2017–18 Big East Conference men's basketball season explained

2017–18 Big East Conference men's basketball season
Color:	1B3A68
Color Text:	FFFFFF
League:	NCAA Division I
Sport:	Basketball
Pixels:	230px
No Of Teams:	10
Tv:	CBS, CBSSN, FOX, FS1, FSN
Season:	Regular season
Season Champs:	Xavier
Season Champ Name:	2018 Big East Champions
Season Runner-Up:	Villanova
Mvp:	Jalen Brunson, Villanova
Mvp Link:	Big East Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year
Finals:	Tournament
Finals Link:	2018 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
Finals Champ:	Villanova
Finals Runner-Up:	Providence
Finals Mvp:	Mikal Bridges, Villanova
Finals Mvp Link:	Big East Men's Basketball Tournament#Champions
Seasonslistnames:	Basketball
Prevseason Link:	2016–17 Big East Conference men's basketball season
Prevseason Year:	2016–17
Nextseason Link:	2018–19 Big East Conference men's basketball season
Nextseason Year:	2018–19

The 2017–18 Big East Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2017, followed by the start of the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. This season marked the 39th year in the conference's history, but the fifth as a non-football conference, which officially formed on July 1, 2013. Conference play began in December 2017. For the first time since the reconfigured Big East formed, Villanova failed to win the regular-season title, with Xavier claiming the crown.

The 2018 Big East men's basketball tournament was held at Madison Square Garden in New York from March 7 through March 10, 2018. Villanova defeated Providence to win the tournament championship and receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Six Big East schools received bids to the NCAA tournament (Butler, Creighton, Providence, Seton Hall, Villanova, and Xavier). Only Villanova won more than one game in the Tournament, but the Wildcats defeated Michigan to win the NCAA Championship for the second time in three years.

Marquette received a bid to the National Invitation Tournament, where they advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to eventual NIT champions Penn State.

Villanova guard Jalen Brunson was named the Big East Player of the Year and was consensus National Player of the Year. Villanova freshman forward Omari Spellman was named Big East Freshman of the Year. Xavier head coach Chris Mack was named Big East coach of the year.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

On March 23, 2017, Georgetown officials announced that John Thompson III had been fired.^[1] ^[2] ^[3] On April 2, it was reported that Patrick Ewing would replace Thompson as head coach.^[4]

On June 9, 2017, Butler head coach Chris Holtmann left to become the head coach at Ohio State.^[5] On June 12, the school hired Milwaukee head coach and Bulter alum LaVall Jordan as head coach.^[6]

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	LaVall Jordan	Milwaukee	1	21–14	9–9	0	1	0	0
Creighton	Greg McDermott	Iowa State	8	187–94	47––43	0	3	0	0
DePaul	Dave Leitao	Tulsa (asst.)	6	87–99	39–63	0	0	0	0
Georgetown	Patrick Ewing	Charlotte Hornets (asst.)	1	15–15	5–13	0	0	0	0
style=	Marquette	Steve Wojciechowski	Duke (asst.)	4	73–59	31–41	0	1	0	0
style=	Providence	Ed Cooley	Fairfield	7	144–94	64–62	0	5	0	0
Seton Hall	Kevin Willard	Iona	8	150–114	62–82	0	2	0	0
St. John's	Chris Mullin	None	3	39–60	12–42	0	0	0	0
Villanova	Jay Wright	Hofstra	17	422–165	191–103	6	13	3	2
Xavier	Chris Mack	Xavier (asst.)	9	215–97	57–33	1	8	0	0

Notes:

Years at school includes 2017–18 season.
Overall and Big East records are from time at current school and are through the end of the 2017–18 season.
Mack's A-10 and McDermott's MVC conference records not included since teams began play in Big East.

