Breaking down the Big East offseason: Who is chasing UConn, St. John’s?
It was a clear two-horse race in the Big East for the entire 2025-26 men’s basketball season as UConn and St. John’s separated into a tier above the rest. Villanova, in year one under coach Kevin Willard, ascended back into the conversation and gave the conference three NCAA Tournament bids, but the Wildcats never threatened the top of the league and their postseason run was short-lived with a first-round loss to Utah State.
Seton Hall did more with less under Shaheen Holloway, but didn’t collect enough strong wins outside of the conference to flip onto the right side of the March Madness bubble and declined any other postseason invitations. None of the eight other teams finished the year with an overall record better than . 500.
The league ended the season ranked last of the five power conferences by KenPom, which had a tight group of three at the top in the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12. There was a bit of a gap before the ACC and the Big East, and a similar-sized drop off from the Big East to the Mountain West. But if this offseason is any indication, the league should see some positive momentum in 2026-27.
UConn, coming off of its third national championship game appearance in the last four years, has built what figures to be another contender. Dan Hurley was able to retain a core trio of Silas Demary Jr. (a Big East Player of the Year candidate), Braylon Mullins and Jayden Ross, while adding four transfers (and counting) to the rotation and a pair of top-50 freshmen who are likely to impact games right away.
Rick Pitino didn’t make the same splash in the transfer portal as he did last season, but the Hall of Famer went back overseas for a handful of international players after time expired on his dominant frontcourt trio of Zuby Ejiofor, Dillon Mitchell and Bryce Hopkins. The Johnnies added Beacon Falls native Avery Brown from Columbia and Syracuse forward Donnie Freeman, who was a UConn target at some level before the Huskies signed Nik Khamenia from Duke. There will be at least seven international players on the St.
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