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

Marquette, in my opinion, is an extremely interesting case this year. Entering the year, the Golden Eagles were picked to finish second in the Big East by just about every major outlet. And, after winning their first two games of the year in dominating fashion, they cracked the AP top-25. But then they were absolutely decimated by Indiana at Assembly Hall and their national recognition plummeted in a hurry.

But…*starts to whisper*…they have looked quite good since then.

Marquette has won five of their last six games since that defeat and their only loss during this stretch came at the hands of Kansas, a top-5 team, at a neutral site. They also snagged a couple of high-quality wins during this stretch over Louisville and Kansas State. Quite simply, it seems as though the Golden Eagles have definitely moved on from their loss to Indiana and they deserve to be knocking on the top-25 door.

Led by juniors Markus Howard (22.4 points) and Sam Hauser (14.2 points), Marquette’s offense is once again extremely potent this year. But, through nine games this year, their defense has impressed me. Unlike the past few years, the Golden Eagles have a few strong individual defenders and they are showing defensive coherence as a team. Now, they still have a long way to go on that end of the court but they are definitely improved defensively.

Big test coming in a rivalry game against Wisconsin. Win that one and the Golden Eagles should be a top-25 team on Monday.