The dust is settling on the early signing period, and several Big East programs cleaned up, while others have more work to do in the spring.
Dan McDonald breaks down the Big East's best and worst of the early period.
HEAD OF THE CLASS
Providence continues to stockpile talent under Ed Cooley, and this time around the Friars enter the early signing period with the top class in the Big East and the 13th ranked haul nationally. Cooley and his staff received signatures from four prospects this week in David Duke (No. 37), A.J. Reeves (No. 45), Kris Monroe and Jimmy Nichols. Duke and Reeves give the Friars one of the better backcourt classes in the country as both are ranked among the top 50 nationally. Nichols is an intriguing long term prospect with the versatility to play both forward spots.
BEST SURPRISE
No program in the Big East has the potential to benefit from the FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball as much as Villanova does in the 2018 class. Jay Wright and his staff worked super hard to secure a commitment from Jahvon Quinerly earlier this year, but he opted for Arizona. He ended up backing out on Arizona after Wildcats assistant Book Richardson was arrested, and now it looks like Villanova may end up signing the five-star point guard.
WORST SURPRISE
Over the past few years, Xavier had been regularly signing prospects ranked in the Rivals150 and even snagged its fair share of four-star prospects. So far during the 2018 recruiting cycle, the Musketeers have been shut out of Rivals150 prospects and don’t appear to be major players for any of the remaining uncommitted prospects. Justin Ahrens was a top target for Chris Mack, but he chose to sign with Ohio State.
NEXT SEMESTER
The biggest storyline to watch in the Big East is whether or not DePaul can convince Tyger Campbell to come back into the fold. The four-star point guard made an early decision to commit to the Demons, but backed out over the summer. Signing Campbell would be big news for Dave Leitao as he tries to build up his program.
REPORT CARD
Butler: C. So far, Michigan wing Markeese Hastings is the only player to join up withe new staff in Indianapolis.
Creighton: B. Christian Bishop has as much upside as just about any player heading into the Big East next year.
DePaul: C. Losing Tyger Campbell really stung the Demons.
Georgetown: B. Patrick Ewing did pretty well in his first recruiting cycle by adding a four-star power forward in Josh LeBlanc along with a pair of three-star prospects,
Marquette: B+. Reeling in Joey Hauser is a huge deal for Steve Wojciechowski.
Providence: A. The Friars landed the top class in the Big East and landed the top two targets on Ed Cooley’s board in David Duke and A.J. Reeves.
Seton Hall: C+. The Pirates signed two-star center Darnell Brodie and three-star off guard Anthony Nelson.
St. John’s: C+. Chris Mullin inked three-star big man Josh Roberts who has some long term upside, but missed on many other targets in the early signing period.
Villanova: A. Added two four-star prospects in Brandon Slater and Cole Swider, and both fit in perfectly with Jay Wright’s program.
Xavier: C+. Signed three three-star prospect in combo forward Dontarius James, shooter Keonte Kennedy and big man Jake Walter, but need more to replace the loss of J.P. Macura and Trevon Bluiett after this season.