Preseason

Preseason poll

Prior to the season, the Big East conducted a poll of Big East coaches, coaches do not place their own team on their ballots.^[7]

Rank	Team
1.	Villanova (8)
2.	Seton Hall (1)
3.	Xavier (1)
4.	Providence
4.	Creighton
6.	St. John's
7.	Marquette
8.	Butler
9.	Georgetown
10.	DePaul
(first place votes)

Preseason All-Big East teams

Source^[8]

Honor	Recipient
Preseason Player of the Year	Jalen Brunson, Villanova
Preseason All-Big East First Team	Kelan Martin, Butler
Marcus Foster, Creighton
Khadeen Carrington, Seton Hall
Ángel Delgado, Seton Hall
Trevon Bluiett, Xavier
Preseason All-Big East Second Team	Markus Howard, Marquette
Rodney Bullock, Providence
Kyron Cartwright, Providence
Marcus LoVett Jr., St. John's
Shamorie Ponds, St. John's
Preseason All-Big East Honorable Mention	Khyri Thomas, Creighton
Desi Rodriguez, Seton Hall
J. P. Macura, Xavier
Preseason Rookie of the Year	Omari Spellman, Villanova

Regular season

Rankings

**Legend**
		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
		First place votes

See main article: 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings.

	Pre	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	RV	RV							RV					RV	RV	RV	RV
C	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV									RV	RV	RV	RV
Creighton	AP			RV	25	RV	RV	25	25	25	25	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV
C	RV	RV	RV	23	RV	25	24	23	25	22	RV	RV	RV	RV	25	RV	24
DePaul	AP
C
Georgetown	AP
C
Marquette	AP
C
Providence	AP	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV							RV
C	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV
Seton Hall	AP	23	22	20	RV	19	15	23	23	21	13	19	RV	RV	RV			RV
C	23	23	22	24	19	15	22	24	21	15	19	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV
St. John's	AP
C
Villanova	AP	6	5	5	4	4	1 (41)	1 (45)	1 (43)	3	1 (52)	1 (63)	1 (63)	1 (47)	1 (48)	3 (9)	3 (4)	4
C	6	6	5	4	4	1 (22)	1 (26)	1 (27)	3	1 (27)	1 (31)	1 (31)	1 (22)	1 (22)	2 (8)	3 (4)	5
Xavier	AP	17	15	15	21	13	10	9	6	5	10	11	8	6	5	4 (5)	4	3
C	17	17	14	20	14	9	8	5	4	10	12	8	6	5	4 (1)	4	4

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

	style= width=75	Butler	style= width=75	Creighton	style= width=75	DePaul	style= width=75	Georgetown	style= width=75	Marquette	style= width=75	Providence	style= width=75	Seton Hall	style= width=75	St. John's	style= width=75	Villanova	style= width=75	Xavier
CRE	DEP	GU	MU	PROV	SHU	STJ	VU	XAV -->	vs. Butler	–	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0
vs. Creighton	1–1	–	0–2	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–0
vs. DePaul	2–0	2–0	–	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0
vs. Georgetown	1–1	2–0	1–1	–	2–0	2–0	1–1	0–2	2–0	2–0
vs. Marquette	2–0	0–2	1–1	0–2	–	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–0	2–0
vs. Providence	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	–	2–0	0–2	1–1	1–1
vs. Seton Hall	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–0	0–2	–	0–2	2–0	2–0
vs. St. John's	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	–	1–1	2–0
vs. Villanova	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	–	0–2
vs. Xavier	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	2–0	–	CRE	DEP	GU	MU	PROV	SHU	STJ	VU	XAV -->
Total	9–9	10–8	4–14	5–13	9–9	10–8	10–8	4–14	14–4	15–3

Player of the week

Throughout the season, the Big East Conference named a player of the week and a freshman of the week each Monday.

