DePaul picked as preseason favorite in Big East

Published Oct. 14, 2015 1:15 p.m. ET

foxsports

NEW YORK (AP) For the third straight season, DePaul has been picked by the Big East coaches as the preseason favorite.

DePaul received eight of the 10 votes from the league's coaches Wednesday. St. John's was picked second and Villanova third. Both received one first-place vote.

Creighton is fourth followed by Seton Hall, which was the conference's regular-season champion last year.

Xavier, Georgetown, Butler, Marquette and Providence round out the preseason picks.

St. John's senior guard Aliyyah Handford was chosen as the conference's preseason player of the year. Butler's Brittany Ward is the preseason freshman of the year.