Top 2016 Teams/Players: Big East (Ranked 5)

Edit Note: I was asked why the ratings in these 32 conference wrap-ups are not the same as in my Breitbart Sports piece on Derrick Gordon and the other top level players available, and the Marquette Hoops story on Marquette moving up to 5th in raw Value Add after Seton Hall lost Sterling Gibbs. In those two stories I used the raw total of the projected Value Add of all returning players. However, in these 32 conference reviews I balanced that with last year's ranking since obviously teams like Wisconsin and Kentucky have players ready to step into roles each year who did not get the minutes to build up Value Add playing behind All-Americans. Also, Chris Mullin's addition of Durand Johnson (2.4 projected Value Add) will push St. John's past Butler and into a projected NCAA bid.

We hope Marquette can pick up one of the top available players from our rankings here. Tonight we run through the competition - ranking all the conferences competing with the Big East for bids, and ranking both their teams and top 40 players.  

Kris Dunn and D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera staying gives the conference two potential All-Americans. Sterling Gibbs departure derails a potential big year for Seton Hall, but the rest of the conference is very strong and can go toe-to-toe with the football Power Conferences.

Natl Rnk	Conference	Team	Record	Raw	Value Add
5	Big East	BE			26.45
2		Villanova	33--3	46.75	38.92
28		Xavier	23--14	32.20	30.14
29		Georgetown	22--11	31.59	29.76
33		Providence	22--12	30.87	28.89
45		Butler	23--11	24.94	26.62
52		St. John's	21--12	25.65	25.55
69		Marquette	13--19	25.92	22.92
76		Creighton	14--19	23.45	22.59
92		Seton Hall	16--15	21.68	20.97
115		DePaul	12--20	20.45	18.12
Natl Rnk	Top 40 Players (all MU)	Team	Ht	Yr	Value Add
5	Smith-Rivera, D'Vauntes 4	Georgetown	6'3	4 Sr	9.68
6	Dunn, Kris 3	Providence	6'3	3 Jr	9.6
33	Ochefu, Daniel 23	Villanova	6'11	4 Sr	7.82
35	Hart, Josh 3	Villanova	6'5	3 Jr	7.78
38	Dunham, Kellen 24	Butler	6'6	4 Sr	7.64
62	Diallo, Cheick	St. John's/maybe	6'9	1 Fr	6.93
70	Delgado, Angel 31	Seton Hall	6'9	2 So	6.69
83	Chukwu, Paschal 13	Providence	7'2	2 So	6.5
120	Arcidiacono, Ryan 15	Villanova	6'3	4 Sr	5.91
125	Bluiett, Trevon 5	Xavier	6'6	2 So	5.88
126	Booth, Phil 5	Villanova	6'3	2 So	5.86
128	Reynolds, Jalen 1	Xavier	6'10	3 Jr	5.84
168	Williams, Darien	St. John's	6'8	1 Fr	5.4
177	Zierden, Isaiah 21	Creighton	6'2	3 Jr	5.29
181	Wilson, Duane 1	Marquette	6'2	2 So	5.27
187	Brunson, Jalen	Villanova	6'1	1 Fr	5.22
196	Ennis, Dylan 31	Villanova	6'2	4 Sr	5.14
197	Davis, Myles 15	Xavier	6'2	3 Jr	5.14
209	Ellenson, Henry	Marquette	6'10	1 Fr	5.04
231	Jones, Roosevelt 21	Butler	6'4	4 Sr	4.97
256	Rodriguez, Desi 20	Seton Hall	6'6	2 So	4.79
259	Obekpa, Chris 12	St. John's	6'10	4 Sr	4.78
276	Lindsey, Jalen 21	Providence	6'7	2 So	4.67
300	Garrett, Billy 5	DePaul	6'6	3 Jr	4.48
305	Jenkins, Kris 2	Villanova	6'6	3 Jr	4.47
351	Whitehead, Isaiah 15	Seton Hall	6'4	2 So	4.2
357	Copeland, Isaac 11	Georgetown	6'9	2 So	4.16
384	Campbell, Tre 1	Georgetown	6'2	2 So	4.02
401	White, Paul 13	Georgetown	6'8	2 So	3.98
410	Savage, Kethan 11	Butler 2017	6'3	4 Sr	3.95
412	Hegner, Toby 32	Creighton	6'10	2 So	3.94
418	Carrington, Khadeen 0	Seton Hall	6'3	2 So	3.92
479	Chrabascz, Andrew 45	Butler	6'7	3 Jr	3.63
491	Fischer, Luke 40	Marquette	6'11	3 Jr	3.56
549	Wideman, Tyler 4	Butler	6'8	2 So	3.37
572	Abell, Remy 10	Xavier	6'4	4 Sr	3.29
628	Hanson, Zach 40	Creighton	6'9	3 Jr	3.1
642	Macura, J.P. 55	Xavier	6'5	2 So	3.05
654	Peak, L.J. 0	Georgetown	6'5	2 So	3.01
713	Henry, Myke 4	DePaul	6'6	4 Sr	2.9
723	Johnson, JaJuan 23	Marquette	6'5	3 Jr	2.87
869	Cohen, Sandy 5	Marquette	6'6	2 So	2.53
956	Cheatham, Haanif	Marquette	6'5	1 Fr	2.35
1103	Carter, Traci	Marquette	6'0	1 Fr	2.10
1786	Anim, Sacar	Marquette	6'4	1 Fr	1.20
2156	Heldt, Matt	Marquette	6'10	1 Fr	1.00
4000	Ellenson, Wally	Marquette	6'4"	3 Jr	0.00

These are the top 40 players in the conference based on the rankings at www.valueaddbasketball.com. The team rankings are 50% based on the sum of each team’s Value Add ratings and 50% based on last year (since better teams typically replenish after losing stars). With over 4000 players projected in the database, we WELCOME all corrections in the comments field.

Value Add was first introduced on www.crackedsidewalks.com, and calculates how many points better each player is worth to his team over how good they would be if he was replaced. The projections measure the standard improvement in a player between his freshman, sophomore, junior and senior seasons, and the evaluation of incoming freshman and JUCO players.