Player of the Week:
Bryce Hopkins (Providence)
From being a bench player last year getting just 6.4 minutes a game, to now leading his team in both points and rebounds per game, Hopkins is easily one of the inspirational stories in college basketball. In their last game against Saint John’s, he scored 29 points tying his previous career high that he earned earlier this season. He doesn’t shoot the three often, but in this game, he made a career high three shots from beyond the arc. Hopkins is turning into a big-time player who could make a great career for himself at Providence and potentially turn it into an NBA future.
Who’s Hot:
Butler Bulldogs
Here come the Bulldogs. Butler is finally making some noise in the Big East with two back-to-back wins against tough opponents. First, they won by two points over Saint John’s and most recently they earned a two-point victory over Xavier. The win over the Musketeers was its first ranked win of the season. The most impressive thing about these two wins is that Butler was without star guard Chuck Harris who leads the team in scoring. The first half won them the game as they led 35-21 shooting 67% from the field.
Villanova Wildcats
This is a team that no one wants to face in the Big East tournament. With Justin Moore back in the lineup, the Wildcats are starting to string together some wins. This week they won games against DePaul and Seton Hall. They’ve been competitive in most of their games this season, but if they keep winning, they could finish top five in the conference. Their starting five looks scary and physical with some great players coming off the bench. Kyle Neptune is starting to figure things out.
Who’s Not:
Seton Hall Pirates
The Pirates lost both of their games this week and it won’t get any easier the rest of season with three of their final five opponents being ranked inside the top 25. In their two games this week they averaged just 58 points a game, which in most cases won’t win basketball games. Their defense has been great all season, but they need and offensive threat who can consistently score for them.
Georgetown Hoyas
After their one win inside the Big East this season, Georgetown has lost their last five games. It looks like it will be another last place finish and it will be curious to see if Patrick Ewing will remain as the head coach going into next season. A good sign for the Hoyas is that Jay Heath is healthy and back in the lineup. He started last game against Marquette and scored 18 points.
Top Five Benches:
#5 Seton Hall
This team is a perfect example of team basketball. They play super hard and have several bench guys who can make an impact. Tray Jackson hasn’t started in a game all season but proves to be a reliable scorer when the starters are struggling. He has seven double digit performances this season. Another great player off the bench is graduate student Jamir Harris. Last year he was a valuable contributor being known for his elite three-point shooting. He’s the kind of guy you put into the lineup when your offense needs a spark.
#4 Saint John’s
Considering how much intensity this team plays with, there’s no surprise they have players ready to step up off the bench. Mike Anderson has changed his starting lineup multiple times this season, but he’s had nine guys play in at least 20 games this year. Andre Curbelo is a talented player and has been coming off the bench recently. Their spread of scoring is wide with seven players averaging between 15 to eight points per game.
#3 Villanova
As mentioned earlier in this blog, adding Justin Moore back into the rotation gives Villanova more depth at the guard position. This means that both Chris Arcidiacono and Mark Armstrong are now coming off the bench. They have started multiple games this season and Arcidiacono is a solid role player who has played in some high-level games throughout his career.
#2 Marquette
The big reason why Marquette is on this list is because of 6th man David Joplin. There’s no question that he is the leading candidate for Big East 6th man of the year award. He has three 20+ point games this season, with an unreal 28 points against DePaul where he drained eight three pointers.
#1 UConn
Not many teams can bring a talented center off the bench for their starting big man. In Dan Hurley’s case, he has freshman Donovan Clingan who stands at 7-2 to come off the bench for Adama Sanogo. There’s an argument that can be made that Clingan could start for several Big East teams. They also have veteran transfer shooter Joey Calcaterra who is an elite three-point shooter.