Big East adjusts to new members Butler, Creighton, and Xavier

NEW YORK - Thanks to the three new basketball teams in the Big East Conference, some coaches have allowed their curiosity to get the better of them.

"I've got to admit," Villanova's Jay Wright said Wednesday at the conference's media day, "I've spent probably more time looking at Creighton and Butler and Xavier than we did other teams at this point in the year, just because you're curious."

The three Midwestern schools are uniting with seven holdover teams from last year - five from the I-95 corridor and two in the nation's heartland - to create what officials hope will be the No. 1 conference where basketball rules instead of football.

The new members appear to be a good fit in the league in terms of philosophy, but the question is whether they can step up their game in a league that is presumably better than from where they came - Creighton from the Missouri Valley Conference, Butler and Xavier from the Atlantic Ten.

What Wright has discovered from the tape is that the newbees aren't going to take a backseat to anyone.

"I think Xavier and Butler have very similar styles to the Big East, and I think they'll fit perfectly," he said. "I think Creighton has such a unique offensive style, and having [all-American] Doug McDermott is probably a part of that.

"They're tough. Everybody talks about Big East style of play. I think those teams fit perfectly. They're not bringing in any pretty boys."

Xavier coach Chris Mack, who is familiar with East Coast ways from his team's A-10 years, seems just as inquisitive as to what the Musketeers might encounter once conference play starts on New Year's Eve. So he and his staff studied opponents earlier this year.

"We just got a better feel than maybe what we had previously from watching a game or two on television," Mack said. "We broke down personnel, how they play on both ends of the floor. So it will be less of a transition once we start games."

Mack said he felt his team will be facing better athletes and better players in the Big East. But Creighton's Greg McDermott said judging players' talent levels from different conferences "depends on how you define talent."

"To me, at the end of the day, you've got to put the ball in the basket," he said. "There were a lot of guys who could do that in the Missouri Valley Conference."

McDermott referenced Wichita State, a team that the Bluejays defeated twice in the last week of the season but ended up in the Final Four.

"So we've played against good basketball teams that are very talented teams that understand how to play the game of basketball," he said. "There's a lot of different ways to go about it to be successful."

For now, there is much anticipation about the start of league competition with the balanced double round-robin that will make for an 18-game schedule.

"It's going to be different," Wright said. "I'm excited about going to Creighton. I'm excited about playing at Hinkle Fieldhouse [where Butler plays]. I know Villanova fans already are talking about going out there for New Year's Eve and seeing that place. Who would appreciate a place like that more than basketball junkies from the Northeast?

"These are some of the benefits we're all going to get from this conference."

@joejulesinq