The Big East men’s basketball preseason rankings were unveiled Wednesday afternoon at the conference’s media day in New York. Georgetown was picked to finish 10th in the league, just behind Notre Dame and just in front of Rutgers.

The seeding is very low for the Hoyas, who were picked to finish fourth last year but were eighth at season’s end. However, preseason rankings are never indicative of actual performance, as the UConn — picked to finish 11th in the league last year — actually finished in ninth place and went on to win the Big East Tournament and the NCAA national championship.

In the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll, Georgetown was not ranked in the Top-25 for the first time since the 2005-2006 season. The Hoyas did not receive a single vote for placement in the poll, which is based on responses from 31 Coaches in Division I schools. The Big East landed six schools in the Top-25: Connecticut (No. 4), Syracuse (No. 5), Louisville (No. 8), Pittsburgh (No. 11), Marquette (No. 21) and Cincinnati (No. 22).

The Hoyas’ low ranking is attributed to a very young squad – just three seniors and juniors combined will suit up this season – but Georgetown’s future looks bright. On Saturday, ESPN announced that D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard from Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, committed to play for Georgetown.

Smith-Rivera is the No. 45 overall recruit in the class of 2012 and a big recruiting coup for the Hoyas, who he chose over UCLA, Florida, Louisville, NC State, Memphis, Texas and Kansas State. He joins center Brandon Bolden as the second recruit for Georgetown.

The addition of Smith-Rivera to next year’s team will help the Hoyas tremendously, as the 2012-2013 squad will only return two guards — Markel Starks and Jabril Trawick — after senior Jason Clark graduates in May.