At this point, the reminder from the coaches after every game really isn’t necessary. It takes only a quick look at the results to understand that the Big East remains the most punishing and brutal conference in college basketball.
Six Big East teams were ranked in the preseason AP Top 25: Connecticut, Syracuse, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Marquette.
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Since conference play started, only Syracuse hadn’t lost to a Big East team that began the season unranked — and the Orange were one of three remaining undefeated teams in the country heading into a Wednesday visit to Villanova.
*??Teams ranked during 2011-12 season; through Jan. 10
| Big East standings |
| Syracuse* 4-0 |
| Seton Hall* 4-1 |
| Cincinnati* 3-1 |
| Notre Dame 3-1 |
| Connecticut* 3-2 |
| Georgetown* 3-2 |
| West Virginia 3-2 |
| St. John’s 2-2 |
| USF 2-2 |
| Marquette* 1-2 |
| Rutgers 1-2 |
| DePaul 1-3 |
| Louisville* 1-3 |
| Villanova 1-3 |
| Providence 1-4 |
| Pittsburgh* 0-3 |
Georgetown ascended from nowhere to become the conference’s second-best team by last week, only promptly to lose twice to unranked West Virginia and Cincinnati. But the Hoyas’ surprising surge since being picked 10th in the Big East coaches’ preseason poll has nothing on Seton Hall, which was picked 13th. After beating West Virginia, Connecticut and Providence, the Pirates moved into the national rankings this week for the first time in 11 years.
The Bearcats won six games in a row without one of the most dominant centers in the conference (Yancy Gates). The team tied with them for third in the standings with one quarter of Big East play complete is Notre Dame, which lost preseason player of the year Tim Abromaitis to a season-ending knee injury before Thanksgiving.
Last weekend Rutgers toppled the Huskies, and Providence throttled Louisville. Both the Scarlet Knights and the Friars sit outside the top 100 in this week’s NCAA ratings percentage index rankings.
The RPI disparity — the Big East has seven teams in the top 30 but nothing else until Pittsburgh at No. 85 — could make it difficult for the conference to match last year’s record of 11 NCAA tournament berths. That honor was also a curse when only two teams made it to the Sweet 16. Of course, both teams that advanced that far, Marquette and Connecticut, beat up on conference rivals (Syracuse and Cincinnati, respectively) to get there.
Maybe that’s what the Big East does best. With conference realignment barreling down the tracks, enjoy it while it lasts.
– Craig Stouffer
