Weeks after a captivating Final Four, we've finally caught our collective breath to evaluate the 2024-25 men's college basketball season.
We'll be grading each team in the top conferences in a series of report cards we'll release each Wednesday for the next five weeks: the Big East (below), ACC (May 7), Big Ten (May 14), Big 12 (May 21) and SEC (May 28).
Part of this process is straightforward: A good team that played like a good team will earn a strong grade, and a good team that played like a bad team will not. But it will be complicated for certain teams. Some had championship dreams. Others hoped to win just one game. Either way, we are judging each squad's season based on preseason expectations while offering grace on a case-by-case basis for any unfortunate midseason events.
We've included a handful of other notable teams -- Gonzaga, Memphis and Saint Mary's -- from conferences we won't hit comprehensively alongside the Big East teams in this debut edition. Let's begin.
Note: Teams listed in alphabetical order under each grading tier. Non-Big East teams are marked with an asterisk.
Jump to a team: Butler | Creighton | DePaul | Georgetown | Gonzaga* | Marquette | Memphis* | Providence | Seton Hall | Saint Mary's* | St. John's | UConn | Villanova | Xavier
A grades
Creighton Bluejays
Grade: A
Greg McDermott's fabulous effort should have generated more attention. Pop Isaacs, then a star transfer from Texas Tech (and now headed to Houston), suffered a season-ending injury in early December. But Creighton still managed to win 25 games, finishing second in the Big East behind a strong St. John's squad and earning top-50 marks in adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency. And under McDermott, Ryan Kalkbrenner joined Patrick Ewing as the only player to win Big East Defensive Player of the Year four times.
By the time they had lost to Auburn in the second round of the NCAA tournament, the Bluejays had already put together an excellent season.
Memphis Tigers*
Grade: A
Turbulence had largely defined Penny Hardaway's tenure at Memphis prior to the 2024-25 season -- there had been NCAA violations, key departures and a series of shortfalls. But Hardaway put together his best coaching effort this season, leading the Tigers to the American Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships.
With Tyrese Hunter (all-AAC first team selection) and PJ Haggerty (second team Associated Press All-American) as their anchors, the Tigers won 29 games, the highest tally under Hardaway. Hunter's foot injury was a devastating development before the NCAA tournament, but the Tigers still managed to produce the best overall season of the Hardaway era.
Saint Mary's Gaels*
Grade: A
Randy Bennett won the West Coast Conference regular-season crown over rival Gonzaga in 2024-25 after losing Aiden Mahaney, an all-WCC first team selection the previous season, to the transfer portal. Bennett, however, has made his mark in college basketball with his ability to develop talent. The growth of Mitchell Saxen (10.8 PPG, 7.9 RPG) and Augustas Marciulionis (14.2 PPG, 5.9 APG) helped Bennett capture his sixth WCC championship. The Gaels also defeated Vanderbilt in the NCAA tournament after securing a 7-seed.
St. John's Red Storm
Grade: A
Fueled by one of the nation's top defensive units, St. John's won the regular-season and tournament championships. RJ Luis Jr. won Big East Player of the Year and the Red Storm became one of the sport's most alluring stories, proved by their appearance on "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon."
A second-round loss to Arkansas abruptly ended a season for a team that entered the NCAA tournament as a serious title contender, but it was still ultimately picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll before authoring its first run to the top of the Big East standings in more than 30 years.
Xavier Musketeers
Grade: A
Boosted by the return of Zach Freemantle, Xavier tied Marquette for a fourth-place finish in the Big East with a 13-7 record. Freemantle, who hadn't played a full season since 2021-22 because of injuries, averaged 16.8 points and 6.8 rebounds for a Musketeers squad that went 8-1 over its last conference games and secured an 11-seed in the NCAA tournament, where it beat Texas in the First Four before losing to Illinois in the opening round.
Sean Miller is now at Texas because of the way he molded a Xavier team that made 39.1% of its 3-point attempts (fourth best in the nation) and finished top-50 in adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency.
B grades
DePaul Blue Demons
Grade: B
In his first season, Chris Holtmann took a DePaul team that had won three games with no conference victories in 2023-24 to 14 wins with four conference victories to avoid the last-place finish that was projected in the Big East preseason poll. The Blue Demons also took Marquette and Creighton to overtime.
The goal this season was to get better after a disastrous campaign. DePaul did that.
