Coaches vote St. John’s sixth in preliminary Big East poll

This season, the Big East’s coaches seem to indicate that the difference between St. John’s, Marquette and Butler is a thin line - and that once again, Villanova is voted first, though not unanimously.

Also of note: DePaul, not Georgetown, was chosen for the final spot in the coaches’ poll.

Coaches cannot vote for their own teams.

Seton Hall and Xavier each received first-place votes in the poll.

The full list:

For St. John’s, this is a measure of the uncertainty around the team’s defense and the impact of the newcomers - plus a reflection of the strength of the league. The top five teams have a fairly set system and/ or set of returnees (though Creighton lost a bit in the offseason).

St. John’s and Butler have not yet established their identities under their coaches, while Marquette has a number of newcomers that will need to make an impact.

St. John’s does have the scoring trio of Bashir Ahmed, Marcus LoVett and Shamorie Ponds, however, and a little bit more efficiency and better defense could make St. John’s a surprise team.