On Oct. 1, at 9 a.m., Times Square bustled with life as commuters hustled to and fro. On the fifth floor of the New York City Marriott Marquis, each of the 22 BIG EAST men’s and women’s basketball teams, along with their coaches and staff, gathered for the conference’s media day. The conference comes just one month ahead of the upcoming college basketball season, which begins on Nov. 1.
Each team sends a few players to spend the day meeting with reporters, photographers, and broadcasters to preview the season ahead.
The newly instated BIG EAST Commissioner Tim (C ’80), a Georgetown alum and former executive at Major League Baseball, kicked off the day with a statement and answered questions from reporters.
Brosnan stepped into the role on Sept. 1, following the retirement of commissioner Val Ackerman, who served as the founding president of the WNBA and a president of USA basketball prior to 13 years with the BIG EAST. Ackerman became president in 2013 when the BIG EAST restructured, adding Xavier, Butler, and Creighton to the conference.
Now, Brosnan has his eye on ensuring that the BIG EAST stays at the forefront of college basketball, despite the turbulence generated by the rise of NIL and the prominence of the transfer portal. In his opening statement, he said, “We didn’t run from the change. We embraced it. And right now, chaotic is probably the best word to describe our industry.”
One idea put forth by athletics directors to maintain the conference’s dominance included a minimum spending floor across university programs to increase the number of BIG EAST teams that make it to the NCAA Tournament in March. Numbers ranging between $10 and $20 million were floated throughout the day, but Brosnan noted he would give the plan more thought.
“How many teams would I like to see in the [NCAA] tournament? More than five, like six or seven,” Brosnan declared. “The investment that our schools have made in their basketball clubs this year has never been stronger across the board, and so if you believe that investment leads to results, I’ll be disappointed if it’s anything less than five, and I’m optimistic that it’ll be more than that.”
Money matters more than ever now in the NCAA, not just for the program administrators, but for attracting recruits and keeping them on the roster as well. With the legalization of regulations requiring universities to pay student athletes when they use their name, image, or likenesses, financial incentives now play a role in what programs players want to join.
Georgetown men’s basketball head coach Ed Cooley alluded to this same phenomenon, saying of paying NCAA players, “This is a pay-to-play system that’s in play right now, no matter what the narrative may be.”
However, Villanova’s men’s basketball head coach Kevin Willard cast doubt on the notion that money is all that matters. He said, “Just because you spend a ton doesn’t mean you spend it right.”
For him, spending right means investment in transfer players and fifth-year seniors at the expense of high school players. Indeed, Villanova is not “recruiting a high school kid this year,” according to Willard.
Georgetown men’s basketball functioned similarly in the offseason. While the team did onboard high school recruits, including guard Athan Olivier IV and forward Justin Caldwell, they did so selectively. Of his thought process on recruitment, Cooley said to the media, “Is a freshman good enough to help us from day one?…We only want to identify freshmen [who are good enough to play from day one].”
When the Voice talked to the team at media day, there was a focus on team performance over personal accolades. Each of the players reiterated that they have one goal: to win.
Kayvaun Mulready, a third-year guard for the Hoyas, mentioned that he doesn’t “want too many individual goals” for himself since “the main goal is to win.” This mentality ran as a throughline from the returning players to the newly initiated.
Chol Machot, a junior transfer from the College of Charleston, echoed the same sentiment. When asked about his role on the team, he said, “I can’t really say much about my role, it’s more about the team.”
This is a clear message and one directly from Cooley and his staff. As sophomore forward Josiah Parker, a transfer from Florida Atlantic University, said, “the buy-in is very important… and Coach Cooley definitely drills that into us.”
Georgetown is still striving to get back to their winning ways. When asked if he thought the Georgetown program had lost any of its luster following losing seasons and stymied success, Cooley’s response was immediate and adamant:
“Absolutely the mystique is not gone. We’ve had some turbulent waters, we haven’t had the success that we want…but the mystique will never go away. You can’t erase history, you can’t erase dominance, you can’t erase Hall of Famers.”
The women’s program is also looking to climb back to the heights they’ve previously achieved. Women’s basketball head coach Darnell Haney, who led the squad to the program’s first BIG EAST tournament finals in 2024, explained, “I’m excited about this year, I’m excited about our group. We have a mix of newcomers and a solid core of young women we brought back…they bring a level of joy and excitement about the game.”
Like with the men’s team, roster turnover was a hot topic, as Georgetown brought in five transfers and three freshmen this year after losing nine players to the portal and four who graduated. Haney emphasized the importance of balancing skill, personality, and experience when recruiting players.
“When I go into the portal I’m going to get a player that I know we need at that position or that type of player, but I’m also going to get a player with a personality that I think can fit.”
Returning senior guard Khia Miller and returning junior guard Destiny Agubata, when asked about their roles during this upcoming season, noted their veteran presence on the team. “Our ability to come into practice and help players integrate and grasp our concepts has been the biggest way we’ve had to step up,” Miller said. “Us being transfers ourselves helps them acclimate a bit more,” Agubata added.
One freshman who hopes to make a difference this season is freshman guard Bo Frost. Coming over from Iceland with experience representing Great Britain at the FIBA U18 level, Frost mentioned “being adaptable, being aggressive and playing hard” as key things she learned while playing abroad.
Miller noticed Frost’s skillset from the get-go: “Bo had come in, she was very vocal from the beginning, which I really appreciated. Her just being able to speak, and hearing her IQ on this level” has made her valuable since day one.
In the 2026 BIG EAST Preseason Coaches’ Poll, Georgetown’s women’s team is predicted to finish eighth out of the eleven teams this year, and the men’s team is projected to finish tenth. In a conference that seems to count the Hoyas out, both programs enter the season hungry and with a bone to pick.
“There’s no hiding behind a lack of success, we have to do a better job,” Cooley said.
Georgetown men’s basketball plays their first game of the 2026-2027 season on Nov. 2 against Loyola Maryland at Capital One Arena. The women’s team is set to take on Delaware State on Nov. 2 at McDonough Arena.