Georgetown Hoyas
Grade: B
Before freshman Thomas Sorber -- an all-Big East third team selection -- suffered a season-ending injury, Georgetown was a 15-10 team with a 6-8 in-conference record. But the Hoyas, who also grappled with Jayden Epps' ankle injury, lost five of their next seven games and ruined what was left of their chances to make the NCAA tournament. Still, they jumped from nine victories in 2023-24 to 18 wins in 2024-25 in Cooley's second season with the program.
C grades
Gonzaga Bulldogs*
Grade: C
With the return of all-West Coast Conference first-team selections Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard, Gonzaga seemed poised with the talent to chase Mark Few's first national championship. Instead, the Bulldogs finished second in the WCC for just the fourth time in Few's career.
A program that has owned the WCC under Few didn't look like a legitimate national championship contender for the bulk of the season. The Bulldogs went 1-4 against Baylor, Kentucky, UConn, UCLA and West Virginia while suffering losses to Oregon State and Santa Clara (at home) in league play. A thriller against national title runner-up Houston in the second round of the NCAA tournament was fascinating, but the Bulldogs were also an 8-seed for a reason.
Marquette Golden Eagles
Grade: C
With all-Big East preseason first-team selection Kam Jones (19.2 PPG, 5.9 APG), the Golden Eagles finished fourth in offensive efficiency and second in defensive efficiency in Big East play. They also finished fourth in the standings, which is where they were projected in the preseason poll. But expectations rose after a 9-1 start to the conference schedule until they stumbled with a 4-6 stretch over the final 10 regular-season games.
A first-round loss to 10-seed New Mexico in the NCAA tournament -- the third first-weekend exit in four seasons for Shaka Smart -- didn't exactly punctuate the end of a season that once seemed more promising.
UConn Huskies
Grade: C
UConn sought to make history as the first program since John Wooden's UCLA Bruins to win three consecutive national championships, but it was obvious early in the season -- see: the Huskies' 0-3 finish in November's Maui Invitational -- that this was a different team than the one we had witnessed the previous two years.
The Huskies ultimately earned an 8-seed in the NCAA tournament as a result of finishing third in the Big East after receiving 10 of 11 votes as the favorites in the preseason poll. A healthy Liam McNeeley (missed eight games) might have changed their fortunes -- and Dan Hurley's temperamental demeanor -- but multiple players (such as Aiden Mahaney) still failed to improve from the previous season.
Villanova Wildcats
Grade: C
After a November loss to Columbia (KenPom's 217th-ranked team at the time), the since-fired Kyle Neptune told media that Villanova's habits weren't "where they need to be." Well, those tendencies led to a series of struggles that had the Wildcats miss their third straight NCAA tournament. They finished second in offensive efficiency in Big East play and recorded wins over three top teams (St. John's, UConn, Marquette) to earn a sixth-place slot in the standings after being projected to finish seventh. Still, with the nation's leading scorer, Eric Dixon (23.3 PPG), the Wildcats should have had a stronger campaign.
D grades
Butler Bulldogs
Grade: D
In the third season with Thad Matta at the helm, Butler seemed poised to take the next step -- Patrick McCaffery (11.2 PPG, 42% from beyond the arc) transferred from Iowa and Matta returned his top two scorers from the previous season, Pierre Brooks II and Jahmyl Telfort. A promising 7-1 start with key wins over Northwestern and Mississippi State only intensified the optimism, but Matta's squad went on to lose 17 of its next 23 games.
Providence Friars
Grade: D
After recovering from an ACL injury, star Bryce Hopkins averaged 17.0 points in three games before he was sidelined the rest of the season with a bone bruise. The 6-foot-7 forward could have been an all-Big East first team selection for a Providence team that won 21 games in Kim English's first season in 2023-24. Instead, the Friars fell apart.
Picked to finish sixth in the Big East preseason poll, they instead amassed a 12-20 record and a 6-14 mark in conference play, suffering four sub-100 KenPom losses.
Seton Hall Pirates
Grade: D
Every coach who is battling to raise his team in the national hierarchy hopes his squad can reach its ceiling, but flirting with that potential can also lead to chaos. Last year, Shaheen Holloway had the right roster in his second season as the head coach of his alma mater. Those Pirates won the NIT, but the program was ultimately purged by the portal last offseason, leading to the 2-18 finish in conference play this season. Seton Hall did not look like a team that belonged in the Big East a year after entering Selection Sunday as a strong bubble candidate.