After Nova and us, they are getting the most coveted recruits in the league. If you look at the schools they went up against for those freshmen they have you’ll realize they definitely know how to get recruits on campus. They are not a huge national brand, but that’s only really important for recruiting which does not seem to be an issue for them. That combined with coaching seems to indicate they will regularly be a threat in the league.
In terms of other teams:
Providence does not recruit nearly well enough.
Xavier gets good talent and could be in the mix regularly too if they figure out the coaching.
Seton Hall had a ton of talent this year through developed lower rank players and transfers. Not clear they can sustain that year in year out- especially if Willard takes another job.
GTown can’t keep good players on campus for more than a year - and just an absolute mess program wise.
DePaul has no track record but definitely some real signs Stubblefield is building something there.
Butler generally (not this year) does well with 3 star and a couple low four star guys but isn’t currently competing for enough talent to regularly be at the top of the league.
Marquette could be a real threat to compete if Shaka can start to pull some of the talent we all think he will but there’s no real track record yet other than a great coaching job this year.
St Johns was definitely one of the toughest teams to play in get league this year (would’ve loved to have seen them make the big tourney), and Anderson is a great coach, but their team is also mainly built of kids that are way better than they were considered out of high school. Ie they have no track record of competing and winning for top high school talent which you need to be able to do to be a top program every year. Given their style and coaching I expect them to be tough every year but not enough talent to be a powerhouse.
