PHILADELPHIA — It’s not Syracuse against Georgetown or Louisville meeting Connecticut, but Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center, the new Big East will have its first marquee matchup.
And, according to Villanova coach Jay Wright, it will feature the nation’s best player in Creighton, swingman Doug McDermott.
“I think he’s the best player in the country, I really do,” Wright said on a conference call on Friday.
Overshadowed somewhat by the nation’s top freshmen when the season started, the star 6-foot-8 senior has drawn deserved accolades for leading the Bluejays to an impressive start. The Big East Preseason Player of the Year, McDermott is averaging 24.9 points per game, which is second in the nation.
“I don’t think anybody has the impact on their team that he does,” Wright said. “I don’t think anybody’s a better player than he is.
“I love his combination of skill and intelligence. It seems like he rarely takes a bad shot. And sometimes if he takes a tough shot it’s at a good time. It keeps the defense honest or it’s at the end of a shot clock.”
The showdown will feature experienced Villanova, the lone Big East team that does not have a loss in conference play, and its 16-1 record, against Creighton and McDermott, the national player of the year candidate.
The league’s best team against the best player.
Two nationally ranked teams.
“I think it’s great for our league,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott, the NBA prospect’s father, said in a phone interview on Sunday. “Both teams have done well up to this point.”
Some of the game’s luster was lost Saturday night, when the 20th-ranked Bluejays dropped their first conference game at Providence, while No. 6 Villanova continued to roll, knocking off DePaul at home.
It will be a huge challenge for Creighton (15-3, 5-1) against balanced, deep and experienced Villanova, which emerged as a national power with non-conference wins over Kansas and Iowa.
“It’s a great opportunity to find out where our program is and how much better we may need to be before the end of the season,” Greg McDermott said.
The old Big East was considered the best basketball conference in the country, a monster of a league. The new group, made up solely of basketball schools, is incomparable. Until recently, Villanova (16-1, 5-0) was the only ranked team. The Big East is fourth in RPI, behind only the Pac 12, Big 10 and Big 12.
Ironically, two of the conference’s best teams thus far — Xavier and Creighton — came from the mid-major level, making up for the current struggles of St. John’s, Georgetown and Marquette.
Creighton, Greg McDermott said, was well prepared for the elevated level of competition because it often played major conference foes in the non-league portion of its schedule and during the NCAA Tournament. The Bluejays have reached the NCAA Tournament each of the last two years.
“It’s been a great move for our institution and for our basketball program,” Greg McDermott said. “Obviously, everything’s new to us, and with that comes a period of adjustment as we visit new cities, play in new venues, against teams we never played before. So far through six games, I’ve been pleased with the results.”