Least Big

What are y'all DOING over there?

Hey Big East, thanks for coming by. Yeah, no, nobody’s in trouble, not yet really. I just wanted to chat.

Are you good? Hungry? Thirsty? Hot? Cold? That afghan is really nice on chilly evenings; it was my mother’s. No, please, I insist.

Is everything going okay? I just wanted to check in, even now, this early in the season. There have been some… concerning… results, and near-results, and I just thought maybe you needed to unburden yourself in some way. Take your time. This is a safe, welcoming place.

For most of you. Kyle Neptune, I’m sorry, we’re just all out of prescriptions for whatever it is that’s ailing you and your program.

This will all likely turn into a charming footnote on another season of the Big East As War Machine, somewhere between second and fourth in the pecking order of conferences. But so far—so far!—there is cause for some real concern for some of the trendier names in Dave Gavitt’s Fever Dream Come to Life.

• Villanova, who I already covered after the Columbia debacle, went ahead and lost to Saint Joseph’s on Tuesday night. Not to keep assaulting an already perished equine, but Jay Wright lost to Saint Joe’s four times in 21 meetings; Neptune has lost twice in three.

• Neptune’s old team, Fordham, went into South Orange and beat Seton Hall. The Pirates almost took a second early L at home, letting Saint Peter’s hang around far too deep into the second half before pulling away late. Shaheen Holloway, the Peacocks got their pound of flesh from you when you took them deep into the Tournament, you don’t have to keep putting them on the schedule.

• DePaul needed a Jacob Meyer three to force overtime against Southern Indiana—no big deal, just a team still so fresh in their transition from Division II that it’s not even eligible for the NCAA Tournament until 2027—and then two Meyer free-throws with two seconds left in OT to put away the Screaming Eagles.

• Ryan Kalkbrenner turned in one of the finest single performances in the young season when he poured in 49 points on 20-of-22 shooting to help Creighton beat UTRGV… by the closer-than-anyone-would-admit-or-even-care-to-think-about score of 99-86. You should not have to have your All-American have the game of his life to beat the Vaqueros at this stage in their growth cycle, nor should you need the sort of whistle that puts Steven Ashworth on the line 17 times in a single game¹.

• Providence was in a one-possession game with under six minutes to go in eventual wins against both Central Connecticut State and Hampton. While usually this would be more concerning, longtime observers of the Friars chalk this up to PROVIDENCE DOIN’ A PROVIDENCE and keep it moving. Yeah, they’ll do that against Hampton; they’ll probably do it against UConn at least once too.

• The Butler Bulldogs let THE MIGHTY AUSTIN PEAY STATE UNIVERSITY GOVERNORS MARCH INTO HINKLE FIELDHOUSE AND MARCH OUT WITH A WIN.

It’s this last one that I’m going to briefly violate my “no homering” policy for. I’ll attempt to keep it brief². The Govs, with a passel of newcomers, went into Hinkle and were the clearly superior team for a good 25-30 minutes of the game against a Big East opponent. Like, not close. Controlled the pace. Were more physical. Ran an offense. Got to their spots. LJ Thomas was the best player on the floor against a team running out guys who have been Big East All-Freshman, a 1,000-point scorer at Iowa³ and a former freshman All-American. My prevailing thoughts, in order:

1. Thad Matta came out of his coaching hiatus for this?

2. Oh, the Govs are going to be capital-g Good again this year⁴⁵.

3. What in the hell is going on in the Big East?

Again: it’s all probably going to be fine, or better than fine. UConn remains a machine, Xavier is looking good and also healthyish, St. John’s and Marquette have been handling their business. With the exception of a little Creighton weirdness and Providence’s commitment to never, ever playing a game that makes one lick of sense, the top half of the league is about where it should be⁶.

But… is that REALLY the Big East? Y’all are good with [gestures broadly]? Yes, DePaul is the designated league punching bag and might be until the sun burns out, but Seton Hall has a history. Butler has a history. Villanova has an argument for being right there alongside UConn as one of our modern dynasties. None of that trio, or anyone in the Big East really, has an argument for losing buy games in November. Hell, the SEC and Big 10 have more of an argument: nobody there is paying attention until after bowl season. This is all you’ve got Big East, this is your whole focus, your whole reason for existing.

What the hell are you doing with it, exactly?

1. His previous career high in free-throw attempts was 12. Since coming to Creighton, he’d never shot 17 free-throws across any two games back-to-back.

2. And likely fail.

3. And Fran McCaffery’s kid, for whatever that’s worth.

4. Shhh… Corey Gipson is doing a phenomenal job at his, and my, alma mater. Don’t tell anyone, I’m not ready for him to go just yet.

5. Also: whole ASUN looks like it might be good. Will explore further at a later date.

6. Georgetown has yet to do anything weird, further proof that Ed Cooley is a warlock in a quarter zip.