Week	Player of the week	Freshman of the week
November 13, 2017^[9]	Kelan Martin, Butler	Omari Spellman, Villanova
November 20, 2017^[10]	Trevon Bluiett, Xavier	Ty-Shon Alexander, Creighton
November 27, 2017^[11]	Jalen Brunson, Villanova	Mitch Ballock, Creighton
December 4, 2017^[12]	Desi Rodriguez, Seton Hall	Omari Spellman (2), Villanova
December 11, 2017^[13]	Markus Howard, Marquette	Mitch Ballock (2), Creighton
December 18, 2017^[14]	Jalen Brunson (2), Villanova	Omari Spellman (3), Villanova
December 26, 2017^[15]	Marcus Foster, Creighton	Mitch Ballock (3), Creighton
January 2, 2018^[16]	Kelan Martin (2), Butler	Jamal Cain, Marquette
January 8, 2018^[17]	Markus Howard (2), Marquette	Jahvon Blair, Georgetown
January 15, 2018^[18]	Kelan Martin (3), Butler	Naji Marshall, Xavier
January 22, 2018^[19]	J. P. Macura, Xavier	Omari Spellman (4), Villanova
January 29, 2018^[20]	Marcus Foster (2), Creighton	Naji Marshall (2), Xavier
February 5, 2018^[21]	Shamorie Ponds, St. John's	Omari Spellman (5), Villanova
February 12, 2018^[22]	Shamorie Ponds (2), St. John's	Jamorko Pickett, Georgetown
February 19, 2018^[23]	Mikal Bridges, Villanova	Naji Marshall (3), Xavier
February 26, 2018^[24]	Khadeen Carrington, Seton Hall	Naji Marshall (4), Xavier
March 4, 2018^[25]	Andrew Rowsey, Marquette	Omari Spellman (6), Villanova

Honors and awards

Big East Awards

Award	Recipient(s)
2018 Big East Men's Basketball Individual Awards^[26]
Player of the Year	Jalen Brunson, G., Villanova
Coach of the Year	Chris Mack, Xavier
Defensive Player of the Year	Khyri Thomas, G., Creighton
Freshman of the Year<	--This is the title for the coaches' award.-->	Omari Spellman, G., Villanova
Most Improved Player of the Year	Myles Powell, F., Seton. Hall
Scholar-Athlete of the Year	Jalen Brunson, G., Butler
Sixth Man Award	Donte DiVincenzo, G., Villanova
Sportsmanship Award	Tyler Wideman, F., Butler

First Team	Second Team	Honorable Mention	All-Freshman Team
2018 Big East Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams
Trevon Bluiett†, Xavier Jalen Brunson†, Villanova Mikal Bridges, Villanova Marcus Foster, Creighton Kelan Martin†, Butler Shamorie Ponds, St. John's	Ángel Delgado, Seton Hall Marcus Derrickson, Georgetown Markus Howard, Marquette Desi Rodriguez, Seton Hall Khyri Thomas, Creighton	Andrew Rowsey, Marquette Kyron Cartwright, Providence	Mitch Ballock, Creighton Jahvon Blair, Georgetown Naji Marshall†, Xavier Jamorko Pickett†, Georgetown Omari Spellman†, Villanova Nate Watson, Providence
†unanimous selection Sources^[27] ^[28] ^[29]

Postseason

2018 Big East tournament

See main article: 2018 Big East men's basketball tournament.

NCAA tournament

See main article: 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

The winner of the Big East tournament, Villanova, received the conference's automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

Seed	Region	School	First Four	First round	Second round	Sweet Sixteen	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
1	East	Villanova	N/A	defeated (16) Radford 87–61	defeated (9) Alabama 81–58	defeated (5) West Virginia 90–78	defeated (3) Texas Tech 71–59	defeated (1) Kansas 95–79	defeated (3) Michigan 79–62
1	West	Xavier	N/A	defeated (16) Texas Southern 103–82	eliminated by (9) Florida State 70–75
8	South	Creighton	N/A	eliminated by (9) Kansas State 59–69
8	Midwest	Seton Hall	N/A	defeated (9) NC State 94–83	eliminated by (1) Kansas 79–83
10	East	Butler	N/A	defeated (7) Arkansas 79–62	eliminated by (2) Purdue 73–76
10	West	Providence	N/A	eliminated by (7) Texas A&M 69–73
		W–L (%):							Total:

National Invitation tournament

See main article: 2018 National Invitation Tournament.

Marquette received an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament.

