Haters.
The bar for success has been set laughably low for Cara Conseugra in her first season in charge of Marquette women’s basketball. On Wednesday, the Big East released the official results of the preseason poll of the league’s coaches…..
…. and the combined voting power of everyone not named Cara Consuegra — you can’t vote for your own team — has Marquette picked to finish 10th in the Big East this season.
The 2024-2025 BIG EAST Preseason Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Poll!
Read More: https://t.co/55j01ifXnP pic.twitter.com/2xchRKfGvr
— BIG EAST WBB (@BIGEASTWBB) October 23, 2024
Marquette snagged 23 points, falling just one point shy of 9th place DePaul. Xavier landed in the #11 spot, and with just 10 points, they have all 10 possible last place votes. 23 points means the Golden Eagles only acquired three more points than they would have received if they had gotten 10 10th place votes.
I want to be clear about something: I don’t think this is outrageously wrong. I put Marquette 7th in my preseason picks. There’s just way too many questions about the Golden Eagles with just six returning players and only two of them playing a rotation role last season.
I do question some of the other picks, particularly how Providence climbed up to 3rd even though they’re mostly the same team as last year when they went 6-12 in the league. I do think there’s an incredibly squishy middle of the league, and the coaches do as well, given that just 11 points separate #4 and #6, and just 16 separate #4 and #7.
Do I think this is a very low bar for success in Cara Consuegra’s first season? Sure do, and I think she’s going to clear it easily. Clear it to a postseason berth? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Elsewhere in the polling, it was a big day for UConn. The Huskies are picked to win the league, getting every vote except for Geno Auriemma’s since you can’t vote for your own team. Paige Bueckers was picked as Preseason Player of the Year, and Sarah Strong was tabbed as Preseason Freshman of the Year. All of these were the expected choices, especially Strong since she’s the #1 prospect in the country.
The Big East announced a 10 woman preseason all-conference team, so I regret to inform you that I easily got all of my preseason all-BE team picks correct. Well, technically. I had Bueckers on my list of five players and the league opted to keep Bueckers off the list of 10. Why? I have no idea, but they also don’t mark anyone on the all-conference list as a unanimous choice either.
At least there’s two Providence players on the all-BE team to make that 3rd place voting make at least a little bit of sense.
You can check out the Big East’s press release on the team poll right here and the press release on the individual player honors right here.