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2. Georgetown. This was a painful decision for me (and colleague Ted Berg). I pegged the Hoyas as the conference's best team last preseason, and they did not disappoint on the way to a Final Four appearance. This season, everyone is back except for the biggest piece of last year's Big East dual championship puzzle: Jeff Green. It's Green's absence that puts the smallest bit of daylight between the Big East's preeminent teams, Georgetown and Louisville.

In reality, Green was only the biggest part of Georgetown's success on the floor, because the man who is most responsible for the Hoyas' re-emergence as a national power is John Thompson III. He signed a six-year contract extension last month, but that won't prevent other teams from continuing to court him, as he is clearly among the nation's elite coaches. Still, Thompson was born and bred into Georgetown basketball, and it's easy to envision him having the long stay in D.C. that his father enjoyed. Thompson has a commanding presence and a thoughtfulness that even comes across during a 15-second halftime interview. His players consistently get better, and his team's improvement from November to March has become an annual right of winter in the Beltway. Georgetown's offense was one of the best in the nation last season, and while there'll be a dropoff without Green, the offense should still be elite. The Hoyas were also an underrated defensive team, ending the season among the nation's leaders in blocked-shot rate, 3-point and 2-point field-goal defense. This is a complete team in a program that has quickly become the jewel of the Big East again.

Green may leave a void in Georgetown's frontcourt, but the backcourt has everyone back, and JTIII adds two stud recruits to the group. Jonathan Wallace is a four-year starter at point guard. What he doesn't bring in quickness he more than makes up for with his floor intelligence and ability to hit big shots (49 percent on 3-pointers). Wallace showed a penchant for turning the ball over under pressure (including 14 in a three-game span in February), but Thompson has other options to bring the ball up the floor when teams are trying to fluster Wallace.

Jessie Sapp is one of those guys. As a sophomore, Sapp was a streaky shooter but a good playmaker who showed an ability to score inside as well as outside. In Georgetown's low-risk defense, he's also the most likely player to pick up a steal.

Those two are the incumbents, but freshman Austin Freeman will push hard for playing time immediately. The 6-4 Dematha (Md.) product rates as one of the best incoming guards in the country and should add scoring punch immediately. We'll see how quickly he picks up the Georgetown offensive system, but as soon as he does — and perhaps even before then — he'll make an impact. Jeremiah Rivers was the surprising choice to back up Wallace last season, as Thompson thought his ability to apply pressure on the defensive end made up for an utter inability to contribute anything productive on offense. With greater depth, Thompson will have a shorter leash on Rivers this season. After playing and playing well early in the season, 6-3 guard Tyler Crawford developed pneumonia and never saw even 10 minutes of court time after the Big East opener against Notre Dame. Now a senior, it seems that Crawford is running out of time to make an impact on the floor.

Ushering out any thoughts of Crawford seeing major minutes is another freshman, Chris Wright. The 6-foot-1 point guard is the heir apparent to Wallace, and he has the superb range of his predecessor but with better quickness that he uses to create for his teammates. The D.C. product will eventually push for playing time ahead of Rivers, but he'll have to wait a while to do so after breaking his right foot in a pick-up game in September. Like Providence's starting point guard Sharaud Curry, Wright should miss about six weeks with the injury, keeping him out into the third week of November.

The frontcourt should feature a rotation of four familiar faces, each of whom brings something different. DaJuan Summers is charged with picking up most of Green's slack, but their games aren't as similar as they first appear. Summers may be able to combine Green's scoring and rebounding ability to some extent, but he already is better at getting to the foul line. Moreover, it's doubtful he'll be the same offensive axis as Green, one of the nation's better passing big men. Summers has yet to show the same talents. Beyond emulating last year's Big East Player of the Year, Summers needs to improve his scoring efficiency inside the arc. He's already approaching effectiveness from deep (33.1 percent) and should improve. Summers' diverse offensive game makes him a budding star in blue.

Roy Hibbert's decision to return to Georgetown was warmly welcomed. Without Green and Hibbert, the Hoyas would not be considered a national championship contender and might have faced a drop-off similar to Villanova's a year ago. But with the return of probably the nation's best center, the Hoyas are equipped for a deep March run. Hibbert does everything you'd expect from a great center and even a bit more. He's perhaps the most efficient offensive player in the college game, sporting a 67.1 percent field-goal percentage thanks to a variety of hooks, dunks and short jumpers. He's a terrific offensive rebounder and a good defensive rebounder, and he gets to the line at the best rate of any Hoya. Hibbert also rated among the nation's best shot blockers, and, amid all of that, was exceptionally conscientious with the ball on a team where committing turnovers was the only offensive weakness. The biggest concern is whether Hibbert will be able to consistently carry the load without Green around. Hibbert had the tendency to disappear in certain games — two points in a midseason loss to Villanova, four points in a narrow victory at Nova and six points each in the loss at Syracuse and an 84-82 Big East Tournament win over Notre Dame. With Green always steady, Thompson was able to sit Hibbert or not concern himself much with the big man's ineffectiveness, but he won't have the same luxury this year.

Two other forwards should have increased roles this season. The first of those is Patrick Ewing, the uber-athlete who came into his own toward the end of his first season in D.C. Ewing is an active player with a diverse skill set — an able passer, rebounder and shot-blocker. Ewing was also an efficient shooter in the rare chances he got to shoot last season (58.5 2-point percentage, 44.4 3-point percentage), and he'll have to continue that success as his opportunities increase in his senior season. Ewing often brought energy off the bench in his appearances, but he's likely to be thrust into the starting lineup beside Summers and Hibbert this winter.

Vernon "The Big Ticket" Macklin will have a better chance to live up to his Kevin Garnett-like moniker now that he's a sophomore. The long forward/center showed flashes in limited opportunities as a freshman, knocking down most of his looks and showing great activity on the offensive glass. He should be the man called upon to replace Hibbert once the senior leaves, and this year marks his last chance to expand his game as Roy's understudy.

With remarkable swiftness, John Thompson III has turned Georgetown's program around. It's no longer unreasonable to think of the Hoyas as a perennial top-20 team with a chance to win the Big East each and every year. With Green, Georgetown would have been the favorite to win the national title this year. Without him, they're still likely to find themselves in the top-10 and are a serious, second-tier Final Four contender. Either way, elite college basketball is back at Georgetown, and the Big East is better for it.