Way-too-early Big East Power Rankings: The biggest challengers to UConn and St. John’s

College football has just started back up but we aren’t too far away from the start of the college basketball season. Opening night is set for Nov. 3 and there should be a lot of intrigue as teams vie to take down Michigan and claim a national championship.

We are still a ways away from a new Top 25, but one conference that is hoping for a better showing in the 2026-27 campaign is the Big East. The proud basketball league had a rough go of it last season, sending just three teams to the NCAA Tournament, although UConn did bring the league some respect by going on a magical run to the National Championship game before bowing out against the Wolverines.

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Things could be good again in Storrs, where they got a return commitment from star guard Braylon Mullins to try and get Dan Hurley his third national championship in the past five years. St. John’s also figures to be in the mix again as Rick Pitino has reloaded nicely after losing a significant chunk of his rotation from last year’s Sweet 16 team, including Big East Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor.

How does the league stack up in terms of challengers for the Huskies and Red Storm? Let’s do a preseason power ranking of the Big East to determine how strong the conference could be entering the new season.

11. Georgetown Hoyas

The seat is getting mighty hot for Ed Cooley, who has yet to return the Hoyas to the heights of the program’s recent run of success under John Thompson III, let alone the glory days of the 1980s and 1990s. Cooley has made a big bet on Kentucky transfer Jaland Lowe to be his floor general, but Lowe missed most of last season after undergoing shoulder surgery in January.

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Georgetown lost two critical pieces to the transfer portal as wing KJ Lewis and projected starting center Julius Halaifonua exited in the offseason. There is a good amount of talent surrounding Lowe, but the deck is stacked against the Hoyas making a big impact in the Big East.

10. Butler Bulldogs

Butler Bulldogs head coach…

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Publish date : 2026-09-02 18:41:00

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