Pittsburgh was ranked number one in the coaches poll at the Big East Media Day. Villanova was ranked second, followed by Syracuse. Pitt received 12 of the coaches poll first place votes, while two coaches ranked Syracuse on top and one first place vote was recorded for each of Villanova and St. Johns.
Rick Pitino later admitted to being the one to vote for St. Johns. Pitino said that he thought that the top of the conference was coming down as the bottom comes up, leading to a lot of teams that are capable of winning the conference title. The Johnnies had not been picked higher than ninth since 2002-2003.
The full poll results were as follows:
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Austin Freeman of Georgetown was named pre-season player of the year and was invited to speak to the amassed crowd of reporters following Commissioner Marinatto's introductory statement, in what was announced to be the beginning of a new Big East Media Day tradition.
The preseason Big East Rookie award went to Syracuse's Fab Melo.
Villanova's Corey Fisher was named to the 2010-2011 Preseason All-Big East First Team, joined by Kemba Walker, Ashton Gibbs, Jeremy Hazell, and Kevin Jones. The complete player-awards are listed here:
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Fisher was a Third-team All-Big East selection last season and was second on the team in scoring last year. This season he will be expected to lead his team.
In other 2010-2011 preseason polls, the Wildcats fared well (all NCAA basketball):
- 6th by the Blue Ribbon Yearbook (2nd-highest Big East school)
- 6th by Athlon Sports (Top Big East school)
- 11th by Sporting News (3rd Big East school)
- 13th by Lindy's College Basketball (2nd Big East school)
- 8th by ESPN.com (2nd Big East school)
- 7th by FoxSports.com (2nd Big East School
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