Rosters are complete, and most teams are starting their summer workouts and preparing for the 2025-2026 season. This time of year gives fans and the media a great opportunity to evaluate the rosters and attempt to determine who will improve, who will decline, and which teams are the national championship contenders.

This point in the offseason also leads to other fun exercises. A few weeks ago, we ranked the 25 most impactful freshman classes in the country. Those players are the future of college basketball. It also leads to another productive exercise and an excellent topic for debate. That exercise involves giving a grade to teams based on their off-season moves.

Let's provide an off-season grade for all the Big East schools. The grading system will examine the incoming freshman class, transfers, and coaching changes. Apply those to the returning players on the roster and determine how that individual team did during the offseason.

An A rating doesn't mean the team will be good or bad. It means the individual team met or exceeded its goals for the offseason. Teams receiving an F grade could be outstanding, but didn't do much in the offseason. Let's get into it.

Head coach Thad Matta's task is rebuilding the Bulldogs, and given how the offseason went for Butler, that is right on schedule. 2025-2026 is the best roster that the Bulldogs have had under coach Matta. The freshman class, led by Azavier Robinson, is versatile and will make a significant impact in the Big East. Then there is the transfer class.

The Bulldogs secured one of the best transfer classes in the country. There aren't a ton of big names in the class, but mid-major stars who play a perfect style of basketball for Coach Matta. The transfer class star is Jalen Jackson, who starred at Fort Wayne and will likely be the centerpiece of the Butler offense. Jackson has an outside chance at being an all-conference-level player in the Big East.

One of the true bluebloods in the sport has not had any trouble attracting talent and staying at the top. It doesn't hurt that head coach Dan Hurley has guided the Huskies to two of the last three National Championships. The freshmen are elite, even if they don't have a true lottery pick this season. Coach Hurley will always get an impact from his freshman, and Braylon Mullins is going to play a lot this year.

UConn had some noticeable holes in the roster when the transfer portal opened. The beauty of having won 2 of the last 3 National Titles and having a blueblood program is that almost everyone wants to play for you. Hurley was able to pick out two extremely selective point guards who make the offense elite and the defense better.

Usually, losing a player like Ryan Kalkbrenner would be tough to overcome, especially when that one player meant so much to the program over his career. Creighton is going to be fine; they have one of the best coaches in the Big East, their offense is elite, and they will be one of the best shooting teams in the country, just as they have been every season.

With that said, the Bluejays arguably had the best offseason in the Big East. Coach Greg McDermott was excellent in the transfer portal, securing the commitments of four of the top scorers in the portal. Blake Harper is going to be in the running for the Big East Player of the Year. Josh Dix may lead the country in three-point shooting. Owen Freeman is one of the most athletic bigs in the country. Finally, Nik Graves is a clone of Brice Williams on offense. The Bluejays are reloading.

Chris Holtmann's first year was a success. The Blue Demons made the College Basketball Crown, and even though they only won 14 games, the program is trending up. DePaul has struggled to attract quality talent over the last two decades, and when you haven't had a winning season in 18 years, that will happen.

The freshman class is full of developmental pieces for Chris Holtmann. The incoming transfer class, headlined by Kaleb Banks and Khaman Maker, boasts some impactful talent that will be significant for DePaul. The Blue Demons lost a substantial number of players in the transfer portal, and it doesn't appear they have done enough to escape the basement of the Big East. It was better than it has been, though.

Ed Cooley is doing a good job of infusing the Hoyas program with talent that can win and win big. Hoyas fans were able to see that last year until injuries tested their depth and derailed a promising start to the season. The Hoyas did not get a single commitment from a freshman for 2025 but have an outstanding transfer class to add to their existing players.

Malik Mack and Kavaughn Mulready are coming back to play for Coach Cooley. That is a massive win for a team desperate for star power after losing Thomas Sorber to the draft and Jayden Epps to the portal. Langston Love and KJ Lewis are the prizes of the transfer class. Love is a scorer poised for a breakout year, and Lewis is the ultimate glue guy and anchor of any defense he plays in. Georgetown should be improved.

