Jon Rothstein places Xavier third in the Big East, tabs Macura and Sumner for big leaps

Big East Offseason Power Rankings: Villanova, Georgetown, Xavier, Butler, Providence, Marquette, Seton Hall, Creighton, DePaul, St. John's.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 29, 2015

There's your party piece. That feels about right, but Xavier has every chance to make a run at this thing if someone emerges as a reliable point guard. Keep an eye on Creighton; I think they've got the skill to finish in the top half of the league if they get some of the breaks that they didn't last year.

Big East Preseason First Team: K. Dunn (PC), R. Arcidiacono (Nova), D. Smith-Rivera (Georgetown), R. Jones (Butler), D. Ochefu (Nova).

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 29, 2015

I would rather have Jalen than Roosevelt Jones, but people in the media love Roosevelt Jones. Other than that I don't have any quibbles here.

Let's hit some things that might be a bit more interesting to the Xavier crowd in particular:

5 Under-The-Radar Big East Freshman: K. Johnson (Gtown), T. Carter (Marquette), M. Ellison (SJU), E. Sumner (Xavier), J. Patton (Creighton).

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 29, 2015

5 Big East Breakout Guys: I. Copeland (Gtown), J.P. Macura (Xavier), B. Bentil (PC), T. Wideman (Butler), K. Jenkins (Nova).

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 29, 2015

Many fans don't know their own team's redshirts and almost nobody knows all the redshirts, so it's safe to say that Ed Sumner is under the radar. He's got great size for a PG, is functionally ambidextrous, and has insane athleticism in both speed and leaping ability. If he stays healthy and the pieces come together for him, he's the answer to a lot of Xavier's questions.

I also love seeing Macura tabbed to break out. He has a season of tough Big East play under his belt, and while he didn't always perform as well as we would have liked to see, he never shied away from a big moment. There were flashes where you could see why he was so highly regarded as a scorer coming out of high school; I think he'll make good progress this year.

Finally, Rothstein asked and answered his five questions about the league this offseason. Pertinently to us:

3. Who will be Xavier's point guard?

There's no quick answer -- at least not yet. The Musketeers graduated a true pass-first point guard in Dee Davis and there's incumbent to replace him. Chris Mack has two options who played last season -- Larry Austin and Myles Davis as well as redshirt freshman Edmond Sumner who boasts good size at 6-5.

Click through for the whole bit.

So there's that. How do you think he did?