External links

Big East website

Notes and References

News: Hoyas dismiss coach John Thompson III after 13 seasons. 2017-03-23. espn.com. Jeff Goodman and Jeff Borzello. 2017-03-23.
http://www.thehoya.com/john-thompson-iii-fired-after-two-consecutive-losing-seasons/ Santamaria, Paolo B., and Sean Hoffman, "John Thompson III Fired After 2 Consecutive Losing Seasons," thehoya.com, March 23, 2017.
https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2017/03/23/ Anonymous, "Georgetown fires head coach John Thompson III after 13 years," si.com, March 23, 2017.
News: Patrick Ewing hired as coach of Georgetown. USA TODAY. 2017-04-03. en.
News: Butler's Chris Holtmann hired as Ohio State coach. USA TODAY. 2017-06-09. en.
News: Butler stays in the family: New coach is LaVall Jordan. Indianapolis Star. 2017-06-13. en.
Web site: Villanova Sits Atop Coaches’ Preseason Poll Again. Big East Conference. en. October 18, 2017.
Web site: Villanova’s Jalen Brunson Selected Preseason Player of the Year. October 18, 2017. October 18, 2017. Big East Conference. BigEast.com.
Web site: Butler's Martin, Villanova's Spellman Earn MBB Weekly Honors. Big East Conference. 2018-01-08.
Web site: Xavier's Bluiett, Creighton's Alexander Take MBB Weekly Honors. Big East Conference. 2018-01-08.
Web site: Villanova’s Brunson, Creighton’s Ballock Earn MBB Weekly Honors. Big East Conference. 2018-01-08.
Web site: Seton Hall’s Rodriguez, Villanova’s Spellman Take MBB Weekly Honors. Big East Conference. 2018-01-08.
Web site: Marquette’s Howard, Creighton’s Ballock Earn MBB Weekly Honors. Big East Conference. 2018-01-08.
Web site: Villanova’s Brunson, Spellman Take MBB Weekly Honors. Big East Conference. 2018-01-08.
Web site: Creighton’s Foster, Ballock Earn MBB Weekly Honors. Big East Conference. 2018-01-08.
Web site: Butler’s Martin, Marquette’s Cain Take MBB Weekly Honors. Big East Conference. 2018-01-08.
Web site: Big East Conference – Marquette’s Howard, Georgetown’s Blair Earn Weekly MBB Honors. www.bigeast.com. en. 2018-01-08.
Web site: Butler’s Martin, Xavier’s Marshall Take Weekly MBB Honors. www.bigeast.com. en. 2018-01-15.
Web site: Xavier’s Macura, Villanova’s Spellman Earn Weekly MBB Honors. Big East Conference. en. 2018-01-30.
Web site: Big East Conference – Creighton’s Foster, Xavier’s Marshall Take Weekly MBB Honors. www.bigeast.com. en. 2018-01-30.
Web site: St. John’s Ponds, Villanova’s Spellman Earn Weekly MBB Honors. www.bigeast.com. en. 2018-02-23.
Web site: St. John’s Ponds, Georgetown's Pickett Take Weekly MBB Honors. www.bigeast.com. en. 2018-02-23.
Web site: Villanova's Bridges, Xavier's Marshall Earn Weekly MBB Honors. www.bigeast.com. en. 2018-02-23.
Web site: Seton Hall’s Carrington, Xavier’s Marshall Take Weekly MBB Honors. www.bigeast.com. en. 2018-03-03.
Web site: Marquette's Rowsey, Villanova's Spellman Take Weekly MBB Honors. www.bigeast.com. en. 2018-03-03.
Web site: 2018 Men's Basketball Award Winners Announced. Big East Conference. March 11, 2019. March 11, 2019.
Villanova's Brunson Named BIG EAST Player of the Year . Big East Conference . March 7, 2018 . March 9, 2018.
Creighton’s Thomas Repeats as Defensive Player of the Year . Big East Conference . March 5, 2018 . March 9, 2018.
Xavier's Bluiett, Villanova's Brunson, Butler's Martin Unanimously Named All-BIG EAST . Big East Conference . March 4, 2018 . March 9, 2018.