The Golden Eagles lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to New Mexico, then lost Kam Jones, Stevie Mitchell, and David Joplin to graduation. Those players were the three top scorers for Marquette last year. Many coaches would scour the transfer portal and try to find a big-time scorer to make up for the loss of Jones, who was one of the best Golden Eagles ever.

Shaka Smart had a different approach and recruited four incoming freshmen who should all make an impact. I trust Coach Smart to develop his players, but it will be tough to convince me that a roster this young is going to finish near the top of the Big East again. It might be a rebuilding year for the Golden Eagles.

Things didn’t work out well for Providence last season. The loss of Bryce Hopkins was too much to overcome, and the Friars limped to 12 wins. Heading into this season, the Friars lost Hopkins and second-leading scorer Jayden Pierre to the transfer portal, but coach English found their replacements from two budding star freshmen, led by Jamier Jones. The transfer portal was huge for the Friars. Providence found a lot of value that will help them win many games this year.

The transfer class led by Jason Edwards from Vanderbilt is full of Power Five talent and experience that can help Providence return to the NCAA Tournament. Providence found a number of starters in the portal and addressed their depth problem, particularly with Edwards and fellow point guard Daquan Davis. It is never a bad thing to have ball handlers. Friar fans will be happy to know that they have flipped a commitment from Duncan Powell, who was previously committed to Georgetown.

There are not many positive things to say about the Pirates last year. Head Coach Shaheen Holloway didn’t have a lot of talent, and the offense was the second-worst in the country. Seton Hall lost their top 6 players in the rotation from last season's 7-win season.

The Pirates needed a lot, as does every team coming off a seven-win season. Coach Holloway added six players to replace the six players he had lost. All of them fit into the mold that coach Holloway likes: defense and efficient offense. Budd Clark from Merrimack and TJ Simpkins from Iona are the prizes of the class. It isn't enough for coach Holloway.

The Big East champions have had quite an eventful offseason. There was a very public breakup between coach Rick Pitino and star player RJ Luis Jr., who decided to enter the NBA draft. Then there were the rotation players who chose to join the transfer portal, Brady Dunlap and Simeon Wilcher. Pitino isn’t new to this and replaced those players with a slew of talented players from the transfer portal.

The Red Storm got 6 of the top transfers in the country. Future lottery pick Ian Jackson from North Carolina. One of the best point guards in the country is Dylan Darling, and 2 of the best shooters in the country are Joson Sanon and Oziyah Sellers. A dominant big man in Bryce Hopkins and one of the best defenders and rebounders from the wing position in Dillon Mitchell. The Big East is going to run through Jamaica for another year.

The Kyle Neptune experiment is over at Villanova, and even though the Wildcats were able to acquire a ton of talent and saw one of the best Wildcats ever come through the program, they didn't win. Enter Kevin Willard, who returns to the Big East after a successful run at Maryland.

It is challenging for some first-year coaches to achieve success at their schools due to the high volume of roster changes. Villanova has a brand-new roster full of talented freshmen, led by Acaden Lewis, and transfers who bring a wealth of experience. Devin Askew is one of the oldest players in the country. Villanova will be fine under coach Willard, but this year may be a struggle in assembling the team quickly.

The Musketeers made the NCAA Tournament last season, and then their coach, Sean Miller, left for the University of Texas. Xavier hired Richard Pitino, who will do fine at Xavier, but the first season might be tough. The Musketeers lost most of their roster from last year, and Pitino was unable to bring in a freshman class. The roster consists entirely of transfers.

The nine-player class consists of players who played for low- to mid-major schools last year but have tremendously high ceilings. Tre Carroll from Florida Atlantic and All Wright from Valparaiso are the prizes of the class and the ones who will likely do most of the scoring. Year 1 may be challenging for Coach Pitino, but it is still impressive what he has put together in such a short time after being hired in April.

As mentioned earlier, the grades do not directly correlate with how well a team will perform this year. The rankings are merely a snapshot of whether the team was able to reach its goals and how the players fit into what they are trying to achieve in terms of style and fit. Some of the teams with a C rating will be good teams, and no one thinks Marquette won't be any good, right?