Big East Media Day: Men's Basketball Preseason Poll 2014-15: St. John's picked a close third

The Big East coaches have voted on how they think the Big East will finish, and (for this writer at least), second place is a bit of a surprise.

Note that St. John's was just edged out by Georgetown in points, and a first-place vote kept Villanova from a unanimous #1 prediction.

Villanova is clearly the class of the conference, and the only ranked team in the initial Coaches' Poll.

But despite the departures, St. John's still pulls some respect from the Big East, after finishing in a tie for third last Big East season and finishing with 20 wins.

Steve Lavin likes to talk about incremental progress; the coaches seem to see that progress as well.

Providence, who won the Big East Tournament last year and were also tied for third (it was a three-way tie - the Friars, the Red Storm, and the Xavier Musketeers), are picked fifth after the loss of scoring sensation and point guard Bryce Cotton.

The Seton Hall Pirates pop up as sixth, possibly on the power of the preseason Rookie of the Year, Isaiah Whitehead.

Butler and Marquette are going through some coaching transitions, with Butler losing their coach, Brandon Miller, for an indefinite period and Marquette breaking in a new coach, former Duke assistant Steve Wojciechowski.

Creighton loses All-American Doug McDermott - and also stars Grant Gibbs and Ethan Wragge and guard Jahenns Manigat. There's a lot to replace.

DePaul has some solid players returning, but their defense has kept them in the Big East basement; there's no reason for the coaches to think they can turn it around until they do. According to Billy Garrett Jr. today at Media Day, the team can be a top-half Big East squad, but that may be preseason bravado.

Which teams were picked too high? Too low?