The Big East coaches mirrored the national preseason consensus when it comes to the two locals: Seton Hall is in for a special season and St. John’s, at least on paper, is closer to the bottom of the league than the top.

The preseason poll, as voted on by the league’s coaches, picked Seton Hall to win the conference for the first time since 2000 and also tabbed senior star Myles Powell as the Preseason Player of the Year. St. John’s, meanwhile, was predicted to finish ninth, ahead of only DePaul, though returning stars LJ Figueroa and Mustapha Heron were second team selections. Powell is the first Preseason Player of the Year from Seton Hall since Terry Dehere in 1992.

The Pirates edged out Villanova by a single vote — each received five first-place votes — while Xavier was picked third and Marquette and Providence followed in a tie for fourth. In a slight surprise, Georgetown was picked sixth – most experts believe Patrick Ewing’s team is top-25-caliber after returning stellar sophomores James Akinjo, Mac McClung and Josh LeBlanc, and adding N.C. State transfer forward Omer Yurtseven. Creighton was picked seventh and Butler eighth.

It was a tumultuous offseason for St. John’s. The Red Storm lost leading scorer Shamorie Ponds, along with fellow starters Justin Simon and Marvin Clark II, and have a new coach with Mike Anderson replacing Chris Mullin. The returns of Figueroa and Heron give Anderson one of the premier duos in the conference, but there are plenty of question marks otherwise.

At the other end of the spectrum, Seton Hall is expected to be ranked in the top-15 nationally before it kicks off its season against Wagner on Nov. 5. The Pirates only lost Mike Nzei, but added 7-foot Florida State transfer Ike Obiagu and four-star recruit Tyrese Samuel. They will be gunning for their fifth straight NCAA Tournament bid and will feature a deep and versatile roster led by the 6-foot-2 Powell, who averaged 23.1 points per game a year ago.

Marquette’s Markus Howard, last season’s Big East Player of the Year, was joined on the first team by Xavier forward Naji Marshall, Creighton guard Ty-Shon Alexander, Butler guard Kamar Baldwin and Providence wing Alpha Diallo, a Harlem native.

The second team was composed of Figueroa, Heron, Akinjo, DePaul forward Paul Reed and Villanova duo Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels. Yurtseven and Xavier guard Paul Scruggs were honorable mention. Villanova forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, a five-star recruit, was named the Preseason Freshman of the Year.