.

[14] Dobbertean, Chris. "2024-25 Men's College Basketball Early Season Tournaments and Exempt Multi-Team Events (MTEs)". Blogging the Bracket. Retrieved October 17, 2022.

[15] ttps://www.bigeast.com/news/2025/3/10/mens-basketball-big-east-announces-individual-mbb-awards.aspx

[16] ttps://www.bigeast.com/news/2025/3/12/big-east-announces-mens-basketball-major-award-winners.aspx

[17] "All-BIG EAST Teams Announced Four Unanimous Picks On First Team". www.bigeast.com. March 9, 2025.

[18] "Bracket (PDF) - Big East Conference" (PDF). www.bigeast.com. Retrieved December 25, 2024.

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v t e Big East Conference men's basketball
Teams	Butler Bulldogs Creighton Bluejays DePaul Blue Demons Georgetown Hoyas Marquette Golden Eagles Providence Friars St. John's Red Storm Seton Hall Pirates UConn Huskies Villanova Wildcats Xavier Musketeers
Championships & awards	Tournament Regular season champions Coach of the Year Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year Most Improved Player Freshman of the Year All-Big East
Conference challenges	Big East–Big 12 Battle (2019–2024) Gavitt Tipoff Games (2015–2023) SEC–Big East Challenge (2007–2012)
Seasons	1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25