Big East Basketball Rankings: Is Villanova still at the top after shaky start?

I was very high on Xavier basketball heading into this season. Yet, through the opening month of the year, it seems as though I underestimated the importance of roster (and coaching) continuity from year over year. The Musketeers lost a ton this offseason, including their head coach, and it seems like it will take some time for the team to truly reach its potential this year. Head coach Travis Steels is still easing into his new position and the team clearly has plenty of room to grow.

And a major reason for this is that the two offensive leaders of the team, Naji Marshall (13.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists) and Paul Scruggs (12.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists), are both sophomores. This is their first season as go-to collegiate scorers and it is reasonable to expect that both will improve over the course of the year. They are doing a little bit of everything so far to lead the way for this well-balanced offensive team. Still, someone needs to emerge as the primary option in crunch time of close games. Marshall seems to be the top option.

To this point in the year, the Musketeers have played a fairly challenging schedule but have been unable to come away with a true signature win. They have already faced off against Wisconsin, Auburn, and San Diego State but they were unable to walk away with a win in any of these games. Because of this, their best win to date is probably a victory over Illinois in their final game of the Maui Invitational. With road matchups against Cincinnati and Missouri still coming in the non-conference schedule, Xavier will be looking to secure a couple resume-boosters heading into Big East play.